CHAPTER 20

Christian found a week later that he was the beneficiary of Elena's will. It creeped him out that she left him in charge of her final arrangements. He arranged for her to be put in a pine box and a simple headstone in a local cemetery. He contacted the FTC and IRS to notify them that he was her beneficiary. He faxed over the proper documents they needed for their records. They told him that they would contact his lawyers to know what their settlement was against Elena's estate.

Four days later he was notified that the FTC and IRS wanted to settle after listing all of Elena's assets, the three salons, her house, the money in the bank accounts, and the offshore account. The total came to $16,537,007.45. Christian was owed the ten million stolen, the house and the businesses. The remaining to be taxed by the IRS and the fees from the FTC was $4,211,356.56. Christian cut the checks to both government agencies and had Elena's house and businesses interior safes and everything searched and cleaned out by his staff. They found tons of jewelry and two million in cash, with four aliases. Christian and Ana did full background checks in the aliases and found out that Elena had three strip clubs and two bars under different names with bank accounts. He informed the IRS and cut them checks for their back taxes on these businesses for $2,567,809.00 and sold them. After liquidating the businesses under the aliases he walked away with $6,788,107.23. Christian sold all of the jewelry for $2,145,566.00. After he sold the three salons for $3,156,788.00, he put all of the money Elena had except for her house still on the market to be sold. He had a separate account that had a total so far of $17,638,303.12 to divide among the seven children abused in her trial according to charges. He was just waiting for the sale of her house now.

Christian and Ana were very surprised to find the aliases she had other businesses under. Christian figured once the IRS got their cut it would be free and clear to liquidate it all. He wanted to help the children she tortured under a legal stipulation of use for health, mental health and education. When they were over the age of twenty five, the money then could be used as they wished.

A few weeks later, Elena's house sold for 3.7 million dollars. Christian settled it all and had $21,363,404.35. He divided it by seven for $3,051,914.91 to be issued to each child under strict stipulations by his lawyer. The lawyers served the children and their families with the accounts with legal representatives to oversee its uses.

Christian was glad that messy pain in the ass was over and dealt with. It was the beginning of April and his mother had procured a church and hall for them to have their wedding. She must have pulled some strings, Christian figured, being it was a prime season on short notice. Ana was busy dealing with the particulars from time to time with Mia concerning the cake, decorations and wedding dresses. It seemed the church and hall were thrilled to be the hosts or the most reputable billionaire in town so they couldn't be more accommodating.

The press caught wind of the engagement and it became a complete media circus. They were lined up outside of his residence and at GEH headquarters driving everyone who worked there nuts trying to get in the building. The police had to be called constantly, putting up barriers to keep the press from blocking doorways. They even had to haul away some very belligerent reporters and cameramen.

Ana and Christian had a negotiation meeting set up with a company called Fillmore Manufacturing in Spokane, WA. They had a vast amount of warehouses and supplies and equipment. He planned on flying his helicopter there with Ana the next day on Wednesday. The paparazzis were were making it hard to get in GEH so he had his helicopter flown on to the roof of Escala.

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The next morning, Christian woke up and started kissing Ana awake. She groaned and said, "You sexed me up so much last night with your kinky fuckery, I want to sleep more."

He said chuckling, "Yes, you were a sexy little minx letting me tie you up and fuck you into oblivion. We have a negotiation date today, my beautiful baby. We need to dress to impress and get this deal we all worked so hard on to put together." She groaned and said, "Ok, ok, you ball breaker." He laughed as she rolled out of bed to the bathroom and joined her in the shower.

Ana dressed in a navy blue lace trimmed suit. It had a double breasted blazer with lace around the neck sticking up and the sleeves had bell sleeves round split with lace coming out of the sleeves. The pants were regular pants with a flared bottom. She wore her Christian Louboutin navy pumps #38. They had rounded toe and very high heels. She matched it with her Sofia crossbody in lux grained calfskin and nubuck with a silver chain shoulder strap. She took her royal blue fox fur trimmed cape with fur trimmed hood she had on New Year's Eve.

While Christian was finishing dressing, Ana had grabbed a few water bottles, protein bars, some bags of snacks mixed nuts and dried fruit and bottled juices. In a reusable shopping bag that zips closed. She also grabbed her laptop case. They were going to eat lunch in Spokane before they came back. Christian came out of the bedroom and kissed Ana sitting down at the breakfast bar with her. They are a good breakfast and put on their coats. Christian was dressed in a dark charcoal gray Tom Ford suit and his Double breasted black wool coat. It was still relatively cold outside at 45 degrees fahrenheit.

The helicopter was warmed up and they got in. Christian strapped in Ana and winked at her as he tugged on her harness. He said, "You can't escape me now, baby."

She said giggling, "Like I'd ever thought to try to get away." He kissed her, handed her the cans headset and went around to get in the pilot seat. Taylor got in the backseat and strapped in with his headset. Christian did all the checks and got clearance from the SeaTac tower. He lifted off heading due west.

They flew along keeping I-90 in sight most of the way to Spokane. It was 279 miles to Spokane. They got to the airport in approximately two hours. Christian had arranged transportation waiting for them as they walked out of the airport. A limo was waiting to pick the three of them up.

When they arrived at Fillmore Manufacturing main office, they were shown to a conference room. Ana and Christian put the heir coats with Taylor's on a chair. Christian pushed in Ana's chair next to him and took a seat. Ana booted up her laptop and brought up the file on Fillmore Manufacturing so they could reference it and the proposal they had presented to the owner. When the owner came into the room they greeted each other and started negotiating and hammering out the final details. GEH was taking over the company and investing into it to strengthen the business and save jobs. They had lost revenue from over-extending themselves but Christian had the capital to reinforce the business and get it back on its feet to be profitable without cutting jobs. The owner was very happy to retire knowing that his company and people were well taken care of.

When they were done with the meeting and had the final aquistion papers signed on the dotted line. They said their goodbyes and went to find lunch. They had the Bucket List Burger made with australian wagyu beef served medium on house made onion bun and a heap of garlic fries. They added bacon and onions and had a local frosted root beer.

Ana said, "You're going to have to chase me around the penthouse to burn this off. It's so greasy and good."

Christian leaned in, kissed her lips and said in a deep sexy voice, "I'll burn it off of you, baby. I'll catch you too and burn it off."

She smiled and winked at him saying, "Ok, I'm there to make you work for it. You can count on me." He grinned and bit into his burger thinking of all the things he could do with her.

He said chuckling, "You know, you have ruined me for other women. There's nobody like you."

She smiled and nudged him and said, "Good then I won't have to take out any woman touching my man. I'm pretty territorial like that. You belong to me." He nodded and chuckled eating a fry.

He said deep and sexy, "It feels good being owned by you. I've never had so much fun until you came along." Ana looked at him adoringly. He loved that expression on her.

Ana said putting her head on his shoulder, "It truly does feel good. I love you, Christian Grey."

They finished up eating and they got in the limo to head to the helipad. They were all strapped in and Christian did all the systems checks with clearance from the tower at Spokane International Airport. They took off.

They flew off and Ana was looking out over the city. She pulled out a map of Washington state and was tracking things with her finger to see where they were by identifying main roads along the way. It gave her analytical mind something to do. They went over towns and interstates. Ana smiled looking over the land with patches of snow still in the mountains and passes. It was so beautiful from up here. Ana loved it. Suddenly, the helicopter, Charlie Tango, shimmied and started to balk.

Christian shouted, "Engine number one went out!" He was trying to keep it steady but it was hard.

Christian was on the radio shouting, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Charlie Tango Echo Charlie… ! The radio is dead!" Ana started flipping switches on the radio and it was completely dead. He was guiding it into the trees near a gravel pit area not far from I-90.

Christian said, "I'm landing near that gravel pit clearing. We were going down rough.

Then the second engine blew and Christian said, "Damn it!" He was a dead stick trying to guide it in.

The impact was hard teeth shattering but it could have been worse if they hadn't been so low to the ground. Christian got it down on the gravel pit clearing.

Christian shouted, "Is everyone alright?!"

Taylor said, "I am "

Ana said, "I'm fine Christian." Ana unhooked the harness with ease. Christian wondered if she had done that before. She got out of the helicopter walking on her toes because her shoes were so high with spiked heels. Ana grabbed her bags and Taylor was climbing out of the side she was walking around the helicopter inspecting it.

Christian caught up to her and asked, "What are you doing, Anastasia?"

She said, "I'm looking for bladder fuel leaks. Christian for both engines to go out and the radio being dead, you know this isn't a coincidence, right?"

He put his arm around her and said, "I know, baby. What confuses me is how you know that?"

She said chuckling, "Oh, baby, you're going to learn so many things about me. I have a EC120B helicopter in my hanger in Monsanto. I want to take you there some time."

He was shocked thinking, 'It didn't list that she had a pilot's license on her background check.' She said knowing what he was thinking, "I can fly it but I never got licensed. It's ok, I can do maintenance on it too. My father taught me everything I need to know to get certified." Christian was proud of how smart his woman was. He thought, 'My woman. Yes, my woman was a big cut above most women. I have someone so different and rare about to marry me and be mine forever. I'm a lucky bastard. I'll never let go of her, she's my perfect match.'

Christian said, "Let's see if we can make a call at the bottom of this ridge. I think it's Grouse Ridge."

Ana started walking towards the out building that looked like tractor trailer buildings. The men followed her without getting a signal. She stopped and held on to Christian's arm.

Christian asked, "What are you doing?" She ripped off her heel on one shoe and put it back on. She switched feet and rip off the other heel.

Ana said, "I hate ruining them but I'll get another pair. I have to be able to walk." They kept walking and trying to get a signal. Ana stopped when her burner phone got a bar on it. She put up her finger and dialed.

The operator said, "Hello, 911. How may I help you?"

Ana said, "This is Anastasia Steele. I'm with Christian Grey and Jason Taylor. We crashed in our helicopter Charlie Tango EC130. We are stranded in a gravel pit by Grouse Ridge along the I-90."

The woman asked, "Is anyone hurt?"

Ana said, "No, thank God, but it's cold and it may snow soon." The clouds have closed in and the sunshine is gone."

The woman said, "We will dispatch someone in the area to locate you, stay in the area."

Ana said, "Ok." She turned to the guys and said, "We need to find shelter and make a fire if possible." Taylor took off to find wood. Ana went to investigate the buildings with Christian.

Ana said as they approached the structures, "Go check those over there and I'll look into these." They split up to see if any of them were open. They all had locks.

Christian said, "There are some more buildings behind that tree line over there." They went over there and found a generator under the trailer on wheels. It had a lock too. Ana went up to the generator and opened the cap on it and it had kerosene in it.

Ana said, "It's got kerosene in it. Fuck it I'm breaking the lock on it. It's getting fucking cold." She picked up a rock and smashed the lock. They opened the door and found a few chairs, a desk, shelving and an air conditioner.

Taylor hollered at a distance. Christian hollered back and went to get him. He and Christian were dragging up wood and piling it. Ana started breaking branches and making a pile in a clear area when she had enough. She started a fire. The smoke raised up into the sky. She had all of her bags and Christian's briefcase next to three chairs she pulled out of the trailer to sit around the fire. The guys had brought back more wood. They sat down around the warm fire. Ana gave them water and a bag of nuts with dried fruit snacks packs.

Christian said fondly, "I'm surprised you thought to bring snacks and drinks."

She giggled and said, "I was going in a helicopter. My father used to say, 'Always plan ahead. Just in case, it can happen.' He was a wise man." She took a drink from her water bottle and ate some nuts and fruit.

Taylor said, "Yes, he was. That's the first lesson in survival." Taylor thought to himself, 'Ana is an incredibly fascinating woman and Christian was extremely lucky to find her when he did. How we saved her life in the nick of time in that car wreck was uncanny. I and Gail know she is saving his life by getting him away from all that cruel dark shit he was doing and showing him a different way to live. I knew the boy was going to be alright when she got rid of Elena completely from their lives.'

It got dark and Christian had his arms around Ana as they kept adding wood to the fire. Eventually a car came from into the gravel pit area Taylor went out and flagged them down. He brought them to the fire. They got the extinguisher from the helicopter and put out the fire and put the chairs back in the trailer and put a stick in the hasp lock on the door to keep it closed. They all got in the Police SUV and went to the Snoqualmie Police Department.

They got them warm coffee and some chips from the vending machine once they arrived. The report was filed and Christian was going to make arrangements for the helicopter to be picked up at the site. The police said they could follow them out there being it was trespassing. They said they would contact the owners and tell them that only the padlock was removed because it was an emergency landing.

Christian, Ana and Taylor all got in a cab and we're taken to Escala. He tipped the driver well. They went up to the penthouse and found his entire family waiting for them and upset.

His mother was in tears as he ended up holding her to calm her down. Then she clutched onto Ana. Elliot told him that they had been on the news for hours and everyone was a wreck wondering if they were alright. His father was hugging him.

Christian said, "We landed in a gravel pit luckily low to the ground. We made a fire and Ana brought snacks and water. We were lucky. Ana made the call to 911."

Ana said laughing, "Nobody was injured except my Louboutin high heels. I had to tear the heels off to walk. Aren't they cute?" They all laughed looking at her funky shoes.

That night Christian and Ana took a hot shower and went to bed making love. Christian said holding Ana in his arms safe and warm, "I'm so glad we're all ok. I'm going to find the son of a bitch who sabotaged my helicopter."

Ana said softly, "I'll hold them while you beat them up, baby. I love you." He smiled thinking about her hog tying the bastard.

He kissed her temple and said, "Whomever it is will be the next in line at the rodeo hog tying contest with my girl." She giggled and snuggled into his chest.