CHAPTER 5

Mia opened the box and found a Donna Karan fit and flare silk dress that was like a watercolor running in the rain dress in white fading to shades of purple streaks flowing down to the bottom of the hem, a box with a pair of custom made white pumps to match the dress with the watercolor purple at the toe and a beautiful set of gold amethyst and diamond earrings, pendant and bracelet. The gift had Mia completely stunned. Lily was eaten alive with jealousy at the expensive gifts and thought involved. Lily thought, 'I bet she is trying to buy Mia's friendship with expensive gifts.'

Grace saw what Mia had and asked, "Mia that dress, shoes and jewelry are stunning. Who gave you that?"

Mia said with tears in her eyes sentimentally, "My best friend, Ana. We were out together a while back and I saw the exclusive designer dress but didn't buy it because it wasn't in my size. She knew I loved it, but it was a limited quantity. How she got the shoes made perfectly to match, I'll never know." Mia stood up and sat the three packages by her mother, as Grace looked at them amazed, and walked up to Ana and embraced her.

Mia said looking sentimentally, "I can't believe how very thoughtful you are. They are so very incredible." Ana lifted her chin and kissed her cheek.

Ana said softly, "You're worth it. I knew you would love it, sweet girl. I got the dress shipped from New York in your size and had a cobbler make the shoes. I found the amethyst set at Neiman Marcus. We will have to go out in style to show people what true beauty looks like when it warms up." Mia blushed. Christian was floored at what a well thought out gift she got his sister. He realized that Ana was very fond of Mia.

Mia said humbly, "Thank you so much. I want you to come for dinner with us tomorrow night and I can give you your gift then." Ana hugged her affectionately.

Ana said softly, "I would love to if it's alright with your parents."

Mia said seriously, "Of course it is. I would never let you be alone on Christmas without me." Christian just then realized from Mia's comment, that Anastasia was all alone for the holidays from her background check. Ana smiled and hugged Mia sweetly.

Grace had watched the girl's and reached out to get her gift from Ana. She opened the box and found a set of two delicate tea cups, saucers with spoons and a bag of floral mixed flower tea. The teacups were finely made with vines, leaves and flowers with such defined detail in soft pale greens and pastel purple and pinks. The cups and saucers were custom artisan handmade. Grace had never seen anything like it before and gasped. The spoons were stamped silver, not sterling, in the same floral natural patterns molded and etched on the spoon handles. Grace was amazed at the beautiful craftsman pieces. Carrick stepped over and looked at the pretty teacups and bag of tea.

Ana walked up to Grace with Mia and Christian. Sitting next to her was Elena, both of them were looking at her cups and saucers. Ana said to her, "A friend of mine in Virginia made them by hand in his home's studio. If you look closely at the details you can see the individual differences in each leaf and marking. He signed the bottom and placed his mark on them. Tiffany and Co are in contract negotiations with him to start limited edition production on his exclusive designs." Grace looked at the bottom of each piece.

Grace was stunned and asked, "My goodness that would make it a priceless original then before Tiffany. I may need to have my morning coffee with it so I know I used it for the right purpose first."

Ana smiled at her and said, "Yes, it would make it an original collectors piece. He is a very talented artisan. The floral tea is an exclusive natural blend imported from Istanbul, Turkey. I have some myself and it is a very nice floral fragrance blend for calming and relaxing."

Grace said mesmerized, "Thank you so much. This is an exquisite gift, Ana, and I will put it in my china cabinet to remain safe on display and use it only for special occasions."

Ana smiled at her and said, "I knew you would appreciate them. I got you two full sets in case something should ever happen to a piece." Grace smiled at her and thought how very thoughtful and sweet she was.

—--

As the party was winding down, Christian was saying goodbye to his family with Ana on his arm.

Christian said to his parents as he leaned in and kissed his mother on the cheek, "Thank you, mother. Ana and I discussed it and I will be bringing her with me tomorrow night to dinner." Grace's eyebrows shot up surprised because her son had been acting so completely out of character all night since Ana showed up at the party. She thought he might be gay but his constant touches and kisses on Ana proved he most definitely was not gay.

Elena glared all night from the corner of the room, sending darts at Ana. Once she was caught and all Ana did was smile and wink at her from across the room, which completely infuriated her. Elena had had enough when she heard he was bringing her to Christmas dinner. Christian was helping her into her burgundy beautiful red fur coat. Elena walked up as Christian intimately kissed her neck making her giggle. She thought, 'He is mine! I trained him! How dare he show such affection to that girl! I trained him to not need that kind of a relationship or affection. I taught him that he was too damaged to be touched. He is to beat the women he wants sex from. This behavior is sickening!'

Elena said nastily to Christian, "You're going to be sorry when you find out that you can't get release any other way, but how I showed you. I'll be waiting for your apology tomorrow at Christmas dinner." Elena walked by him and grabbed her coat.

Christian said in an angry whisper, "You cause Ana or I any trouble tomorrow night and you're through. You hear me? Done."

Grace walked up to them at that moment, cutting off Elena's response and said, "Be safe going home to both of you."

Christian said, "We will, mother." He had his hand on Ana's back and they went out the door together. He walks Ana over to her McLaren. Christian thought it was an incredible car. He opened the door as she got in. He leaned down and kissed her as she swung her legs in. Christian hit send on his phone and Ana's phone chimed as she put on her seatbelt.

He said smiling, "I sent you the codes. Follow me, baby." She looked up smiling at him. He closed the door as she started the engine. Christian got in the back of the black Audi Q7 SUV and he and Taylor pulled out of the circle drive with Ana following them.

When they got to Escala underground parking, Christian jumped out of the SUV and opened her door for her. He kissed her and had his hand on her lower back as they walked to the elevator. Taylor and Sawyer went through to the service elevator together.

—--

Once Taylor and Sawyer were on the service elevator and the door closed, Taylor said facing forward stoically, "I like this woman very much on paper. Have you read her background check yet?"

Sawyer was facing forward and replied, "Not yet, why?"

Taylor said, "She was raised by a Marine Raider Colonel and trained and certified ex CIA after five years of service starting at age fifteen. It's quite a read. She's twenty six and has worked for the CIA as a Analytic Methodologist at age fifteen to twenty years old. She already finished both bachelor degrees by age fifteen to get accepted. She is a genius prodigy with the same certifications as we do in weapons and defense."

Sawyer said with his eyebrows up, "I think I'll go read it right now. You think Grey can handle her with what he has been doing and the way he did all that shit to those other women?"

Taylor chuckled and said, "I think that incredibly beautiful woman is going to retrain him. He can't seem to stop looking, kissing and touching her. Besides, she could break his ass in half if he got out of hand." They both smiled and stepped off the elevator.

—--

When Christian and Ana stepped into the elevator, he punched in the code and the doors closed. He pushed her up against the back wall and attacked her mouth aggressively kissing her in a wild torrent of sexual unrestraint being released. His hands were all over her and pulling up her leg to his hip.

Ana said panting, "Slow down Christian. I'm here for you to explain to me. I didn't come to have sex with you tonight. I'm not even sure if you can even handle it and neither are you." He really wanted her badly, but put her leg down because she was right. They were kissing all evening and he realized he had been getting a bit carried away and ahead of himself. She was right because he wasn't sure how to handle having normal sex. He really needed to talk to Flynn.

When the elevator doors opened, he led her inside the penthouse, as Ana was trying to get her footing. He was leading her into the entry of his penthouse. He took her coat off with his and hung them up in the closet. He smiled and took her hand leading her to the living room area.

Ana sat down on the sofa and Christian asked, "Would you like a glass of wine?" She smiled at him and said yes.

He brought back two glasses of wine and a glass full of bourbon. He sat them on the coffee table and sat down next to her. He reached out and started caressing her jaw.

Christian said nervously, "I'll start from the beginning and get this over with. Just please don't leave me after because of how fucked up I am." Ana reached out and brushed her finger over his mouth staring at his lips.

She said softly, "I'm right here… You can touch me to know, I'm not leaving you. But I am going home tonight at some point and you can pick me up for dinner tomorrow." He kissed her softly, picked up his glass and took a swallow of bourbon. It burned all the way down his throat.

He began, sighing and holding her hand, "I was born the son of a crack whore. She neglected me because of her addiction. Her pimp would abuse me by beating us both, making me watch him rape her and putting his lit cigarettes out on my back and chest. When I was four years old, my mother overdosed and died. I was left alone with her body for four days. I thought she was just sleeping for a long time, like when she was passed out before. I was hungry and all we had was a frozen bag of peas in the house to eat. I covered her up with my blanket and slept next to her. I remember the pimp coming in and screaming at me telling me I killed my own mother and slammed the door. The last thing I remember was the EMT people coming in and me screaming because I couldn't tolerate them touching me. I was taken to the hospital and that is where I met Dr Grace Trevelyan Grey. She was on the afternoon shift covering the ER. She treated me and didn't touch me like the others but fed me. A few months later I was adopted by her and my father Carrick Grey. They had a son previously adopted. Elliot is a few years older than me as you know. I had a lot of trouble adjusting to things. I hoarded food all the time and I wouldn't talk for two years."

"One day, they brought home a baby girl about three months old, my sister Mia. They told me that she was my baby sister. That night I slept on the floor next to her crib watching over her and protecting her. The baby started to cry and I went to get my mother and said the name "Mia". My mother cried because she was so happy. I started talking after that." Christian looked over at Ana and she had tears falling down her cheeks as she was wiping them away. Christian reached over and wiped her cheeks off very gently with his thumbs and kissed her softly on the lips. Christian continued after another slug of bourbon.

Christian continued, "I never felt like I deserved my family's love. That I wasn't worthy of them. By the time my teens hit I was going through puberty and was fighting a lot because the kids at school would try to touch me on purpose to piss me off. Sometimes, the touching would happen accidentally, causing me burning pain on my back and chest. I would automatically lash out. I desired girls but they could never touch me on my back and chest and it caused me angst and frustration. After a couple years, I was around fifteen. I started drinking and stealing booze from my father. I was kicked out of three schools for fighting and drinking and my parents were at their wits end."

"One day, my mother sent me over to do yard work for Elena, her best friend and her husband, to remove rubble from their new addition and landscaping. I was working there in the heat and took off my shirt. Elena came out into the back yard wearing close to nothing in a see through robe with a glass of iced lemonade. At the time she was about thirty eight years old. I said some smart mouth comment to her and she slapped me across the face, then she kissed me." Anastasia felt sad that he was so isolated and vulnerable to be a target for that pedophile. His mother's so called friend who more than likely gleaned information off of her about how to manipulate him.

"The next day she took me in the house and sucked me off. She said if I wanted more, to keep coming back. One day, she took me down to her dungeon, let me fuck her and said I could gain control of myself through BDSM. She said if I was good and did as I was told and made my parents happy, I would get rewarded and get to fuck her. If I didn't do the right things I would get punished. When I was 18, I went to Harvard and I was told to not even look at a girl there. Elena would drop in unexpectedly to check up on me. I dropped out after my first year. My father was furious and wouldn't let me use my trust fund money to start my business, even with a complete business plan. Elena gave me $100,000 dollars to start up my business. I had been her submissive for six years at that time, until that moment I wanted her to train me to be a dominant at age twenty one. She was what they call a "switch", when you go from a dominant to a submissive. She told me that the only way I could have sex was by tying the women up so they couldn't touch me. She said that I was incapable of love because I was too damaged and would have to do everything her way."

"Seven and a half years ago, six months after I was trained to be a dominant, my business had taken off and I gave her a million dollars in return for the startup capital. By that time, her husband had divorced her. He left her after finding out she was having sex with me and beat her up. I stayed friends with her and wanted to help her in return for helping me. She started finding me submissives that were vetted by her from the BDSM clubs. It was safer than trolling the clubs to find subs. My reputation was starting to build up, and I could put them under contract and an NDA easier than trying to get them myself. She said that she would do it for me because she knew what I liked or didn't like. A year later, she presented me with a business plan for a salon spa business, so I helped by investing 60% to get her on her feet. Later, she started expanding to three now here in Seattle. She had bought two BDSM clubs in New York a year since then. I'm not invested in them, only the salons in Seattle."

Christian said, "I always made it clear in the beginning to any of the submissives I contracted that it was an arrangement, that it was not an emotional relationship with me. I wasn't allowing my emotions to be involved at all. It was only sex and a release. I… I only had women under contract with long dark hair and fair complexions."

Ana asked softly, "Why is that, Christian?"

He hesitantly said, "Because my mother had dark long hair and a fair complexion." Ana knew he was channeling his anger from his mother's failure to care and protect him from the violence he had been subjected to in his predevelopment, he was manipulated by Elena to channel sex and his rage onto women that resemble his mother. She thought what a sick fucking bitch she was to use him like she did with fucking, beating, controlling and manipulating a child in his puberty needing compassion only.