Cross Passions

A/N: I do not own the characters from the FSOG trilogy or the Crossfire Series. They are owned by E.L James and Sylvia Day respectively. I am just enjoying them in my Playroom.

Chapter One: Love Isn't Enough

Christian Grey stood at the floor to ceiling windows of his office staring at the city of Seattle as the street lights began to flicker on. It was a cool autumn evening and the fading light of the day danced on the fall colors of the trees. He felt lost. There was nothing to go home to. She had left him. She actually left him and what was worse; she refused to speak to him. He couldn't fix this problem. She didn't want to hear his excuses anymore. She finally had enough, packed her belongings leaving behind all that he had given her in the last year and half including her new car and left Escala. He learned later that her first night absent from his life that she checked into a hotel and then the next day moved into an apartment with her friend Hannah Lewis from work. This was only temporary until Ana could find her own apartment which of course she did within a week. Now the love of his life lived in the newest, hippest, singles only apartment complexes in the city called Impetus. Christian understood the all too well the Latin meaning behind the word impetus. Passion. The love of his life was living in a singles complex that catered to passion. She would have more than enough opportunity to move on and find new lovers and maybe even her future husband.

He poured himself a very generous amount of his finest bourbon and sat at his desk. The fiery liquid burned all the way down to the pit of his stomach. He drank more than he used to, but then again, there was no reason not to drink. His life was over. He fucked it up once again. He tried to fight the memories of that night, but they always found a way to push out the better memories. He was a stupid fucker and his subconscious was trying to tell him that fact over and over again. He shot back the rest of his liqueur and then threw the cut-crystal tumbler across the room not caring that it shattered into a million pieces. Shattered, just like his life. He knew that Ana was never a submissive. She didn't have a submissive bone in her beautiful tight body. She tried; he admitted to his demons, she did try, but that lifestyle was not something she was made for. Anastasia Rose Steele had a quick and deep mind that coupled with a strong determination to live her life as she wanted should have been his clue that she would never be a sub. She tried to tell him, but Christian was so sure that he could change her. She fought him every step of the way. The only place she was submissive was in the playroom, other than that, she basically told him to fuck off in concerns of all his regulations. She ate what she wanted, drove her own car, exercised when she felt like it at her own gym, she loved to go out dancing with her friends, and she refused to be a "kept" woman. She had a well-paying job at Washington Publishers or WP as the employees like to call it. She had started as an editor's assistant, but her love of books and knowledge of literature propelled her up the corporate ladder. Within six months she was promoted to Senior Lead Editor. Another three months she was sitting beside the President and CEO of WP, Rachel Crider as V.P. of Editorial Processes. As Christian learned, Ana was almost running the company as Rachel was preparing for the birth of her fifth child and did step in when Rachel took her maternity leave. That two month period of Rachel's maternity leave was what led to their problems. She was never home, always working, always traveling, and he fucked up. He let his demons of jealousy, drunkenness, and selfishness darken his life. He went to a club, got drunk and ended up in a dungeon beating the hell out of little brown hair, blue- eyed girl. There had been no sex, but unbeknown to him, there had been photographs taken. A few days later those photos were sent to Ana at her office and all hell broke loose. She moved out that evening, flipping him off and telling him to go straight to hell! "Fuck you, Grey. I hope you burn in hell for the pain and humiliation you have caused me. I always knew that I would never be enough for you." With those words, she took off her engagement ring and left it on the breakfast island of the kitchen.

The memories still hurt. The look in her blue eyes was a mixture of pain, hurt, anger, humiliation, and fear. He had hurt her so much. He should have followed his first instinct and left this beautiful, pure, and innocent girl alone, but he had to have her. He had to have her kisses, to taste her skin, and when he learned that she was a virgin, he had to claim that also. She would be completely his. For a Dom, that was the ultimate find. A virgin who had no experience and that could be trained for his specific needs and pleasures. Ana had been a virgin, but she refused to be trained to be his pet. She had ambitions and pride. She would never completely submit. She was strong in heart and spirit as well as beauty. She challenged him to be a better man. She forced him to confront those demons and try to defeat them. For awhile he was doing just that. He was so much in love with this siren that he wanted to marry her and have a normal life of home and hearth…well, with some kinky fuckery thrown in that they both enjoyed. Then, his jealousy and selfishness came back with a vengeance when her career began to blossom. He even tried to buy the company so he could control and protect her budding publishing career but the Crider family refused to sell. That had been another argument between Ana and Christian when she learned about his offer. They ended up sleeping apart for nearly a week until Christian apologized and begged her for her forgiveness. This had become the pattern of their lives toward the end of their relationship. He would do something to upset her, she would withhold her favors until he came crawling back to her then she would forgive him. That was until the club incident. She refused to forgive his bad behavior and she left. Left for good, lock, stock and barrel.

There was a knock at his office door and Taylor stepped in. He stood quietly in his dark suit. This was his way of telling Christian that it was time to go home. Christian sighed, left his chair, grabbed his suit jacket and followed Taylor. They didn't have to speak. Christian knew that Taylor thought him the biggest idiot that ever walked on the face of the earth. They stepped into the elevator and Taylor hit the buttons to take them directly to the basement garage without stopping at different floors.

"She is in New York taking meetings with different authors." Taylor informed him in a low monotone.

"Anyone with her?"

"Just Hannah Lewis, her PA."

Christian kept his eyes focused on the chrome doors before him. "Is she seeing anyone …romantically?"

"Not that we can find. She is very discreet in everything that she does. I know she knows that we are tracking her. She has changed her phone numbers and it is impossible to access her email accounts through WP. Their security is as tight, if not more so, than yours." Taylor was also looking forward being the stoic security detail that he was. "Like I said, Miss Steele knows that we are following her and she is quite resourceful in evading us."

Christian had to laugh. "She is that. A very remarkable woman."

"It's a shame you didn't understand that when she was yours." Taylor said boldly. "You managed to run off one of the finest ladies to ever grace this dark world…and for what? To beat a stupid girl who didn't give a damn about you except for whatever money or gifts she could get out of you."

"You have been holding that back for awhile." Christian said. He was not angry at Taylor for telling the truth. Their working relationship depended on that honesty and in truth; Jason Taylor was the only man that could speak so candidly with Christian without fear of retribution.

"Be glad that I have, because my first inclination was to beat the hell out of you for being a world class idiot." Jason was still looking forward. He had grown to adore Ana. She was sweet and kind; and she never looked down at him. She made his day a little bit brighter with her quick wit and big smile. When he and Gail got married, she was the one who made sure that they had a small but lovely reception and made arrangements for them to have a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii. "If I was you, I would walk on eggshells around Gail. She is apt to poison your food for making Ana leave."

"Crap, what has that woman done? My staff is turning against me."

"It's easy, Mr. Grey, she loved us and we loved her and you took her away from us. I don't know if Gail will ever forgive you. Also, we have a few leads on who sent those pictures to Miss Steele, but you're not going to like it." Taylor took another breath. "It looks like Elena Lincoln."

Christian let out a defeatist breath. "That fuckin' bitch finally did it."