CHICAGO (CBS) — Jacinta Reck took a sip of a protein shake during her workout at XSport Fitness in the South Loop found something she’d never expect inside.

CBS 2 Morning Insider Lauren Victory shares what happened when the gym rat’s happy place turned into a house of horror.

As a law student, Reck knows the value of preserving evidence. She’s kept that protein shake in her freezer for weeks.

The cup was handed to her by an employee at her old gym, XSport Fitness at 8th and State streets.

“I said ‘Oh, no thanks,’ and then he said, ‘Are you sure? It’s really good,’” Reck recalled. “So I asked, ‘What’s in it?’ and he told me ‘peanut butter, banana, couple other things.’”

Reck said she took a sip, and crunched down on an ingredient she never expected.

“I just assumed it was a piece of ice, so I bit into it, and I immediately knew it wasn’t ice, and I spit it out, and it was this chunk of a pill,” Reck said. “It’s got like a very chalky, bitter taste.”

In panic, she snapped pictures of the drink in the XSport locker room, and then bolted.

“I knew that I needed to leave, because I had ingested some of the shake, because I didn’t want whatever it was to start kicking in,” she said.

What’s left of the protein shake still has chunks of the pill in it.

Reck said she tried to show it to managers, calling the South Loop gym multiple times, even leaving a hand-written note. Finally, the XSport corporate office contacted her about the employee who handed her the shake.

“They told me that they couldn’t tell me what was going on with his personnel file, but that I would never see him at this location again,” she said. “I said, ‘Okay, what if I go to another XSport location?’ And they said I would absolutely not see him again at another XSport location. So I don’t know exactly what happened to him.”

When CBS 2 went to the XSport gym to ask if the employee with the shake had been suspended, fired, or possibly arrested, another employee said he couldn’t give an interview.

“You can call the corporate office,” he said.

CBS 2 gave the XSport corporate office several days to provide a comment, but the best they could do is “because of ethical constraints, we can’t share any info.”

Reck said she plans to get the pill tested to find out exactly what it is.