Owning Bella Ch. 02

"I didn't fire her for fucks sake, I gave her a promotion!" He growled trying to calm down and failing.

"She didn't know that. I have known you for more years than I would like to admit, I have seen you use and abuse girls but never have I seen you this affected by one. If she is your one you need to treat her differently to those other girls you just picked up and discarded," Dorothea softened her voice, "She is obviously special, so don't treat her like every other girl who worshipped at your feet. It's time for you to change your world as much as you are asking her to change hers."

"If you want her to trust you tell her what's going on in that brilliant mind of yours," Dorothea continued to lecture the great and powerful Mel Marino as only she could. "She can't read your mind any better than the others could. Trust goes both ways; trust her with your plans. Leave the surprises for special days. Show her she is valuable as a person not just as a lover."

Mel Looked at the woman. She had been with the company from its earliest days. Her husband and Master had passed away years ago and she had no need to work, but she got up and came in every day like clockwork. Mel had asked her once why she still worked and she had smiled saying, "I like to be useful. I do my job well and add value to your company. I am a valued employee. Aren't I? What would I do at home? Take up knitting cock warmers?" Mel smiled at the memory admitting sometimes he could be too clever for his own good.

Mel rose and smiled helping the older woman to her feet, "You are worth your weight in gold, Dorothea."

They walked back to the office together, Mel much calmer and ready to explain the changes properly to Bella, but she was nowhere in sight. Mel checked all the rooms within the office suite before starting to make calls.

......................

Kurt and Dianne hurried into the building and went straight to Mel's office. Bella didn't have their mobile numbers, especially if she was using her new phone. They milled around as Mel called her parents on a pretext of making sure Jim hadn't reappeared there, letting them know everything was OK, and Bella was in a meeting all morning. "The front desk and my driver said they hadn't seen her leave the building, I don't know where else to look," Mel was frustrated, and the grief over his actions was clear in his voice.

"I'll go back to my desk in case she tries to call me through the office phone," Dianne said and looked at Kurt for askance.

Kurt nodded, and Dianne turned to Mel as he spoke softly, "You will call me the moment you hear anything won't you Dianne."

"Of course, don't worry there is probably a funny story behind all this, Bella is not a silly girl prone to theatrics," Dianne turned and hurried out of the room wondering what exactly happened to cause Bella to run away.

Dianne walked into her office opening the bottom drawer and throwing her handbag inside, she looked around knowing the office had been searched and walked quickly into Kurt's office having a quick look around. Returning to her desk she pulled out the chair and sat down and turned on her computer. As she scooted the chair forward, her shoe kicked flesh and a muffled squeak met her ears.

Jumping up and looking under her desk Dianne exclaimed, "Shit Bella! Do you know how many people are out looking for you?"

Bella hiccupped and turned her tear streaked face up to the gorgeous blonde woman, "I really messed up Dianne, Mel stormed out, I just want to go home but I can't." She stated to cry again, "Everything just happened so fast, I wasn't ready, I didn't understand, you know?" Bella looked up imploringly.

"Yeah I know sweetie come out now, we can work it all out, tell me what happened from the beginning," Dianne grimaced knowing she had pushed Bella into accepting Mel's collar as much as anyone.

Bella didn't move, couldn't move, she was distressed beyond belief, and she looked at Dianne with wide eyes, "It's okay honey you can stay there as long as you like."

"You know what?" Dianne was talking to herself more than Bella, "I am going to call the one person who can sort this out, lovely. He will take you home if that is what you truly want," Dianne just hoped he was still in town.

As she dialled the number, she hoped this would be worth the punishment she was sure to get, "Bobby", she whispered into the phone, "something terrible has happened, and I need you get here as soon as you can without alerting anyone and I mean anyone. Please we need you now." There was a silence and Dianne whispered again, "Yes Kurt's office, that's the one. Thank you, hurry."

"See everything will be fine, come out Bella, you can wash your face and feel better," Diane spoke softly, "You will have to come out sometime hun." Dianne moved her chair into the desk space again crowding Bella until she wanted to talk.

Master Rob like to think of himself as a white knight, rescuing damsels in distress. To those girls who knew him well and that he cared for, Rob gave his mobile number. It came with the instruction that if ever they were in danger, to call him Bobby and he would understand. Both he and Mel had seen the 'lifestyle' go wrong for so many girls. They had both together and separately rescued girls from destructive relationships with brutal men who did not care for the gift they had been given.

He realised the only reason Dianne would have called him to come to Mel's company was if she or Mel's new girl were in danger, and he couldn't fathom that either Mel nor Kurt would do anything to endanger their girls. He had stayed an extra night in the city, and the ride down to the office block took mere minutes. Rob strode into Kurt Whites office within fifteen minutes of Dianne's call.

Dianne looked up and pointed to her desk she said, "Bella and Mel had a misunderstanding this morning, he stormed out, and when he came back she had disappeared."

"I see," Robs voice held a question and Dianne shrugged, "Let me get you a coffee while you wait."

Dianne stood up and walked into Kurt's office with the man, Bella heard the door close and relaxed momentarily. Dianne told Rob what she knew repeating Bella's garbled words verbatim. Constantly glancing over her shoulder worriedly at having left the girl. "I am as much to blame as anyone I pushed her to say yes, and well other things..." Dianne left the words hanging.

Rob was starting to seethe, "Get Kurt down here. I want the whole story." Dianne opened the office door and came back out picking up the phone on her desk. "Hi Dorothea it's Dianne I need to speak with Mr White please. ... Sure I'll hold." Dianne's voice softened, "Master, could you come down to the office for a few minutes something urgent has come up..."

Rob snatched the phone from Dianne, "Kurt its Rob, get your ass down here now and don't tell Mel why." He handed the phone back to Dianne. Rob was mad the girl was clearly distressed to the point of break down, and if Mel had done this he wanted to know why. He shook his head unbelieving that Mel could do something like this.

Rob climbed under the desk beside Bella wrapping his arms around her. "Don't you worry little one, I am gonna sort this shit out."

"No!" Bella cried softly, "It's all my fault. I just want to go home. I was never good enough, never will be good enough." She burst into tears again and sobbed into his chest breathing in the smell of his biker's leathers and thinking only of her Master.

The lift bell chimed, and Kurt hurried in, "You called Rob?" He questioned Dianne.

"She is practically catatonic and won't come out from under my desk, Mel would have made it worse, and you were up there with him," her voice petered out as her excuses sounded lame even to her.

"Stay here where it's safe, I have a few bones to pick with Mr White," Rob said softly.

"No, really," Bella pleaded, "It is all my fault. I just didn't know. How could I know? I mean so much has happened, and I tried to understand, you know right?"

"Yeah I know baby doll. I get it, but I still want to talk to Kurt okay? You can come if you want," Rob looked at her, and she shook her head. "Suit, yourself," Rob climbed up and looked at Kurt as he sat in Dianne's chair.

"Someone better tell me what the fuck is going on here," Rob exploded.

Mel stepped into the office from the hallway, "Why don't I do that?" He looked around visibly deflating when he didn't Bella.

"Yeah you're the man with the answers," Rob said sardonically, "Tell me all about it."

"Better yet why don't I let her tell you," Mel moved to the computer turning the screen and keyboard to face him and logged into his email. He brought up the journal page Bella had written and stepped back to let them read it.

The journal was long, and he sat back on one of the anteroom chair with his face in his hands. Rob whistled as he finished reading, "Wow, I wouldn't have made such a big deal if I had known," he felt the guilt of having played his part in the break down of the girl under the desk. "Right so that was Sunday this is Tuesday. What happened today?"

"She had yesterday to rest properly, and last night was incredible! We woke refreshed this morning. We went to the gym before work," he grimaced. "I planned surprises for her today, first of which was a promotion to office manager with her own assistant so she could start managing a couple of smaller businesses we have our fingers in," he hesitated. "Nothing taxing just to get her feet wet and see how she went. She is incredibly smart you know."

"Well that's a good thing surely" Rob said nudging the girl with the toe of his boot.

"He called me a stupid slut," Bella whispered under her breath.

"Yeah but I didn't tell her I wanted to surprise her. We came in and met Dorothea, she was stunned, and I didn't realise why," he looked helplessly at them, "I didn't even have time to show her new desk or tell her about the new job, as soon as we walked into my office she began to cry. I asked why, and she all but yelled at me, accusing me of replacing her and expecting her to be sit like a glorified dumb bimbo doing nothing in the office every day instead of a real job."

Mel put his head in his hands again, "I lost it," he murmured, "I dragged her to the desk and rubbed her nose in what her new job was going to be and stormed out. When I came back to talk to her about it, she was gone."

"Geez, Mel, after everything that happened to her in one week, fuck, on that one day alone, you pull crap like that? No fucking wonder she won't talk to anyone," Rob huffed at Mel. He then slid from the chair and bent down under the desk, "For what it's worth if I had have known what your day was like, Sunday night would have been just the three of us. Don't lump me in the same basket as that sadistic asshole."

Mel looked up startled, "You better come out baby doll he knows you're here now," Rob grinned at her and reached out his hand. Bella shook her head, but his hand gripped hers, and he said sternly, "Come out now, little one."

Reluctantly Bella emerged from under the desk as she stood she looked up at Rob keeping her back to the others. "Good girl," he noted how pale she was and trembling, "Did you have breakfast?" Rob asked quietly keeping the conversation just between the two of them.

Bella shook her head, "Master asked his new assistant to order breakfast, but it didn't arrive before..." she left it hanging.

"That's not his new assistant," Rob laughed, "That's your new assistant. You just don't know how to boss her around yet."

"I can't boss anyone around and she seems so nice, and she probably knows a lot more than me anyway. She was so," again she left it hanging unable to find her words.

"Well then let's go see if breakfast is there and talk to Dorothea, she's been at this company longer than anyone except maybe the decrepit old owner. She could tell you some stories I bet. Help you with filing and answering phones but she's not so good on the business front. I hear you have a business degree," Rob kept up the chatter as he steered her out of the office and into the lift.

Dianne leapt at her phone, "Pastries, five minutes ago, Mel's office." Slamming down the phone she picked it up again, "Dorothea she is on her way, and pastries from the kitchen too, just go with whatever Rob says. Good. Mel's here. Yes. We will be up soon." Hanging up Dianne nervously looked at the two Masters and softened her voice, "I had no choice."

"It's okay Dianne. You did the right thing. I ask her to trust me and tell me everything, but I do not tell her much," he shrugged his shoulders. "She is just so perfect I forget how new she is to the lifestyle we lead, and I cannot expect her to accept everything blindly. I have never had to think about it before now, I always used them and passed them onto the club or another Master." He smiled at Dianne and stood, "I'm going up to repair the damage, she is worth a few chinks in my total bastard armor."

He rode the lift up thinking about the whole week and what he had done to get the slave he desired. It hadn't all been done in the proper way, but she was not an average everyday girl and he had wanted her so badly as his. He decided to start back at square one. She knew now about his lifestyle and what it entailed. He would offer to free her but beg her to stay, he had never in his life entertained such a thought before, but the idea of losing Bella now after to newly winning her submission was more than he could bear.

Mel walked into his office and found the three sitting on the leather couches. Dorothea stood as he entered and Bella said quietly, "Dorothea, whose assistant are you?"

"Yours Bella," the woman replied glancing at Mel.

"Good, then sit back down please," Bella said.

Looking at the woman Bella said softly, "I am very sorry for my behaviour this morning, I didn't understand why you were there at the desk I used to occupy. Please forgive my rudeness. If my Master doesn't decide I am too much of a drama queen I am sure we will be great friends.", Bella smiled.

She turned then to Rob, "Thank you so much Master Rob for coming when you barely knew me at all. I guess I should thank Dianne for that. She gave you little choice. I promise this will not be a regular occurrence, and I will be sure to eat breakfast before running off anywhere." She grinned, "I do feel so much better after eating something."

Taking a deep shuddering breath Bella got to her feet and walked to Mel floating down to kneel at his feet. He started to speak, but she held up her hand, "May I go first please?"

Mel sat forward in the chair and stroked her cheek nodding slowly. Bella once again drew a deep breath before starting, "I understand it must be very difficult for a Master such as yourself to take on an inexperienced girl like me, but you knew that all week. It's not like I didn't warn you that I wasn't good enough to be your slave. But the truth is I want to learn and do the right thing and please you so very much, but how can I if you don't tell me what is happening or why things need to be a certain way, or what you expect of me."

"Don't you think my life has been full of enough surprises and drama lately without more misunderstandings because I just don't understand what's going on?" Bella lowered her head, "All I could see was my replacement when we arrived anything you said after that fell on deaf ears because I was frozen in fear that I so replaceable." Bella shook her head, "If you could replace me with experience here it would only be a matter of time before you realised I was too much hard work at home too."

Mel reached down and picked her up drawing her into his lap and tightening her arms about her before she had finished speaking, "You are mine. I adore you and everything about you. To me, you are perfect. I will never let you go or replace you, not here or at home. Speaking of home," he looked at her with dark burning eyes, "Perhaps we should go home and have a day off work reminding you whom you serve." His hands tightened on her ass, and she squeaked blushing deeply. "Better yet, why wait," he picked her up and began to carry her toward the office's ensuite.

Rob grunted, "Keep it in your pants I haven't finished with two yet."