AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry I am having a little bit of trouble on deciding when I should update this story. Since Part One it is already written I have issues trying to withhold chapters especially when I know they are all ready to go. I am currently writing Part Two and hope to be almost done with it by the time this part comes to a close. But when you readers ask me to update soon it is my weakness and I update sooner then planned. So here is the next chapter a day earlier than intended, the next chapter will not be posted until Friday evening...probably. Thank you once again for all your support.

WARNING:

This story may contain content that could offend readers. Story will surround storylines involving acts of dominance such as domestic discipline. This story will not contain BDSM. This story has will have spanking themes in later chapters. The following story will use mature language. This story has already been written and will contain character death in future follow ups. Lemons will not occur right away and not in every chapter this isn't Fifty Shades of fun. Please do not read this story if you think you may feel offended by the discussed themes.

Story is mine; the characters are borrowed from Stephenie Meyer

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I spent a good part of my afternoon, checking and responding to my email. I had neglected it for a while partly because it felt weird to not share such a huge happening in my life with my parents. I didn't think it would be the best idea to drop a bombshell on them about my budding relationship with that man from the movie Out of Mind over the internet. Oh god what would my parents think? Edward may be rich and famous but he was almost twice my age and my boss, were those types of qualities the ones parents fell instantly in love with? Probably not. I finally sat down and wrote to my mom and dad keeping all topics of Edward to a minimum.

I had noticed that Angela had written me several times. The first subject line read. "Guess what." The second read, "Hello?" and the third just said, "BITCH." I knew that I needed to read whatever it was right away. I decided to skip straight to "BITCH."

Dear Bitch,

That's right you don't have a name anymore. Only do I call my friends by their given names, seeing how you have decided to ignore me I'm not really sure how great of a friend you are any longer. Maybe champagne wishes and caviar dreams have gone to your head and you can no longer speak with us commoners. If you had read my last TWENTY emails you would know that I have decided to forgo the family vacation this year and come and see you in Italy. I already booked my ticket, so you better make this up to me and ask Mr. Hollywood for a couple of days off so we can go exploring. I hear Italian men are fantastic in bed, so you and your virgin ass better make accommodations for your who-ha because I plan on showing those Italians just how freaky us American bitches can be. You better write me back or I will show up on your door step and trust me it won't be pleasant.

Love you,

Ang.

Well Crap, first of all Ang it was only three emails my god don't have a coronary. Angela's coming to Italy. I let out a sigh. Would Edward even let me take off a day or two, maybe I could take a Friday and or Monday and make a long weekend out of it. It would be nice to see more parts of Italy. I wonder how Edward would feel letting Angela and I loose in Italy without adult supervision, however if he met Angela maybe he would see that she could scare the crap out of anyone including those lovely men down in Sicily. Wait a minute I don't need his permission, I am a grown female adult, I take orders from no one.

I wrote back Angela, typing furious probably because I had my anger spurring me on. I was already anticipating the fight that this may cause with Edward. By the time I was finished with the email, it felt like I had run a marathon. I didn't even hear Edward come in.

"Hey honey, are you ready to lie down for a while?" he sweetly asked. I being still hocked up on pissy adrenalin may not have answered as nicely as one could.

"I'll lay down when I damn feel like it." Oh shit. I could see his eyes instantly change.

"Excuse me Isabella, would you like to reconsider those words and tone." I huffed dramatically slammed my laptop shut and stomped over to my bed throwing myself on my stomach.

"What is up with your attitude?" he came over to the bed, I slightly turned around looking over my shoulder feeling the need to dig my grave deeper I said, "I can't speak to you at the moment Mr. Cullen, I have to take a nap."

I felt the sharp sting in my ass as he brought his hand down on it so hard and fast. I instantly turned over. "What the hell?" I shouted.

"How many more will it take to help improve your sunny disposition?" I didn't even answer him; I just flipped on my front and faced the other way. He sat on my bed. "What happened, Isabella? You were fine an hour ago." He asked quietly.

"I don't know, I started thinking of something I wanted to go and do and then my mind went a completely different direction. I think I'm just tired." I was exhausted.

"Well when you are ready to talk with me, I'm always here. Please rest for now." He got up and came over and kissed my forehead. "I love you." He whispered.

"I love you to."

If I didn't have enough to worry about with Angela's impending arrival, I could always count on my job to kick me when I was down. All week-long it felt like everyone's stress level was raised. I could tell that people seemed a tad bit more impatient than normal. We were set for filming at the Piazza Navona, which was famous for their beautiful fountains and relaxing cafés. I had actually been having a pretty decent day that was until Lauren arrived. I had prayed since it was Friday, that I could get through the week without having to deal with her. It seemed like luck was not with me.

All day long it was "fat girl" this and "fat girl" that. She had me jumping through hoops like I was damn seal. And oh how she loved the insults. I know I should have just told her off but I needed to remain professional.

"Fat girl." She beckoned.

I sighed; damn she had caught me again.

"How may I help you?" Every word betrayed me.

"Yes, I would like a regular, ice vanilla latte, soy, easy ice and a Splenda thoroughly mixed in." What was I, a Starbucks? I turned around to go and fulfill the wench's request as she added, "Oh and if you don't have it here by filming, I will tell everyone of your failure and that you're the cause for the delay in production."

I found the closest café and tried to relay the order. Of course they didn't have Splenda so as my own form of revenge I was sure to use real sugar. That's sticking it to her, Bella.

I ran back to the set and found her as she was readying the troops. "I was almost out of breath, "Here's your ice vanilla latte, soy, easy ice and a one Splenda." She looked at me like I was crazy and then proceeded to backhand the drink on to me. The latte burst forth from its container and landed all over my face and hair, drenching my chest and continued to drip down my arms. I stood there frozen with my mouth opened. I looked up at her, she seemed proud of herself.

"Well that was a vast improvement to your wardrobe choice." She laughed and turned to leave. I stood there for a couple of seconds, people were staring at me. Kenny came over to me with a towel and handed it to me. I was never more grateful for his kindness, I thanked him and started to wipe myself off I was still pretty drenched but I had done my best.

I couldn't face everyone, there was no way I was going to face Edward. I made it to the local train station and like before I found myself a way home.

I must have looked like a mental case covered in the ice coffee; the one good thing was at least I smelled good. I can't believe I didn't stand up for myself. I had been bullied most of my life, but when I was younger I used to think that one day it would stop and one day I would be stronger to not allow this kind of thing to happen.

My phone started ringing, great it was Edward.

"Hello" I answered wearily.

"Bella, where are you?" he sounded pretty stressed out.

"I'm on my way to your house. I had an accident. I needed to change." Great, now it sounded like I crapped my pants.

"What do you mean you're on your way home, how are you planning to get there?" I could tell his voice was faltering.

"The same way I got home before, the train." I heard him yell out a "Fuck"

"Bella, are you out of your mind? You know how I feel about you traveling around by yourself." That's it.

"Well you know what, Edward. I really don't care at the moment of how you feel. I have had the worst fucking day and the last thing I need right now is a lecture on my safety." I promptly hung up the phone. I wasn't even able to shut the phone down before it started ringing. I hit ignore and turned it off.

When I arrived at the train station in Lake Bracciano, Alice was there waiting with the car. She took one look at me and rushed to me.

"Oh my god, Bella what happened?" she gasped.

I broke down only managing one word out of my mouth, "Lauren." Alice hugged me for a couple of minutes before we got inside the car.

"Bella, you have to tell Edward. No one deserves to be treated like this; he would be so pissed if he knew."

"Telling Edward is not an option. I'll figure this out myself."

When we arrived home, I took off upstairs for a shower. Showers and beds had always been my safe havens for breaking down in. I couldn't even find it in me to care about whatever punishment Edward was already plotting. I curled up in bed and cried myself to sleep, just like the pathetic "fat girl" I was.

The arrival of Edward's car and the doors slamming closed woke me from my sluggish sleep. I laid in bed waiting for his arrival which I knew wasn't going to be pleasant. Surprisingly enough it took him a couple of minutes to reach me and he gently opened the door instead of hurling it open like I had been picturing.

He turned the light on and looked over to me. My eyes just took him in.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" He shook his head slowly like he was trying to tell himself it wasn't true. I threw back the sheets and turned over on my stomach.

"Let's just get this over with." I said gloomily.

He came over and sat down on my bed beside me. "There will be plenty of time for punishment later."

Ugh why did he have to draw everything out? "Just get it over with already." I shouted at him. His hands were on me, he managed to flip me over so he could continue the conversation face to face.

"Bella, why didn't you tell me about Lauren?" My face paled.

"Who told you? Alice?" Please tell me that she hadn't betrayed me.

"No, not Alice. Alice has known about this?" Crap.

He continued, "Bella how could you not tell me? I'm your boss but you are my love, first. You should have come to me. When I heard about what she did today and how she has tormented you since the beginning of filming, it crushed me. Bella I love you more than anything, you think that I would ever allow any person to talk and treat you like that?" I started crying.

"Edward, it's not your fight. It's something I have to deal with. This isn't your problem." I said fiercely.

"Of course it is my problem. Any problem you have, then it's my problem too. You won't have to worry about Lauren anymore, I fired her."

My heart dropped to my stomach. "Oh no, please tell me your joking." Edward looked confused. "Edward, how could you do that? This is my problem, not yours. You firing Lauren, oh my god…" I got up from the bed and started to pace.

"Do you know what people will say? They will think that the only reason you fired her was because she upset your fuck buddy. I mean why else would a person of your stature go off and jeopardize the film. How could you do this to me?" I was yelling that's for damn sure.

"Bella…" I cut him off,

"You are messing with my career and you knew when this started, that was one of my issues with us. I don't want to be known as another Hollywood slut who fucked her way to the top."

"That's enough! If you think that I would just fire her because of the way she treated my girlfriend then that says a lot about the kind of person you think I am. I would fire anyone who ever treated my assistant or any person on my set with such horrible disregard. And if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't the person who fired her, Emmett did. We don't want to be associated with anyone like that. Yes I knew she was difficult when we first hired her but I never once thought she could be capable of this."

What was I going to do, what would people think? Edward broke me out of my contemplation, "Oh and just so you know it wasn't just one person who told me about today, several people came up to me and shared with me how she has been treating you. Because believe it or not you are well liked and after today they were willing to stand up for you."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, who would want to stand up for me. When you filmed on major productions like this one, there was a sense of hierarchy. The above the line people, meaning actors, producers, directors rarely associated with the below the line workers. Below the line being your grips, production assistants, and lighting or makeup people. Pretty much the grunt workers. It was rare for one group to talk to another group unless it concerned work, which is why I was surprised that my colleagues would break the code of silence for someone like me.

I looked at him and sat down on my bed I placed my hands over my face. I felt him wrap his arms around me, we laid back down and he held me as I started telling him all about Lauren , how she treated me and how it killed me inside when she would call me "fat girl." When it was over we just laid together not saying a thing.

Something suddenly occurred to me, "Edward you can't fire Lauren, how on earth are you going to replace your lead actress? It's going to cost you a fortune to do re-shoots."

"Bella, do you realize just how little she really filmed. Her role is not that big. We are going to tweak the script, hire a new actress and when we get back to LA we are going to film her characters scenes on a soundstage. It really won't cost that much because Lauren's husband will be paying for it."

"What? Why would Tyler Crowley pay for a movie that his wife was fired from?" I asked.

"Because we made it very clear to him when we signed her that if there were any problems with Lauren, we would hold him responsible." Edward stated matter of factly.

"That would never hold up in a court of law." I countered.

"Bella, it won't reach the law, in Hollywood we have our own laws and if he values his wife and his career he will do what we ask." Okay, was it just me or was Edward starting to sound a little gangsta. I tried to not let my mind ponder Edward's words too much; I mean it wasn't like he was the Godfather. He wasn't going to take someone out, right?

Edward interrupted my musings, "Bella, we need to talk about your punishment."

I sighed, "I know you're upset about the train, but first of all it really isn't as scary as you think. And second, can't we consider it as time served. I mean I was tortured for a couple of months I think that's punishment enough."

He kissed my head, "First of all, I don't think the train is all that unsafe but it really isn't something you should do alone. And second, I'm willing to overlook the train but I am going to punish you for keeping something like this from me. You need to learn that I am always here for you and you have to come to me when stuff like this happens. You could have come to me in the beginning and I would have talked with her and it would have been over. From what I understand she was already causing you problems even before we were dating, so there would have been no threat to worry about what others thought."

"I just didn't want to burden you with my problems and I was afraid that you would not let me come to set anymore."

"Bella you must have more faith in me, we can always talk about something and come up with a solution together." He raised my chin with his finger and he leaned down and kissed my lips.

"Are you ready?" I knew what he was talking about so I snuggled in closer to him, "No." I said in the smallest possible voice.

He started to pull himself away from me, he sat with his back on my head-board and his legs stretched out on my bed. "Come here." I slowly pulled myself up and over his lap and waited for the price to be paid.

Thankfully Edward went easy on me, well if you call ten swats easy. Of course I had forgotten to bundle up and I remembered half way through. I asked Edward if he wouldn't mind taking five. Using the excuse of my bursting bladder I made my way to the bathroom and managed to flatten out some wash clothes padding my underwear. I should have known it wasn't going to work, after the first swat Edward pulled down my pants and then told me for the remainder of the chastisement I would not be allowed to wear anything at all.

I still had to figure out how to ask Edward for a couple of days off, Angela's impeding arrival was something of a stress to me. I know that I was supposed to go to him with a problem and together we would arrive at a solution, blah blah blah. But in reality I knew that if I presented him with a problem he would arrive at a solution fit for him.

We were sitting down for breakfast when I decided to drop the bomb shell; I figured the more witnesses the better.

"So Edward, I was wondering if I could maybe take a couple of days off. Like one or two not too big of a deal." I asked slyly.

He was passing the pancakes to me, I saw Alice perk up. "What are you thinking about doing with those days?" his interests definitely seemed to peak.

"Well I.." Don't blow this Bella. "I want to see…" Oh god I had rehearsed all morning long and now it went right out the mansion window.

"Wow normally you're like a crazy babbling Furby what happened?" Emmett snickered.

I sent Emmett a death look. "My friend is visiting and has asked if I could travel with her for a couple of days. No biggie." Whew that was done.

"Why don't you ask her to come and stay here?" To anyone listening it would seem like a nice gesture, for me I knew he was just asking that because he had found a solution to my problem that he could live with.

"She wants to rough it, she has these dreams of coming over here, bouncing around from city to city and Roman Holidaying it up." Okay maybe some of that was a lie. If Angela knew I was trying to disinvite her from a celebrity's home she would kill me and then not talk to me for a week after.

"Well maybe you should call her and ask her after breakfast. Tell her that we would be more than happy to accommodate." He smiled at me, I smiled back at him. You may think you won this round, Mr. Cullen.

As soon as breakfast was over, I attempted to run upstairs and "call" Angela.

"Bella, where are you going?" Edward halted me.

"I'm going to write Angela." I faltered almost missing a step at the sound of his voice.

"I thought you were going to call her." He had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Well it seems ridiculous to make an expensive international call when an email will suffice."

"I think it would be better to call so you can properly explain our offer, why don't you use the kitchen phone so if you get confused I'll be right there to help you out." I sighed inward, this man knew me too well. That was never a good thing.

It took me a minute to just figure out how to call Angela, when dialing internationally you have to dial like ten numbers before you get to the phone number. I saw Edward sitting and reading a newspaper on the couch in the family room. I knew it was all a farce since he was reading an Italian newspaper and he didn't know a lick of Italian.

The phone started ringing. Please don't pick up, please don't pick up.

"Hello." Dammit Angela, you had one job to do.

"Hey Ang. It's Bella."

"Bella? Oh my god it's a miracle she's alive. Ladies and Gentleman she's alive." She began shouting to what I hoped was an empty apartment.

"Yeah real funny Ang." I grumbled.

"Well I was about to call in on the tip line for TMZ and accuse Edward Cullen of kidnapping my roommate." She declared.

"I'm sorry, I've been really busy. You know how overly demanding these celebrities can be." I looked over at Edward and he just smiled widely.

"So Ang, the reason I was calling, I recently asked my boss for a couple of days off so that I can go exploring with you and he has offered you a place to stay while you're here." Here's where it gets tricky.

"Are you serious, oh my god yes." She jumped at it, like expected.

"I know, I tried telling him that you already had a completely different idea in mind, but don't worry he won't be offended by your rejection of his offer."

Ang started yelling into the phone. "Bella, I didn't say no, I'm saying yes!"

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to let him down gently but the good news is he is giving me a five-day weekend to spend with you."

"Bella can you hear me, is this thing working?" She sounded confused; I was really going to have to make this up to her.

"Angela, this is Edward Cullen." My head whipped around so fast to see that Edward had picked up the phone near the couch. "My apologies, I heard you talking with Bella and I was hoping that I could get you to reconsider." I was instantly on my feet and jumped on him trying to tackle the phone out of his hand. "Get off the phone, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen." I growled. Leave it to celebrities to give their children crazy long names.

"Oh you would, well we look forward to having you. Thank you Angela we will see you next Friday." He hung up.

"I can't believe you high jacked my phone conversation, doesn't privacy mean anything to you people?" I huffed.

"Bella, why don't you want your friend to come and stay with us?" I hated when he asked me legitimate questions.

"Because I wanted to be able to go and see something other than Rome, I have been here for three months and all I have really seen has been Lake Bracciano and snippets of Rome. I know that I am here for work, but this was my opportunity to see Florence and Sienna and I know with Angela here you are going to just control everything. I want my damn freedom. I think you could at least trust me with a couple of days off somewhere without you." I flopped down on the opposite side of the couch then where he currently occupied.

He sat there for a moment thinking before he spoke, a quality which I am sure he felt I needed to work on.

"Why didn't you just come and talk to me instead of making us go through that whole debacle."

"Come on Edward, what would you have said if I just straight out asked to go traipsing around Italy with my adult female friend without the proper supervision which I have learned has come to mean either you or Emmett or Jasper or Carlisle and nobody else because heaven forbid we try and act like normal human beings here."

"Look, I really don't think that having an attitude now is going to help your cause. If you had come to me like a normal adult human being in the beginning we could have sat around and come up with a compromise that hopefully both of us could live with." He said pointedly.

He scooted over to where I was sitting and turned himself to look at me. "You want me to trust you, but over and over you show me a lack of judgment and responsibility. I don't want you to feel like a prisoner, that's not my intension. However I do not feel comfortable with two young women running around Italy without someone I trust to be there if a problem should arise. I'm going to offer you a compromise and you can either take it and go have fun, or Angela can stay here for her visit and she can come with us on work days into Rome."

"How is this a compromise? You're just giving me options." I asked.

"Well I would have been willing to negotiate a compromise but after your little act you just displayed, this is the consequence. You can take your five days and go up to Florence or wherever else your little heart's desire, I will pay for the hotel in whatever cities you end up in, ensuring that you are in a safe area." Okay I could feel the catch coming.

"In addition, on days I cannot personally escort you, I ask that Carlisle and Esme accompany you." And there you have it; Edward Cullen had the catch of the day. I chose to stay silent those next few moments to work on thinking before speaking. A wise decision due to the fact that my initial reaction would have been to let lose a few curse words which I am sure would land me in a prime position of discomfort.

I slowly exhaled and tried to un-ball my fists. "We will accept Carlisle and Esme's supervision during the hours of midnight to seven am." I said diplomatically.

"No. This is the only deal I am willing to make."

Now he'd done it. "That's ridiculous!" I jumped up off the couch. "You can't tell me what to do and you sure as hell can't tell Angela what to do. Let me tell you how this is going to work. Angela and I are going to be gone from Friday evening to Monday morning, during which time we will go wherever the hell we want to go, on our own I might add. And we will stay in the crappiest hotel known to man maybe even a hostel, we will eat from garbage cans if we feel like it and we may even cross the street without looking both ways. Do not even presume to believe for two seconds that you hold any power over our plans." I think I even startled myself with that little speech. He didn't look too happy.

Emmett came bounding into the room to witness our little standoff, which I'm sure Edward was just pausing for until he left.

"Whoa, it's a little intense in here. I think I'll just leave." Emmett held up his hands and slowly backed his way out.

"No Emmett you stay, I was just leaving." I called after him.

"Isabella, go upstairs and wait in our room." Edward seethed.

"You know what, I think I'll pass." I turned and walked out the backdoor.

Edward didn't come after me or even try to call me back. It was a lot cooler now on the lake, the once hot summer had changed drastically. In the last week of November the temperature had to have been around fifty degrees that day. The lake didn't even look inviting, it's once glacial appearance seemed to be wrestling with the wind.

I had chosen a fine day to storm out of the house. I knew that going back would mean I would have to face the music and no matter how cold I may feel I wasn't ready for it. I sat down on the edge of the dock watching the water below me, I was half tempted to make a home for myself in Edward's boat but I knew if I stepped one foot on that boat without his permission I would really be in for it. I knew he was probably sitting up there in his castle watching me. Waiting for me. That was the downside to our partnership, each of us were equally stubborn and as you know in any fight there is always one clear winner.