Chapter 9

Note: I love this story as if flows onto my computer. I hope I do it justice as it is much longer than I anticipated. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it. I did take some liberties in the management restructuring or this chapter alone could have been a book. As it is my editor suggested I split it into two chapters because it was too long. Please accept them as they are, I have plans to use some of them in the future. As always constructive criticism gratefully accepted and ways to improve this story are appreciated. I would like to thank markf52 for editing my story from a textural and flow point of view. His insights, like splitting this chapter, have been very helpful.

I asked, “Is everyone ready for lunch? After lunch we will be taking the company helicopter to the resort. Does anyone get airsick?”

Everyone laughed and shook their heads no. I said, “Let’s get this show on the road.”

The eight of us climbed into two cars and headed out for a very nice lunch. We climbed back into the cars and headed to the airport. We all boarded the helicopter for the flight to the resort. Conversation was excited as everyone was pointing to sights they recognized. We landed at the pad adjacent to the resort. Two people, a man and woman, were standing to the resort side of the pad. As we landed, the crew secured the helicopter in place and opened the door for us to exit.

Jill and I lead our group out of the aircraft, the two standing next to the pad approached. I reached out my hand to the man, he shook my hand and introduced himself, “My name is Marcos and per your new organizational guidelines, this is my personal assistant Olivia.”

I replied, “This is my co-VP Jill and I am Jeff. The remainder of my team is Sandy, who is the new account manager for the resorts and her personal assistant Brenda. These two lovely looking twins are our personal assistants Ayana and Nahla. And last but not least are Ebonee and Pixie, they are interviewing for our two new hotel account management positions. We felt a little on the job training would help them support our company better. Before you ask, no decision has been made on who the new managers will be. Ebonee and Pixie will benefit from this experience whether or not they become managers and so will the company. We still have three candidates to interview over the next couple of days.”

Eyeing Jill, Marcos said, “This way to our offices and conference room.”

I held Jill back and let our team follow ahead of us. As we were walking through the resort, I whispered in Jill’s ear, “Something is not right here. Please follow my lead in how I use this meeting to figure out what it is.”

Jill replied, “I feel it too. It seems like everyone is nervous, even though they all have smiles on their faces. Their smiles are not reaching their eyes. Someone is hiding something that we need to uncover.”

Marcos and Olivia led us into the conference room, as we were we seating ourselves around the table. I noticed that Marcos went straight to the seat at the head of the table instead of offering it to Jill and me as the top managers in the meeting.

Jill whispered in my ear, “This guy has an ego issue. He needs to show he is in charge here.”

I replied to Jill, “I see and feel it too. Let me pick the time to address the situation.”

Marcos noticed our side bar as he said, “Since we are in one meeting here, is there something you would like to say to this group before we discuss my resort.”

Jill surprised me when she stood, I could tell she was very upset. I stared at her with my mouth open while thinking so much for letting me lead. “Marcos, before we start our meeting I do have something to say. This is not your resort as you so boldly stated, it is my parents resort. I am not sure my father would like you referring to it as yours.”

Marcos stood tall and proudly held his head high and his chin out, “Your father turned this resort over to me to run as I see fit.”

Jill smiled at him, “No Marcos, my father hired you to manage a business for him. Not take it over and run it as you see fit. We have company guidelines and I don’t believe you are managing within those guidelines.”

Getting very upset Marcos started to approach Jill. I stood and stepped beside her. Yelling, Marcos said, “I am in charge of this resort, not some young, newly graduated from college spoiled brats.”

Jill looked in Marcos eyes, “Jeff and I are the Vice Presidents of this corporate division and we decide who is in charge of our resorts. Marcos, you are fired as manager of this resort.”

I saw Marcos raise his hand to strike Jill, I stepped forward and intercepted his arm with mine and put him on the ground. He was yelling, “This is my resort, you cannot fire me. I will sue you for everything you own. This whole company will be mine. You cannot strike me in my business.”

With his arm pinned and my knee in the middle of his back I whispered in his ear, “I did not strike you. You tried to strike my fiancé. Only my self control and training is keeping you alive. I suggest you become very quiet before I lose control of my emotions.”

Jill walked over to Olivia, “Please call security and your Human Resource manager come to this conference room, and Olivia, I mean right now. Jeff is playing nice, even though he is very upset and extremely protective of me. Your ex-manager can’t seem to keep his big mouth shut. Also, I want the video and sound from the cameras my father put in this room on a DVD in front of me in two minutes.”

Olivia made the call as security entered. They reviewed the situation and demanded, “Sir, please release our resort manager.”

Hanging up, Olivia shouted, “Security stand down, he will not be released. Marcos attacked them and Jeff reacted in self defense.”

Security looked at Olivia and stated, “Ma’am, they attacked your boss in his resort.”

Olivia smiled, “No, he attacked them in their resort. Jill’s father owns this resort. These are the new corporate VP’s, replacing Jeremy when he retires the end of next week. They are here for a meet and greet tour of the resort and then review the resorts performance. They just fired Marcos because he attached Jill. He is no longer an employee of this resort. HR is on the way here.”

A tall, business like lady said, “Olivia is there a problem here. I was in a meeting and my PA said I was needed in here immediately.” While talking her eyes were taking in the room. She gasped when she noticed Marcos on the floor with me on his back.

She looked at security as Jill stepped in front of her with her hand out. “My name is Jill. I am Marshall and Amanda’s daughter and one of the new Vice Presidents of this division of my parent’s corporation. My fiancé, Jeff the other VP, is the one on Marcos back. Jeff intercepted an attempt by Marcos to strike me. The DVD of the video should be here in a minute and we will review it together. I suggest you have security relieve my partner of Marcos. Jeff has little restraint when someone tries to hurt me and Marcos isn’t being very corporative. By the way, your name is?” Jill was still holding out her hand in greeting.

She looked at Jill’s hand, nervously reached out to shake it and said, “My name is Julie, but I am at a loss as to what I should do here. I believe I should remove myself from this situation as Marcos is my husband.”

Jill laughed and looked at Olivia, “Olivia, please call corporate and ask Isabella to charter a helicopter and get her cute little ass up here. And tell her I said she is needed now.” Olivia made the call and was laughing when she hung up. Olivia said, “Isabella said to tell her Mistress that she is on the way. She should be here in about 45 minutes.”

Security had taken charge of Marcos when a young man walked in and handed a DVD to Olivia. “Jill, your copy of the video is here?” Laughing she added, “Or should I call you Mistress.”

Smiling Jill said, “You don’t have to call me Mistress, yet. Only those who wear my collar like the ones that are on the ladies with me. All but one of the collars have Jeff’s name on them, but we are a team and what is his is mine and vice versa.”

Julie asked, “What are you going to do to my husband?”

Jeff replied, “We have already fired him and depending what the video shows, I may have him arrested for attempted assault.” He looked at Olivia, “Please play the entire video, I see three cameras, but Marsh always puts four in a room.”

Olivia made a call and requested the head of security come to the conference room.

Julie looked at Jill, “I don’t think that is going to work. The head of security is Marcos brother. Almost his entire family works here. Most of management at this resort is related to him.”

Jill laughed, “As HR representative, how could you allow him to create a totalitarian system within the resort?”

Julie lowered her head, “You saw how he is when anyone stands up to him. He can be quite abusive as the video will probably show. When his brother comes in, ask him to play the video. Not the DVD, you will see that it has been erased and you will have to fire him too. He’s been covering for him since he was hired. His temper always puts him in bad situations.”

A few minutes later, a tall man walked into the room and asked if there is a problem here. When he saw his brother restrained to a chair between two security personnel he became very agitated.

Jeff asked him, “Sir, please settle down and all your questions will be answered.” I looked at my watch and asked, “Please play the security video for this room starting 28 minutes ago.”

He went over to the computer and appeared to be opening a program. He looked up and said, “It appears that someone has turned off the cameras in this room. I will have to investigate and find out who turned them off.”

Jeff laughed and said, “I know who turned them off. Olivia will you please play the DVD I requested.”

As Olivia picked the DVD up, the head of security started toward her. I yelled, “Stand down or I will put your ass on the floor next to your brother. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”

He came directly at me with a smile on his face he said, “I’d like to see you try, I am an expert at personal defense.”

I smiled back at him and he raised his right arm in a fist, as he swung a roundhouse punch, I stepped inside his swing so my right shoulder contacted his chest while his swing went around me. I grabbed his arm and let his momentum carry him over my back and I slammed him to the floor. His head hit hard enough to knock him out cold. I looked at the two security guards who stood there with their mouths open. I stepped toward Julie and said, “Get the rest of his family in here. We will find out who else is loyal to this son of a bitch.”

Jill stood in front of Julie and asked, “Where do you stand in regards to your husband being fired?”

Julie stated, “Looking for a divorce attorney. I can finally get rid of that asshole. He held this job over my head and told me if I left, he would see I never found another one. He no longer has anything to hold over my head. If you will have me, I would like to keep my job. When he isn’t threatening me, I am good at what I do.”

Jill looked at Sandy who pulled Julie into an embrace and said, “As of right now, you are on 90 days probation. We will see how good you are at your job. There are a number of management positions to be filled here. Olivia, please call Isabella and tell her she will not be needed at this time. Our HR issue has been handled.”

Olivia smiled and made the call. “Sandy, Isabella was in the process of booking a helicopter. I suggested she cancel it and return to her office. She asked me to inform her Master and Mistress she would be standing by if you required further assistance.”

Ebonee asked, “Mistress, if I qualify, may I apply for one of the management positions? I live an hour and a half away from corporate, but only around 30 minutes from here. It would save me an hour, each way, every day on my commute. That’s two hours every day, I could start working on my master’s degree.”

Jill smiled at Ebonee and looked toward Nahla, “Ebonee, if something comes up you think you are qualified to fill. I would encourage you to apply for it. Especially if it lets you further your education. I am sure Nahla will invite you to our weekend parties when you are available.”

The quiet conversation was broken by a woman’s scream as she ran over to the head of security laid out on the floor. She demanded, “Who did this too him? I will have the son of a bitch put in jail.” You could tell her anger was real as it was written all over her face and body language.

I stepped toward her and said, “I put him there when he attacked me. He is no longer employed at this resort.”

When she stood and approached me, Jill appeared between us and stated, “You are talking to the Vice President of this corporation, and you will speak with respect when you address him.”

She yelled, “I do not have to respect anyone, pointing toward Marcos in the chair, he runs this resort and I am his sister. I answer to nobody but him.”

Jill laughed, “He is no longer employed at this resort. I fired him when he attacked a VP of the corporation that owns this resort. You just joined their ranks of the unemployed. You are excused to clean out your desk, you have one hour.”

Looking at one of the security personnel in the room Jill said, “Escort her to her desk and then off the property. Unless you are family also, then you may be excused too.”

He replied, “Ma’am, I am not family. But they took a chance on me when I was released from prison and couldn’t find a job. I don’t want to do anything to hurt his family, but I also really need this job.”

Jill asked, “How long have you worked here?”

He replied, “I just completed my six month probation period and was given a slight increase in pay.”

Jill stated, “That means you are doing your job well. Unless you are loyal enough to him to cause us problems, do as I ask and your job will not be in jeopardy. Jeff and I require a certain amount of loyalty also. It is totally your call to make, I could care less what you were in prison for as long as you stay clean from here on out. Do you still want this job?”

His reply was as expected, “Yes ma’am.” To the sister he said, “This way to your office ma’am. Our VP just gave you an hour to clean out your desk. The last person your brother fired didn’t even get to clean out their desk. I think you should do as she suggests.”

The rest of the family went pretty much the same, one by one. Each one refusing to accept that Marcos was not in charge and Jill fired each one of them. All in total she fired six of the seven managers at the resort.

Olivia was relieved when we told her she could keep her position, “I no longer have to fuck that bastard to keep my job. I am a single mother of two, a boy in high school and a girl in middle school. Thank you for having faith in me.”

I asked, “What happened to your marriage?”

She replied, “Same old story, I married the wrong guy and when he became too abusive, I packed our bags and left the divorce papers on the kitchen table. The divorce was finalized three and a half years ago. We moved local and I took this job, only to be working for the same type of guy I divorced. I couldn’t quit because the job market was very bad at the time.”

Jill stepped up to Olivia and pulled her into an embrace. “You will never have to do that again as long as you work for us. I promise you that.”

We gathered everyone around the table to work out a plan to keep the resort open.

Julie outlined what Jill and I did in the space of a couple of hours. You dismissed the manager of the overall resort, front desk manager, security manager, maintenance and housekeeping manager, grounds manager, and the manager over our restaurants. The only manager at the resort that you haven’t fired is me and I only have one person reporting to me and that’s my personal assistant. How are we going to keep this resort running until we replace everyone you fired?

Sandy looked at Jill and me, “Master / Mistress, I think we should give Olivia the chance to manage the overall resort.”

We all heard Olivia as she gasped, Sandy looked at her. “What, don’t you think you are qualified to run this resort?”

Olivia replied, “I am qualified, but I don’t participate in the lifestyle. I am not one to sleep around on my partner. I can’t be unfaithful to them without too much guilt. The only way I was able to rationalize what Marcos made me do is to consider it part of the job. Now that he is gone, I don’t think I can do it anymore. I have a live in boyfriend. When Marcos used me, I had to use an open room for a shower before I could go home.”

Jill and Sandy moved to sit next to Olivia. Jill asked, “Please stay until we can find a replacement. Maybe we can find somewhere else within our corporation for you to work. Will that work for you, there is no requirement for you to participate in the lifestyle of this resort to manage it. It would be better if you did, but you do not have to if you don’t want to.”

Olivia said, “Is that true, Marcos said it was a requirement of the job. I didn’t worry about it at the time because I wasn’t in a relationship. I didn’t think about the future. When I found someone, it became difficult for me, but considering it part of my job made it easier. If what you say is true, I will stay and help you. But, I would like to move to another position when and if possible.”

I looked at Julie and Sandy, “That’s one for now. What do you know about the other departments?”

Julie stated, “The PA for grounds keeping, which includes the pool area, used to own a lawn and garden business, but developed a back problem and wasn’t able to keep working at his business. His grown sons and daughter took it over and he hired on as our lead of grounds maintenance. He basically ran the grounds keeping department as it was. The one you fired wasn’t capable of doing it. He just collected a check and let his PA handle it.”

I said, “Julie, please call him in here or in your position of HR manager, offer him the job. You say he was doing it anyway. Let’s give him the position. Let him know he has a 90 day probation period to prove he is up to handling the position.”

Jill looked at Ebonee, “What did you do before you hired into corporate headquarters.”

Ebonee smiled at me, “I worked my way through college working in restaurants. I worked in every position as I moved around for more money. I finally became the manager of a small family owned restaurant in my senior year of college. Are you thinking what I think you are thinking?”

I asked Julie, “How many restaurants do you have on this property?”

Julie smiled, “We have four, but because we only have 100 rooms, they are all small and only seat about 40 people each and they are individually run by PA’s. The personal assistant fills in as each individual restaurant manager and runs them with the oversight of the overall restaurant manager. The PA also has a person that reports to them for all restaurant purchasing needs that are routed through the restaurant manager’s office. There are two purchasing personnel in the restaurant manager’s office who place the orders with our suppliers. Each individual restaurant verifies receipt of products ordered.”

I looked at Ebonee. She had a huge smile on her face. “Would you like to spread your wings and manage our restaurants?”

Ebonee couldn’t quite control herself, “Oh Master, thank you for giving me a chance. I will not let you down.”

I looked at Julie, “Do you have an owner’s suite at this resort?”

Julie replied, “We do, it hardly ever gets used unless we have a high end family check in and ask for it. We keep it clean and ready all the time. It has three bedrooms and a large living, dining and kitchen area as one large room. Overall it is about 2,000 square feet.

Sandy looked at me, and then turned to Pixie, “Pixie, we can’t survive without a front desk manager. Would you fill that job until we find a replacement or you decide you want the job permanently?”

Pixie looked happy and sullen at the same time, “Sandy, I will do it because you ask me too and I know my Master wants me to grow as a person. But, I will miss out on their lifestyle. You know I will miss it, a lot.”

I looked at Ebonee and asked, “Ebonee, please come to me and kneel at my feet.”

Ebonee smiled, “Yes Master. Should I remove my clothing?”

I said, “Maybe later. Is there something you should ask of Pixie?”

Ebonee said, “Pixie, please come and kneel in front of me. Please leave your clothes on for now.” Pixie did exactly as she was asked. Pixie kneeled in front of Ebonee, knee to knee with her. “Pixie, I believe I am what you are looking for. From now on, you are to call me Mistress.”