Chapter 30: Chapter 30

- A snitch in the ditch

James's pov

Tuesday started, busier than normal for me as Mr.Barbson had insisted I go over the account history with Dawn before going to my original assignment. He told me how there was some shady thing going on down in the SAP— Senior Access Private— account room.

On the fifth floor where the SAP account room was, I and Dawn nodded to each other before entering into it with uncertainty.

After we'd gone through all the accounts for more than two hours, I was certain that somethings were tempered with. Indeed there was a snitch, but Dawn wasn't convinced.

I didn't get how a person could be as trusting as Mr.Barbson, he hadn't checked on the SAP accounts for months. Dawn had cautioned him and he had said he trusted his employees and that there was nothing to worry about. Well, I knew there was.

How could a boss be so trustful?

There was a smart snitch taking advantage of Mr.Barbson's trust, the amount in the reports given to Dei was some millions less than the withdrawals made from the account. Since I had found them less than an hour into investigating, the smart snitch wasn't so smart. Was he now?

Mr.Barbson's trustfulness was going to make him lose a great deal if something wasn't done about the ongoing fraud. I for one was going to stop it. All in good time. In a bear good time.

First, since he had involved me, I was going to purge the senior staff with access to the company's private account room. How trustful were they?

If there were going to be suspects, the first I'd list would be the head person in charge of the accounts. "Dawn?"

"Uh," he answered, seeming to have lost his voice as he starred lost at the monitor showing proof of the fraud.

"Who's in charge of the SAP accounts?"

"There're three SAP accounts. The rest are *minuet. The main SAP account is managed by Mr.Christian Woods.''

My brows drew together as I searched my head for any history of the name Dawn mentioned. Nothing. I never heard the name before. "Who's that?"

"The person in charge of the account, dummy. Wasn't that the question in the first place?"

"Dumb ass," I cursed under my breath. "I didn't mean it that way. I just haven't heard of the name before now. Don't you think I'm supposed to have heard of him before? Seeing that he holds an important position here in this Empire?"

"I suppose, but wel-"

"And do you trust this person?" I cut him off.

"Dad does. I always thought he was awkward, but Dad always said it was because he's a geek. You should ask my dad how much he trusts him."

"Or we could go to the HR, check pieces of information on him, run a check on him then go to intégriste him." I looked at the watch on my wrist. "But not today, tomorrow okay?"

"Yeah, tomorrow's good."

As I neared Dei's office, I heard a person titter. It wasn't Deila. It was a masculine titter.

I came just two hours late and a guy was there laughing? A guy I didn't want to be the guy I knew it was. It better not be him, I thought.

I kept my demeanor composed as I opened the office door. And there he was.

The bastard I had punched and sent a message to. He didn't get the message and I'd have to send him another. Not right now.

He held a cup of coffee to his mouth, I saw his lips move before he sipped.

Dei didn't look to be involved in the conversation, but still... He had better get back to work. And now.

"It's time for you to resume, Mr.Timoty," I stated with a pointed look as I stood facing him.

I saw him fidget a little as my voice came by surprise, then he let out a dry laugh. "Says who? The new boss around here?"

I grounded my teeth together. There was no way I was letting the idiot piss me off again. "Nathaniel, I and Dei need to work. Isn't that right dear?'' I directed the question to her.

I saw her eyes gleam and knew there was laughter in it. "Yes."

He got up, bent down, and placed a kiss on Dei's cheeks. The nerve of that bastard. He wanted me to be vexed. I won't give him the pleasure, I decided.

"See you around Martins," he said, patting my shoulders before leaving.

As soon as he left, the air changed. The guy had a bad aura to him, I just couldn't place what it was. But there was something off about him more than our clash at the tennis clubhouse.

"So then..." I trailed.

"Rachael said you've been in the building for some hours now, yeah?"

"Yeah. I was over at the SAP with Dawn, as insisted but your dad.

She sat straight, looking serious. That CEO look was hot.

"Is everything okay?"

"Erm. Not really. There's a snitch to be out in a ditch."

Suprise taking over her features, she shook her head in disbelief. "What?"

"Yes. The amount in the expenditure record that was presented to you was less than the amount the company spent this last month. This someone is smart, she or he alters they figure little by little and it's been going on for months. Figures are missing. Millions."

"Who?"

"We don't know yet."

I heard her mutter a 'wow'. "How did you find out about this?"

I inhaled, rubbing my palms to my forehead. I was already stressed out and the day just began. "I told you. I and Dawn went over the account history before I came here. He wasn't so convinced, but he'll be soon."

She chortled. "I'm sorry. I know you just told me. I'm just.... well, taken aback. And a little hurt my dad didn't speak to me about this."

"I thought you would. He wanted to, I told him I'd tell you myself."

She exhaled. "Who do you think could be the snitch that needs to be put in a ditch? Do you think you can find them?"

"I'll do my best to find whoever it is. I'm questioning Mr. Christian Woods tomorrow. He's in charge of the SAP main accounts."

"Alright, I'll come with you."

I nodded an 'okay'. The room was silent for a while and it was what I needed to ease my stress.

"About yesterday," she started after some minutes.

"I was expecting that. Why did you wait till now to bring it up?" I grinned.

"Because we were discussing some other ish and you looked like you could use some minutes of silence," she said smiling.

She got that right. I did need those minutes of silence.

"Enjoyed your coffee?"

"Yes, I did. Why did you take off?"

"Erm. We covered what we needed to already."

She smiled knowingly. "I know that. Why did you take off?"

"Because," I paused my lips. I didn't trust myself not to ravage you with that gleam in your eyes. "Because.... you know why, Dei," I groaned.

She went back to her computer with a knowing smile on, not before placing her lip between her teeth. Torture. It was torture that it wasn't between my teeth her lip was. I groaned inwardly before we dived into work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deila's pov

It was already 7 pm when we both decided to close for the day. I didn't even know time flew that far. Working with James was indeed interesting and beneficial. But as the human I was, that didn't stop me from being drained of any energy I could have had if I had gone home earlier.

James had stepped out to grab something for us to eat and then was going to proceed to wait for me in his car. He insisted I ditched mine for the night.

I packed my bag and was ready to exit the office when something off happened.

The lights went off.

I started to panic as I searched for my phone. To any other person, it wouldn't have been so much of a reel, but to me it was. I hated the dark.

With light sourced from my phone, I was able to reach the door. I twisted the knob but it didn't budge.

Okay, it's okay, I told myself repeatedly.

I tried to open the door again, turning the knob more calmly this time. But it still didn't open.

My brows furrowed in confusion. Someone had locked me inside. But who? And why?

I took deep breaths, willing myself to stay calm. It's probably James playing trucks in me. He'd better stop.

"James open the door." Though I was furious, I sounded as calm as I could.

No answer.

"James?"

No answer.

I was starting to get angry and at the same time scared. Why'd James pulled a trick like this on me? What if it wasn't him? What if one of the employees didn't like me and thought to...

I shook my head. No, it couldn't be.

I had no enemies. James didn't play tricks like this. He never had. Thinking about it formed turmoil in my head.

Different sceneries continued playing in my head. What if it was a business rival of the Barbson Empire trying to abduct me? Had I acted cruelly to any employee? Had I been rude in a way I didn't know of?

I raked my head, unable to understand what was going in on.

I tried to turn the doorknob again. Stiff.

"James? It's late and I need to get home." My voice shook.

No answer. Then I heard stomping. Like a Tik-Tok.

Holy shit.

"James? Open now." My voice shook more than before.

There was someone on the other side of the door. There certainly was. I was sure when the person chuckled animatedly. And It wasn't James. Oh, God.

It wasn't James.

I searched for the light switch. My hand found it and then switched it on. It didn't turn on. How did the light go off in the first place? I wondered.

Darkness still stood its ground and my eyes still popped, trying to see the little it could. Just why did the electricity suddenly die?

I started panting. "Who's there? Please, open." I was almost crying.

The door suddenly opened. I closed my eyes, waiting for my hands to grab me. Or bullets to burn my chest. I waited for the worst, but it didn't come.

I opened my eyes to see the lights had come on and James was standing there with a confused look.

One look at him, and I knew for a fact that he wasn't the one who was there seconds ago. I rushed to him on impulse, throwing my hands around him. I exhaled... relieved.

He drew back, concern written all over his face. "Dei"

I clutched to him.

"Dei, what's wrong?"

I wanted to be calm enough to answer him

''Dei? What's wrong?''

I willed myself to pull away from him and tell him. "Someone was just there." I pointed to the door with shaky hands. "The lights suddenly went off and the door wouldn't open-"

"Wait how did you know it was a he?"

I sighed, relieved that he believed me. I thought for a moment he'd say it was my illusion. "I heard him chuckle," I paused, waiting to hear if he had any more questions.

"Continue." He motioned, cradling my face. Assuring I was fine and he was with me.

When I finished he held me, whispering incoherent words I knew were meant to soothe me.

"Shit," he cursed. "I shouldn't have left you."

"It's not your fault, Jamey. How were you supposed to know this would happen?"

"Do you know if there's anyone else in this building with us?"

I shook my head no. "I don't think so. It's past seven. Office closed 4 hours ago."

"Yeah," he muttered, visibly deep in his thoughts. "And I didn't see anyone when I stepped out. No person. No cars in the driveway."

"They all must have gone home." I nodded in approval.

"But someone was here. The person turned off the electricity, stomped their feet, and went as far as locking you in. For fucks sake." He ran his palm through his face.

"Yes, but it could've been anyone. It didn't necessarily have to be a staff."

His shoulders tensed. "Yeah, right. Let me take you home."

I muttered "okay".

He didn't let me walk a single step ahead of him when we walked to the car. He didn't take his hands off me. His eyes searched the parking lot like an owl as we reached the car.

"You'll be fine," he whispered, skimming a kiss on my cheeks and then driving off.

I hope so.