Page 48 of Mister Artist

The Next Morning

Eliasand I remained closed today, not just because I needed a new assistant for my floor but to process the fact that Parker had been stealing from us. We needed to take some time to thoroughly go through every account, under every accountant, and see how much she’d gotten away with. Until that happened, I didn’t want to reopen. We could still schedule things for our artists virtually, but I wouldn’t have peace of mind and the ability to trust our team until this was put behind us.

“What are we going to do about Trent?” Elias asked.

He’d stopped by so we could talk more. Mal was still sleep, and I was hoping we’d have everything taken care of by the time she woke up.

“He’s good at numbers but not a good leader. He’s also cocky. If he would have allowed someone to go over his accounts like we suggested, we would have caught this sooner.”

“I agree. I don’t think we should fire him, but I do think he should be demoted. Malorie should be the new head of accounting.”

“I agree one hundred percent. Lil baby more than earned that position… and a raise too.”

At the sound of her house shoes shuffling toward us, I smiled. When she first woke up, she barely picked her feet up off the ground.

“I’m not alone, bae,” I warned to make sure she didn’t come out here naked since that was how she slept.

“I know. I heard my brother’s voice.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek.

“Good morning, good morning.”

“Morning, sis,” Elias spoke.

“Good morning. Have y’all had breakfast?”

“We were waiting for you,” I answered. “You wanna go toJD’sfor brunch since we rarely have a chance to go throughout the week and they’re packed on the weekend?”

“Ooh that sounds fun. Let me go get dressed.”

“Before you do, we need to talk to you,” Elias said while I used her arm to pull her around and sit her on my lap. I nodded for him to continue, because I wanted her to know this wasn’t just my doing. “I know we keep saying it, but thank you for your work and dedication. Those words don’t seem like enough—”

“But they are enough,” she said.

“Still, we have two things we want to do and give to show you how grateful we are,” I told her before kissing her shoulder.

“I would say no but you know I love gifts,” she said before sniggling in the cutest, innocent way.

Elias chuckled as he lifted the large gift bag he’d brought with him. After scooting it to her he said, “Thank you, sis. For real.”

When she looked in the bag, her leg began to shake. “W-What’s this?”

“It’s the amount you found that was stolen, and it’s yours to keep,” he said.

“Oh no.” She laughed nervously and shook her head. “I-I can’t take this. That’s over three hundred thousand dollars.”

“You can and you will. We honor loyalty. Take that and do with it what you will,” Elias said.

“And,” I added, turning her slightly so I could wipe the tears that had started to fall down her cheeks. “You’re the new head of accounting. Trent will still be employed, but you earned that position, sweet girl. The official announcement will be made Monday.”

“You guuuysssuh,” she sang before crying harder.

I was trying not to laugh as I held her, but she was so dramatic. When she was composed, I wiped her face and kissed her lips.

“Congratulations, mama, and thank you.”

Mal rested her forehead on mine. “Thank you. Thank you both. I really appreciate this, but I really didn’t do it for any reason other than it was the right thing to do.”

“And that’s why you deserve this and more,” Elias said, and I completely agreed.

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