Page 21 of Silver Fox
“I’m not embezzling,” she insists once more. “My manager, Kenneth, he’s lying. He’s saying I did things without approval, but I had his approval every time.”
That gives me pause. Kenneth Youngblood has worked for Silver Mobility for more than a decade. “Do you have proof of this? In writing?”
Skye gives me a hard look, as though she’s the one assessing my guilt rather than the other way round. She looks away, deep in thought. “Believe what you will of me, but I amverygood at my job, Silas. I do things by the book. Every time.”
I’m not sure where she’s going with this, but I nod.
“And I noticed pretty early on that Kenneth doesn’t have quite the same approach to his job that I have for mine.”
Another nod. I know the man pretty well. He’s a little rough and ready, but he knows how to handle the warehouse crew. “As long as the job gets done, I don’t question his working style.”
“Says the man whose company is being embezzled from,” she mutters snidely.
I do my best to take that on the chin. “Fair point.”
“I document everything I do. I always have. Somewhere on my cloud drive is a record of every period I’ve had since I was twelve, for example. I do the same with work. Clocking in. Emails. Invoices. Appointments. You name it, it’s on there. And when I realized there were consistent orders coming in from one particular company but no transportation being organized for those orders, I queried it with KennethandHelen from HR. They both said it was for a virtual product, but after today…”
“You’re not so sure,” I finish for her, my attention rapt. “When you say you queried it, was that verbally or in writing?”
“Kenneth was verbally. I tried to get it in writing, but he never replied to the email,” she swallows. “Helen’s response was in writing though.”
I gesture behind her. “Is that your laptop? Can I look at the email?”
“Be my guest.”
I sit down, pulling her laptop towards me and opening it up. In my peripheral vision, the Silver Mobility screensaver vanishes. I’m immediately greeted with not a spreadsheet, but a desktop background of a cat in a Christmas tree. Despite everything, it puts a smile on my face. “Is this Bryaxis?” I ask, glancing up at her.
The tension dissolves from her expression. “You remembered his name?”
“Of course.” A minute of searching later, the email she spoke of is on the screen, with Helen Locker confirming that all orders are verified as legitimate.
“Can I go through the spreadsheet too?” I ask, my finger hovering over the touchpad.
She nods, leaning over me to bring it up.
Holy shit.
Skye wasn’t kidding. The bottom of the screen is full of different worksheet names. I’m glad she directs me to the relevant one, otherwise I think I would have died looking for it. And once she’s started, she doesn’t stop, pointing out every invoice she’s highlighted as dubious, noting everything she thinks is unusual, and there’s more detail here than the last decade of Kenneth Youngblood’s logistic reports.
I take my phone out as I search, verifying her data against my own. She’s flagged up everything the auditors have done—and more. Orders and emails are linked within her spreadsheets, and I’m able to see that this goes back beyond two months.
Longer than she’s worked for me.
When I’m finally done with the spreadsheet, I turn to her. “We’re going to be conducting a massive internal investigation, Skye. The police will be too, and the amount embezzled is large enough to warrant a lengthy prison sentence.”
“I didn’t do it,” she says immediately, getting to her feet. Her eyes are indignant. “I swear to god I didn’t, Silas. Search my bank account. Search my cat’s freaking litter box, if you need to. I didn’t do it.”
“I believe you,” I murmur, my voice lowering to a deep rumble. I embrace her, running my hands up her arms. We’re in the meeting room next to my goddamn office, but somehow it feels like we’ve been transported back to my bedroom.
Something changes in her expression. It’s softer, somehow, and her eyes lower. “I’m sorry for leaving this morning,sir.”
And just like that, my cock kicks into gear. Blood rushes to my groin, my skin tightening as it stretches around my growing erection. “You should be sorry.”
Skye lets out a little moan as my length presses against her.
I bring my hand up to her throat, holding her gaze. “You’re a naughty girl, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
