“Life's not bad,” I whispered, scooting up my chair.
Once my computer had started, I logged in with my brand new user name and password that the secretary had given me that morning. It felt good. It felt official. I could practically taste the first paycheck already.
I went straight to my work email and noticed a message in my inbox from David. He'd already sent me the budget he wanted me to look at and I jumped on it immediately. I was ready to hit the ground running with this new job. Nothing was going to stop me from being successful.
Chapter 2
Day two on the job and I was already put to work on more sensitive material. David had instructed me to look over one of the stock reports. It was apparently for a fund that Winthrow Financial was heavily invested in. He just asked that I give it a glance and I think the reason was so that he could find out how competent I was at reading these kind of things. Luckily, I had grown up looking over my father's shoulder as he read the stocks in the newspaper every morning. It wasn't just a sprea
dsheet full of random numbers and letters to me. No, it was like reading a different language, but one that I was surprisingly fluent in.
Reality was starting to settle in. I had officially entered full-fledged adulthood. No more sleeping in, no more late night drinking and dancing binges with my friends. College was over. Those days of carefree irresponsibility were behind me. After weeks of interviews, I'd somehow managed to land this job at Winthrow Financial and there was no way that I was going to risk screwing it up somehow. No way. This was the opportunity I'd been waiting for. A chance to move up in the corporate world. Sure, my current role would likely be nothing more than glorified adding and subtracting, but I didn't care. I knew that there was a real future here if I worked hard enough.
“Something about this isn't right, though,” I whispered, as I leaned in closer to my computer screen.
The number of stocks that Winthrow owned in this particular fund was staggering. Thousands and thousands of shares. The value of them, though, didn't add up. This stock ledger had either been misprinted or was fraudulent. It was showing the value as much less than it should have been, based on the number of shares.
A smirk crossed my face as I double-checked my math. I had done it in my head the first time but used a calculator now just to be absolutely certain. Sure enough, the numbers were off. I didn't know why, and I realized that maybe it was an innocent mistake on someone's part, but I had to notify David immediately.
I quickly walked to his office and cracked the door. “David? Are you busy?”
“Always, Jane,” he said. “But please, come in.”
“Sorry to bother you, but I was looking over that stock ledger you sent me this morning,” I said, as I closed the door behind me.
“And...?” he asked, spinning his chair so that he faced my direction.
“Something doesn't add up on there,” I explained, practically giddy in my excitement to show him my find. “There are some major incongruities. The math doesn't add up. There's something missing. The value of these particular stocks is much higher than what they're representing in the report.”
“Really?” he said, shaking his head. “That can't be, Jane. Go ahead and email me whatever you've found and I'll look it over later.”
I sighed, feeling a bit disappointed. It seemed that David didn't believe me. However, I did as he asked. I left his office and returned to my seat, sending him an email that detailed everything I had found incorrect in the ledger. I wasn't wrong about my findings, though, and I knew it. Even if David didn't see it. If there was one thing I was good at, it was math.
Not more than a few minutes passed. I was gazing at my computer. In the reflection of my screen, I noticed the silhouette of a man walking down the aisle between the cubicles. He moved swiftly, causing the jacket of his suit to open up. I turned around to see who it was, more out of curiosity than anything else. As soon as I laid eyes on him, my knees became jello. Thank God I was sitting down.
What in the hell is Carter Winthrow doing all the way down here on this floor? I thought.
It was impossible not to stare. The man was even better looking in person. He was tall with a muscular frame. Maddy had been right about his eyes, too. They shot across the room, with the kind of intensity that made my heart flutter. I swallowed, as he glanced toward me. We locked eyes, but just for a moment. Then Carter stepped right past me, pushing open the door to David's office.
“David, what's going on with this ledger? I saw you updated some of the numbers. I need you to explain what happened. Now.”
From my cubicle, I could hear everything with perfect clarity. My heart was still pounding in my ears from my near encounter with the CEO. I decided I'd pretend to work, while listening in on the conversation.
“Oh, uh, hi, Carter,” David stuttered, clearly nervous by the sudden visit from the top boss. “Yeah, there was a flaw in the report. I noticed it this morning. Some of the numbers were off. It was an innocent mistake and everything is in order now.”
Wait, what the hell? I thought. Did David just take credit for finding that mistake? What an asshole.
Carter stood in the doorway of David's office, barely within my peripheral vision. It took all my willpower not to look over and check him out. I wanted to so badly, but I also really didn't need to get caught staring. So I kept my gaze locked onto my computer screen.
“You caught that mistake, David?” Carter asked, his voice deep and authoritative. It send a chill up my spine. “I thought I told you to let the new girl look it over.”
“I did,” David explained. “I had her look at it, but I double-checked it when she was done. That was when I found the mistake.”
“Is that right?” Carter asked. He looked like he didn't believe the man. “We'll talk later, David. Don't leave your office at quitting time. I'll come by this afternoon. We need to talk.”
That son of a bitch, I thought quietly. David just threw me under the bus, making it sound like I didn't even notice those mistakes.
I could practically feel my blood pressure rising. I squeezed my hands into fists and forced myself to take a long breath. The fact that I had only been on the job for two days meant that I had next to zero leverage. Nobody was going to believe the truth about what had really happened.