Chapter 40: BE MY GUEST
"Okay then, talk to you later", Said Erika and she hung up the phone. She had just informed Felix everything that had happened earlier and also her suspicions on some of the shareholders.
Erika looked at the pile of files that were on the desk and she sighed, "It’s time to get to work." She sat down and began working on the paperwork until she stumbled upon a file in the accounting department, the calculations were not correct.
Erika wasn’t surprised at all, besides if the CEO was committing a crime, of course the employees would follow in his foot steps. She took the telephone and phoned eve to call the accounting department’s manager. She has a lot of things to clear out.
In 15 minutes, the accounting department’s manager opened the door without knocking. Erika only tilted her head and smiled.
The manager looked to be in his mid forties dressed in a black suit with a tie hanging on his neck.
"You called me?" Mr Hernandez said looking at the woman in front of him whom he didn’t know.
"Mr Hernandez, I called you here because while I was going through the monthly report you sent here, I came to notice that last two months monetary report reduced by 10% and this month’s reduced by 25%, is the company making money or loosing money?" She asked with a calm expression on her face and added a smile to it. But the man only thought that the smile made her look like butcher, that could cut off his neck in any second now.
Mr Hernandez swallowed his saliva because his throat had suddenly run dry. He hadn’t expected her to notice it. He had been stealing the company’s money for a while now and nobody had ever noticed.
Mr Charles never asked what caused it because he was also doing the same thing which gave Mr Hernandez the liberty to do as he wants. Some of the other employees also partook in the illegal act but he was the first one to be caught. ’Shit!’ he cursed in his mind.
"Mr Hernandez, I asked you a question. Is the company making money or loosing money or is the company making money for you to eat it?" Asked Erika and her tone was no longer gentle nor polite instead, it sounded harsh and cold. The smile on her face earlier had fallen and replaced with a glare.
This didn’t make things easy for Mr Hernandez at all. He started sweating profusely.
"Ms, I did all the calculations myself and nothing is missing. It’s just that business has not been good lately", Mr Hernandez blurted out the only thing that came up in his mind. The tension in the office didn’t give him space to think clearly and sweats poured as if his body was crying.
"Oh really?" Erika asked with an amused tone. The smile grew back on her face but this time it made her look more scarier. She brought out another file and asked, "Then how come it states here that the Walters Corporations just signed a contract with the Gu’s group of industries?" She pointed at the statement that was written on the file.
The Gu’s group of industries was an international multibillionaire company based in china and the profit from both parties were a fortune so what did Mr Hernandez mean by business wasn’t going well. Even though this was their smallest branch, it still earned more than most companies in the country. Erika chuckled,
"You know, if you don’t tell me where the money that has been missing every month is going to, I can just call the police and they will bring the truth out from you. Am sure that wouldn’t be a problem right?"
Mr Hernandez was at loss for words. Police? jail? He can’t go to jail. He saw when the police dragged Mr Charles away earlier and he didn’t want that to happen to him so he immediately knelt down and started begging for forgiveness,
"Ms. Erika, please forgive me, it was an act of greed. Please I can’t go to jail, I will loose my job".
Erika sneered in her mind. He had already lost his job but he was still having hoping that she would not fire him.
"Mr Hernandez, I asked you a question. What did you do with the missing money?" She asked.
Mr Hernandez didn’t know if he should say the truth or not, but he thought that if he didn’t say it, it was jail straight. He decided to say the truth,
"W...well the t...truth i...is, I was u...using the money t...to s...start my b...business".
Erika glared at the man harshly and felt like strangling him for what he just said. He was stealing the company’s money to run his own business? Was that not greed and selfishness?
"You were using the company’s money to run your own business? Why didn’t you go for a loan from a bank or ask for an advance payment instead?" She asked.
"It was an act of greed. I didn’t have any valuable collateral to give to the bank and I did ask for an advance payment but I was refused payment", he replied with his head bowed on the ground while tears dropped from his eyes. He was done for, he thought to himself.
"That is still not enough reason for you to steal the company’s money", said Erika. "You have to pay for your crimes. And as for your business, it’s going down", she declared and without wasting anymore time, she immediately called the police.
The man saw that she was calling the police and tried to run away but Erika already read his mind and pressed a remote on her table and the door locked shut.
Mr Hernandez’s breathing became heavy like he was going to faint anytime soon. He needed to leave but there was no way now.
"The door is already shut but if you want to jump from here, be my guest".
