Chapter 2

                                    

                                          
Leo.
"I swear, sir! I had no idea!"
The man said with pleading eyes that flickered away from mine more often than not. I knew people found it hard to return my gaze, but the least this bastard could do was try hard enough if he wanted to convince me that he wasn't aware of the theft that had been going on under his nose.
Sweat beaded his forehead. His hands tugged nervously at his tie, loosening it. 
"You're telling me," I said in a calm voice, tapping my finger on the arms of the chair I was sitting on. His chair in his office on the finance department floor, while he stood on the other side of the desk, "that you, the head of the financial department of the whole corporate, did not know that one of your employees, who worked right under your nose, was embezzling funds?"
He gulped before slowly nodding, clasping his hands behind his back so I wouldn't see them shaking. Too late, I thought, standing to my full height, putting my palms on his desk and leaning forward.
"Millions of dollars gone. And you had no idea?" I asked lowly, my face not showing the smallest hint of emotion.
"Y-yes, sir. I would never let something like that slide, s-sir," he stammered, looking over my shoulder, never meeting my eyes. 
My gut had never steered me wrong when it came to people. Something I inherited from my mother, as she so often liked to remind me. And my gut told me this particular human being was up to his eyeballs in this mess. A few years ago, I had been hesitant to agree to his promotion to be the next head of finance. But he looked good on paper, his colleagues liked him, and there was no reason whatsoever to object. Except for my instincts. 
I hadn't listened to my instinct at the time. And now I paid for it.
"Hmm," I nodded, then straightened up. "I see," I said, buttoning my dark blue suit and walking past him in silence out of his office. The other employees were focused on their work, or pretended to be, since they had been so focused on the happenings in their boss's office a second ago. Four pairs of feet followed me as I walked to the elevator. I would give the department head a couple of hours to come clean. Otherwise, he was as good as dead.
Well, he was done for anyway. He would certainly never step foot in any of my companies, that was for sure. But if he came clean, I might consider not going hard on him; he might escape the fate of the other bastard who had been taking my money unrightfully.
If he knew about the embezzlement, he would deserve everything I would do to him. If he didn't know, which was unlikely, he would also deserve it because he hadn't been doing his job properly, costing me millions of dollars due to his incompetence.
I walked through the silent floor towards the elevator. I could see one of the cleaning staff wiping away at the elevator buttons, her cart next to her.
I stood in front of the elevators as my assistant, Brandon, pressed one of the buttons for the elevator before standing back behind me.
The cleaning lady had obviously not noticed us or simply didn't care. She was rubbing at a corner furiously, her long black hair in a ponytail that left silky tendrils tickling the pale nape of her neck.
At least someone was doing their job properly, I thought as one of the elevators dinged open. The other two were on their way up to the highest floors. The one that opened was the one with the cleaning cart in front of it, blocking its entry. The employee inside the elevator straightened as his wide eyes realized who was standing before him. 
Brandon cleared his throat loudly, trying to catch the attention of the cleaning lady, but it was in vain.
The employee inside the elevator was holding it open for us, his finger on the button while he looked in confusion and apprehension between the cart and the cleaning lady.