My Twin Mates

Seven Months Ago

"I don't care what it takes Frankie! Find who's responsible and burn them!" William yelled out as he banged his fists against his desk.

"Mr. Toups," I called out as the slender figure began to sprint out of my boss's office. "Frankie!" he briefly turned his head before reaching the elevator doors and repeatedly pushed the button back down to the third floor.

"William!" I threw open the doors as I placed his caramel latte with a double shot down on his desk. I eyed him as he sat back down in his chair and grabbed his cup. "I was gone," I glanced down at the golden smart watch William and his wife, Irene got me for Christmas. "For fifteen minutes to get us coffees and you've already made Frankie Toups cry."

"He was crying?" Mr. Stone raised his eyebrow as he sipped his midday pick-me-up. "Baby," he whispered.

"Frankie is not a baby, he is very good at accounting." I tried to reassure him as I sat across his desk.

"If he's so good at his job then he should've found this error of someone moving no, stealing funds from me because that's what it is. Stealing from me, my family, you, everyone else's family. Stealing." My boss banged his fist on the desk again.

"Don't worry, Willy, we'll find them." Mr. Miller recited like he did every day. "No need to get frantic, I'll be leaving in about two hours."

"You always were optimistic," William boasted as he walked over to his friend with a firm handshake. "Wait, why are you leaving? We have a crisis on our hands at the moment."

"I have the doctor's appointment, remember?" Arnold answered with a smile on his face as we watched the door open. "Ahh, Ms. Lovejoy, it's been great to have you grace us the past few weeks."

"Noelle, isn't it?" I questioned as I made my way toward her. "I'm Jessabelle, but you can call me Jess. My friends and I are bowling tonight if you want to come."

"Oh, that would be great. How about a rain check? I actually have plans tonight," she briefly glanced back at Mr. Miller before smiling back at me.

"No, worries, another time then," I walked toward the door and waited for her to follow.

"Yes, it has been nice to see some more fresh faces in this business," Mr. Stone motioned toward the door as Arnold and Noelle walked out.

"Bethany!" I called out for my assistant as I threw my vanilla bean frap in the garbage. I saw her peek her head around the corner with a notebook in hand. "I should have done this weeks ago, but I want you to run a background check on Noelle Lovejoy." I only saw her twice before. I never really gave her much thought. But she was acting weird or wired or something was off, I knew. "Beth, tell Mr. Stone I'm going get us lunch," It was Tuesday and Mr. Stone had a strict lunch schedule every day. Monday was a chef salad, cashews, and a protein shake. Tuesday which was today, was a chicken and bacon-wrapped burrito, black beans, and green tea. Wednesday was a tuna sandwich on rye, almonds, and a strawberry milkshake. Thursday was his cheat day so usually a cheeseburger, fries, and a large coke. And Friday was his fruit day, fruit salad, a side of boiled eggs, and apple juice. How he could eat the same thing every day was beyond me. But I obliged him and his crazy attitude to keep his body fit. This was our time, to talk about what was going on in our personal lives. I looked up to him like a father and he helped me through a lot. Now, I was afraid I would have to calm him down that we found out someone was taking money from the company he built from the ground up and was putting it into some account offshore.

"Little bird, I've been trying to get this thing to play something, but your assistant told me you were getting food." William cried out as he began rolling up Forbes magazine in frustration.

"Alexa, play jazz," I said out loud as I took out our food and placed it in front of him. "Now, I know you want to talk about what's going on, but do you think just this time we can try to get our minds off of what's happening? Even if it's just for a little while." He reluctantly nodded his head as he started scooping up the black beans into his mouth.

"So, you had something this weekend that you attended?" He inquired looking at me to get his mind off of gathering everyone in the company and yelling at each one personally. Or in a gathered group.

"Yeah, I had my cousin, Dalton's wedding and my friend Emmett's and Faye's fifth anniversary," I scoffed as I bit into my street taco.

"How did that go? Had a good time?"

"Want the truth? Well, at Dalton and Grace's wedding, I met this guy, I don't remember his name but I wound up getting tossed on their signature cocktail love potion. I have no idea what was in it but I drank a lot of it." I huffed out air as I looked at my boss squinting his eyes waiting for me to tell him why. "I saw him chewing face with Grace's younger sister. Anyway, Emmett and Faye's anniversary wasn't really better. I spent most of the night either in the bathroom or in the backyard with their Doberman."

"Mr. Stone, we found out who's behind the money theft," Lennon Fitzgibbon, William's bodyguard, knocked on the door after he opened it.

"Well, who is it? Out with it already!" William jumped to his feet as we watched Lennon's eyes fall to the floor before muttering the one name we thought we'd never hear.

"Sir, Frankie, in accounting, confirmed it. It was Mr. Arnold Miller and the new hire Noelle Lovejoy. It was confirmed they boarded a plane to Jamaica thirty minutes ago."

"Arnold!" Mr. Stone screamed at the top of his lungs.