A Signature That Bound Us

Chapter Three

Aurelia’s POV

The next morning, I stood in front of my mirror for almost five minutes, staring at myself, I adjusted the collar of my blouse, smoothed down my skirt, then reached for the small watch my mother had given me years ago. “You can do this,” I whispered to my reflection, it sounded slightly ridiculous but I said it more firmly again. “You can do this Aurelia,” I picked up my bag and walked out of my room, my mother was already in the kitchen when I got downstairs.

“You’re leaving early today,” she said.

“I don’t want to be late again.”

She smiled, “that’s understandable.”

My younger brother was sitting at the table, eating breakfast far too slowly, he looked up at me. “First week at your new job and you’re already becoming serious.”

I picked up a piece of bread from his plate, “that’s

because I’m an employed woman now.”

He gasped dramatically, “you took my food.”

“You’ll survive,” I said.

My sister laughed from across the table, “leave

her alone, she’s going to work for a billionaire.”

I stopped chewing, “I work at his company, I don’t work for him.” I corrected.

Justin raised an eyebrow, “isn’t that basically the same thing?”

“No,” I grabbed my bag, “and don’t call him a billionaire when you’re talking about him. It makes him sound even more annoying.”

My mother laughed, “just be careful, Aurelia.”

I looked at her, “Mom…”

“I know, I know,” she raised her hands. “I’m not telling you to be afraid,” she walked over and straightened my collar. “I’m only telling you to remember who you are.”

There was something about the way she said it that made me pause, then I smiled, “I won’t forget.” I pecked her and left, by the time I reached Vale Enterprises, the building was already alive.

Employees moved through the lobby with coffee cups in their hands, phones were pressed on their ears and folders tucked beneath their arms, everything seemed faster here… more serious I would say. Even the elevators looked intimidating, I stepped inside and pressed the button for my floor, I exhaled as soon as the door closed. Yesterday, I had walked into Lior Vale’s office and challenged him over a report, today, I had no idea what awaited me but whatever it was, I was ready. At least, that was what I told myself.

When I got to my desk, I noticed a thick black folder sitting neatly in the center. There was no note, no

explanation, just my name written on it, I touched it.

“What’s that?”

I nearly jumped, when I turned around, it was the

same employee who had spoken to me yesterday standing behind me.

“I don’t know,” I said.

She looked at the folder, then looked at me. “You probably should.”

“Why?”

She lowered her voice, “Mr. Vale’s office sent it.”

My stomach tightened slightly, “again?”

She nodded, “and he wants you upstairs.”

I stared at her, “now?” She nodded, of course, I picked up the folder. “Thank you.”

She gave me a sympathetic smile, “good luck.”

I frowned, “why does everyone keep saying that?”

She smiled awkwardly, “because you’re going to his office.”

Then she walked away, I looked down at the folder. “It’s just a meeting,” I muttered but something in my stomach told me it wasn’t. When I got to his office, Lior Vale was standing beside the window, his back was to me. He was holding a phone in one hand, listening silently to whoever was on the other end. I waited, he didn’t even acknowledge me. I waited another few seconds, still there was nothing, I glanced at the clock. Then he finally ended the call.

“You’re early,” was the first thing he said.

I almost laughed, “you asked me to come upstairs.”

His eyes moved to mine, “I know.”

“Then why are you surprised?” I asked.

For a second, there was silence, his expression remained unreadable. “You have a habit of answering questions with questions.”

“You have a habit of asking unnecessary questions,” his eyebrows lifted slightly and I immediately realized what I’d said but I wasn’t going to take it back. Instead, I placed the folder on his desk, “you sent for me sir.”

“Yes.”

“What is this?”

“It’s an assignment.”

“I assumed that,” I replied.

He walked toward the desk, “you’ll review the entire file.” He pushed the file toward me, I opened it and there were financial statements, project summaries, meeting notes, emails, charts and several pages of figures. I flipped through them.

“This is an acquisition,” I said.

“Yes.”

“For the company?”

“Yes Miss,” he answered with an attitude.

I looked up, “why am I reviewing this?”

“Because I want to know what you see.”

I frowned, “you have an entire finance and legal department.”

“I do,” he answered nonchalantly.

“Then why me?”

He leaned against the edge of his desk, “because you seem to know it all don’t you?” I wonder if that was supposed to be sarcastic or he was just being rude, he continued. “You noticed something yesterday that everyone else missed.”

“So this is a test?”

“Everything is a test, you’re being paid to be competent so put that to a good use.”

What does that even mean? I haven’t even gotten my first salary I wanted to say, “that sounds exhausting.” I said instead.

“It isn’t.”

“For you, maybe sir…”

“You have until three,” he cut in.

I looked at the thick folder, “three p.m today?”

“Yes, anything else?” He asked rudely.

I stared at him, “that’s not enough time.”

“Then you’ll have to manage your time, you should be efficient. You weren’t employed here to be taught time management Miss.”

I closed the folder, “fine.” I turned toward the door.

“Aurelia,” he called, I stopped, his voice had changed. He sounded more serious, “don’t give me what you think I want to hear.”

I looked back at him, “then what do you want sir?”

“The truth.”

I studied his face for a moment, “even if you don’t like it?”

“Especially that,” he answered.

I nodded, “okay sir,” then I walked out. By eleven in the morning, I had stopped thinking about Lior. At least, I tried to, the file had swallowed my attention.

Something about the numbers bothered me, at first, I couldn’t explain what it was. The company we were considering acquiring appeared profitable, its revenue had increased steadily for three years. The projections were strong, the debt level wasn’t alarming, everything looked too clean. I went through the numbers again and again, I pulled up the supporting documents available to me and began comparing figures. There it was, I leaned closer to my screen, a payment that appeared in one report under operational expenses but in another document, the same amount appeared under a completely different category. It wasn’t enough to prove fraud but it was enough to make me uncomfortable, I checked the dates, the

transactions had happened three times. It was same amount, same quarter but different descriptions.

My heartbeat increased, I printed the documents. Then I walked toward the finance department, “excuse me.” I said when I got there, a man looked up.

“Yes?”

“I need clarification on these figures.”

He glanced at the papers, “what about them?”

“These three payments,” I pointed, “why are they classified differently?”

He studied the documents, “I don’t know.”

“Can you find out?”

He frowned, “who are you?” He asked.

“Aurelia Laurent.”

His expression changed slightly, then he goes, “oh.”

I noticed it, “oh? You know me?”

“You’ve been quite famous since yesterday, you’re the new employee.”

Whatever that means, I wasn’t ready to find out. “Apparently,” I said.

He took the papers, “I’ll check.”

“Thank you,” I said, then I returned to my desk, twenty minutes later, he came back.

“We couldn’t find anything.”

I frowned, “nothing?” He nodded, “that doesn’t make sense.”

He shrugged, “maybe the records were entered incorrectly.”

“Three times?” He didn’t answer, I looked at him, “who approved the payments?”

His face became uncomfortable, “I think you should ask Mr. Vale.”

That was exactly what I didn’t want to hear, at two forty-five, I walked back into Lior’s office. He was seated behind his desk, reading something, I placed the report in front of him. “I found a problem sir.”

He looked up, “only one?”

I ignored the comment, “these payments.” He scanned the pages, “they’ve been classified differently in different records.”

“I know, that’s not new.”

“And nobody can explain why.”

“I know that too.”

I stared at him, “you already knew?”

Our eyes met, “I knew there was an inconsistency.”

“Then why didn’t you investigate it?”

“I wanted to see if you would find it.”

I felt irritation rise inside me, “so the entire assignment was designed around this?”

“Partly.”

I crossed my arms, “you could have told me.”

“Tell you what? Weren’t you supposed to look for it.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, he wasn’t wrong and I hated that. “What do you want me to do?”

“Keep digging,” he snapped.

“Into the company?”

“Yes, where else?”

“Without legal authorization?” I asked.

“You’re not investigating them, you’re analyzing the acquisition.”

“That sounds like the same thing with better vocabulary,” his eyes held mine. For the first time, I noticed something different in his expression, I could say it was genuine interest. Like he was trying to figure me out and I realized I was doing the same thing, “you don’t scare me,” I said suddenly.

His expression didn’t change, “I didn’t say I wanted to.”

“Everyone here acts like walking into this office is some kind of punishment.”

“Maybe they’re afraid of disappointing me.”

“Maybe they’re afraid of you.”

“Are you?”

“No, why should I?” The answer came too quickly and something flickered in his eyes.

“I would, if I were you,” he took the report, “you’ll continue tomorrow.” I nodded, as I turned toward the door, he spoke again. “Aurelia,” I looked back, “there’s something you should know.”

“What is it?” I asked.