Hello Mr. Arrogant

Chapter 12

[Not edited]

Chapter 12: {Financial Infringement} 

"Miss Bennett? What the hell are you doing?" A husky voice asked in my dream. I stirred but didn't open my eyes. The giraffes were just starting to talk about an interesting topic. Why do rich businessmen have to be so cocky?

"Miss Bennett? Damnit, Lydia!" Two hands slammed down on my desk startling me from my rest. I jumped back in my chair and looked up to see who it was.

"Sorry, sir," I mumbled as I saw Mr. Hadley looking down at me. He shook his head disapprovingly and took a step back. 

"Is all the work I asked for done?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently for my answer.

"Yes." 

I thought it was, anyway.

"And did you get my latest email?" This time he had me cornered, and he knew it. A fat smirk spread across his chiseled face.

"What email?" I rushed to my computer and looked through my inbox. Sure enough, there was a recent email sent by him to every staff member. Apparently there was a faculty meeting in an hour that I had to attend. Supposed emergency protocol.

"Why so sudden?" I couldn't help but be curious. Shouldn't meetings like this be scheduled weeks prior?

"So many questions," He tsked walking away, completely ignoring my question. I huffed, copying his actions, and crossed my arms over my chest. 

"Oh, and by the way, Miss Bennett. You have drool on your chin." He laughed as he walked out. Not a good laugh either. It was a bully's laugh that made my insides knot up.

He was making fun of me!

I growled but tried to regain my composure. All the while trying to wipe the saliva off of my face and desk. "How embarrassing," I groaned, throwing away wipes.

In the hour I had before the meeting, I scrolled through my f*******: feed. Nothing major was happening, but I found reading about other people's lives to be relaxing in a weird, stalker-like way. 

One of my friends from high school, Lily Matthews- who happened to be two years older than me- was talking about how funny life could be sometimes. In each of her posts, she wrote about everything that happened to her happened for a reason and all that silly stuff. She was always the type of person to look at the bright side of every situation, even when there really wasn't any.

Like right now. I was bored out of my mind, with a sore back, and an embarrassing moment itched into the crevasses on my brain that would not stop bugging me. I could not get over how stupid I was to fall asleep during work hours. And to have Mr. Bully catch me was like putting the cherry on top of the ice cream.

But not everyone can be as happy-go-lucky as Lily. So I shrugged and went back to my stalking. I looked through a few guys I knew from high school. They either let themselves go during college or they got really buff. 

One guy that I hung out with was Patrick Harrison. He was very popular with all the clicks within our school's population. He was also a crush of mine during my freshman and sophomore years. His latest post was a picture of himself surrounded by girls in what looked to be a library setting.

 So typical of him, I thought, shaking my head with a grin.

"Are you coming, Lydia?" Belle asked from my office doorway. She had a stack of notebook and paper cradled in her hands.

"Yes, I'm coming." I got up and walked over to her. "Here. Let me help you," I said taking some of the items from her. She smiled sweetly and we walked to the biggest meeting room on this floor.

When we got there barely anyone had arrived. We both chose seats next to each other and places our supplies on the table. A minute later the council also walked in and took their places at the table.

"What are they doing here?" I whispered to Belle.

She shrugged. "Beats me."

And then everyone else came in in pairs. Two at a time they walked with their chins raised high and walked like they weren't all acting like bimbos, which they totally were.

I only scoffed.

"Oh, look who it is." Belle had her eyes locked on to the doorway. Thank god for glass walls, I exclaimed to myself sarcastically. 

Standing just beside the doorway was June and Ashton Hadley chatting up a storm. Sometimes, and by sometimes I mean every time I see her, she just makes me so upset. 

I just had to keep telling myself to look away and forget about him. From what I could see, he wasn't actually flirting with her, which was a good sign since he already had a wife. Speaking of which, was strutting into the meeting room right now.

Miss Jenna Hadley looked beautiful in her skin tight white pencil skirt and salmon sweater. I gave Belle a cheeky grin when she passed us. I had many thoughts running through my head, none of which were good ones.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Janna spoke above the crowd. Everyone hushed one another and the room grew quiet. "Thank you." She handed a few packets to the council members and then gave everyone else single half sheets.

Mr. Hadley took his rightful place at the front like a king going to his throne with his queen right beside him. 

I looked down at the paper I was given. In big bold letters it read: Financial Infringement; And then gave a detailed definition right below it. 

What was this?

Many other employees looked up at Ashton with curious and frightened looks. This must not be a good meeting if he's handing out definitions.

"Earlier today one of my financial officers found an error in the log. Over fifty thousand dollars has been missing from our accounts and was transferred to an anonymous one. Would anyone like to explain?" He sounded mad- more like angry- and there seemed to be an edge to his voice. It was like he was a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.

Fifty thousand dollars! That was a lot of money that was taken. Who the hell decided it was a good idea to steal from this man? I couldn't even fathom someone so stupid, but here we were, getting ragged on because someone was that stupid.

I wanted to roll my eyes at whoever it was.

Mr. Hadley's eyes peered over at me. Like I could pull something like this off? I wish, I scoffed to myself. I widened my eyes as I felt his questioning look on me. I shook my head repeatedly to end any kind of suspicion that he might have had.   

"Well, if no one will confess, I'll have no choice but to enact drastic measures." What was that supposed to mean? The council member's then looked further into their packets and I saw the looks on some of their faces. They looked scared and nervous.

Was this more than one person? Did they know who it was? This felt like that one soap-opera I saw on television. The dude was holding a meeting and was giving a lecture on stealing or something like that. By the end of the episode, however, the two main characters were confessing their love for each other and how they've been fighting their feelings for a long time. Let's just say it was not a great show. 

"Starting today, every employee must hand in a checking report to me or Mrs. Hadley every payday. And I will have someone posted at every bank in the city watching everyone's accounts for any sudden changes." My mouth widened in shock. Could he do that? 

"Any questions?" Everyone seemed nervous or frightened like they all had something to do with this situation. Or maybe there were other secrets that needed to be discovered.  

"That settles it then." Everyone started to pack up, but by the look in his eyes, I knew he wasn't done. "And if I catch whoever's been stealing from me, I will make sure you will never see daylight again. Does everyone understand?" There were a few grumbles and murmurs scattered throughout. 

Now everyone was dismissed.  I chuckled lightly to myself. What a place to work. Seriously, this place has it all. Beautiful women, luxury furniture, open spaces, financial infringement, an arrogant, handsome boss; What else could you want in a career? 

I packed my stuff and tried to follow the mob of bodies as they walked out into the hallway. I'm sure I had more emails to get through before my workday ends and I really wanted to get home a bit early today to talk to Mrs. Able.

That woman needed to learn my voice better.