Chapter 5: Fiscal Pettiness

"Come in!"

The door opened and in walked Gina, a container in one hand that probably held the remains of her lunch. She wasn't a bad-looking woman at forty-three. She wore her hair to her shoulders in a set of tight dark brown ringlets streaked through with hints of grey. Having three kids and leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle didn't do her any favors. She was probably a good thirty to forty pounds overweight. A lot of it went to her breasts.

"Macus? What are you doing in my chair?" She glanced over her shoulder at the closing door and then back at me, "Do you know why Andrew is out there? Did he let you in here?"

I took a deep breath and gave myself to the count of three before proceeding, which had the added effect of generating a few moments of uncomfortable silence between us. Helen simply stood next to my desk, arms crossed as she stared at Gina. My former boss hesitated before approaching her desk, brow furrowed, "And you are?"

"Not important," I cut off any response and immediately regretted the words. Helen was probably the most important person in my life right now. Hopefully she understood my meaning.

"Gina, I'm here to inform you that as of right now, you no longer work for Marduke. Please leave your badge on the desk. I'll also need your company laptop and cell phone. That's why Andrew's out there."

Gina gaped at me for a full five seconds, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes locked on hers.

When it seemed like she wasn't going to respond, I started to speak again, "Did-"

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" It was her turn to cut me off. "Get the hell out of my office. You're lucky I don't write you up for this! Breaking into my office... wasting time in the middle of the day! Fire me? Me!? Wouldn't this be your third write-up this quarter?"

I figured this would be the kind of response she'd give.

I stood up so no one in the room could tower over me, "I'm sorry. You must be under the impression you're speaking to an employee. I'm afraid you're speaking to the new owner of Marduke Financial as well as the owner of the building Marduke rents from."

Another pregnant pause from her, and this time I took advantage.

"I recently came across a significant sum of money. I bought out Greg this morning."

More silence followed, and I began to wonder if Gina was going to simply faint.

"Why?" She finally replied.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Because you suck."

Helen spoke up, "What my client means to say is that you've not conducted yourself with the integrity Marduke expects of its employees." She shot me a look that bordered between amusement and admonishment.

"What?" Gina said, glancing at Helen. "No. I mean... why would you buy Marduke? You hate this place."

Did I break her brain? Did she not care that she was getting fired?

"I didn't hate this place. I just hated working for you," I admitted.

"My client is aware of your efforts to embezzle money from the company, Ms O'Neil," Helen continued before I could speak. Gina's head whipped toward Helen in absolute shock. So did mine. This was news to me.

The box of food slipped from Gina's hand and crashed to the floor with a dull thud. She didn't seem to notice. "What? How did you know about-" She snapped her teeth shut before she could finish the rest of that sentence.

Holy shit. Was it true?

"We're aware of the bank account in Florida," Helen continued dispassionately. "If you don't disclose the name of your associate and return Marduke's property by the end of the day, I'm afraid my client will have to press charges."

Maybe it was the mention of the bank or the matter-of-fact tone in Helen's voice, but Gina immediately caved. Tears began to well in her eyes. She simply looked at me. "I'm sorry. I needed the money!"

There was no attempt to lie; no attempt to throw anyone under the bus. Gina - the hardass manager who had ruled the floor with an iron fist, just... crumbled. She proceeded to tell me about her crippling addiction to shopping and how it had led to her massive credit card debt. Once Gina started winding down, Helen turned the recording off.

"Mr. Upton, I believe we have all the evidence we need. You may speak to Miss O'Neil freely."

Gina glanced at Helen, "What?"

I was also surprised, "What?"

Helen held up her phone, "On top of the evidence we've already collected, we now have a recording of Miss O'Neil admitting to embezzlement to fuel an addiction. It's something we can use in a court of law, should you wish to press charges against her. Given that, you're welcome to speak freely to her without worrying about her state of mind or willingness to provide that evidence."

Gina and I looked at each other, and something came over me. Helen was amazing... she'd taken charge of the situation and had done what was needed without compromising my authority in front of this bitch. My lawyer had delivered me the best present I could have ever asked for on this day. Whatever reservations I still had about Helen were quickly dissipating.

The deer-in-the-headlights look Gina was giving me was a wonderful follow-up gift.

"Gina. You're a horrible boss."

She opened her mouth to reply and I immediately cut her off, "I don't care about you stealing money. I care about the fact that you can't lead worth a damn. In the eleven months that I've been working here, you haven't provided a single bit of direction to me or anyone else. You're demanding, unreasonable, lazy, and you contribute nothing to this company."

That little spark of Gina flared to the surface; her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth again to speak.

"Shut the fuck up. I'm talking."

I swear the look in her eyes made my dick hard.

"You were always such a tough bitch! Everyone out there is afraid of you or hates you. Most of them do both! And the moment we come in here and challenge you... God, Gina. You fucking caved so easily!"

Gina wilted, clearly not interested in putting up any sort of struggle. A large part of me was relieved that this seemed to be going so well. A small part of me wished she had put up more of a fight.

I sighed.

"You're to pack your personal belongings and get the fuck out of this office. You have an hour to do so. If you're here a minute longer than that, I'll have you arrested for trespassing and bring charges of embezzlement against you. You might want to consider moving out of town, because if I ever see your face again, I will have you prosecuted."

"You'll also need to sign the NDA and non-compete agreement I have here," Helen followed up as she reached for her briefcase and extracted a folder, laying it on the desk.

"I... I'm not signing anything," Gina said, her voice soft.

"Miss O'Neil," Helen said, "You've committed a felony. If we were to prosecute, my client would use all his resources to seek the full sentence for your crime, and he would win. You would spend a decade in jail and be released with a massive debt. I think it's in your best interest to comply.

Gina chewed on the side of her cheek and watched the both of us for a pregnant moment before sighing. Shoulders slumped, she padded over to the desk, signed the documents, and then circled the desk. She opened one of the drawers next to me and mutely began pulling things out of them. I moved from my position behind the desk and stood beside Helen, watching as she looked around and found an empty box in the corner. Andrew must have already suspected what I'd planned on doing. What an insightful guy.

Her eyes glistened in the office light with unshed tears, as she set to packing her stuff. A small part of me felt sorry for her.

"I'll leave you to it," I said as I turned to leave the office.

"Do I really need to move out of New York?" she asked. Her tone sounded meek.

I paused, hand on the doorknob, but I didn't look back at her, "I know New York is huge, but do you really want to take that chance?" I opened the door and paused, looking down at the leftover rice that had spilled out of Gina's broken carry-out container. "And clean that shit up before you leave." I left without another word with Helen right behind me.

Vikram, Andrew, and the two guards were on the other side of the door, sipping on coffees. Andrew looked at me with a question in his eyes. I nodded, "That was satisfying. Thanks for the box."

"Yeah. I figured," he responded. He took another sip of coffee, "You replacing her?"

"No," I said, eyes scanning the room and ignoring all the rubbernecking going on as people across the office were trying to put together what was happening. "I've got someone in mind for that."