A Beautiful Lie (COMPLETED)

Part Fifteen

It didn't take a while for Nicole to get her groove back even after she was away for a few weeks. She's more determined and hungrier than she was before as she put all the executive decisions on her plate, especially now that her father was still recovering from his condition.

The doctors were just running more tests to make sure he was healthy before they released him fully. She was happy that her father was responding to the treatments well without problems. When her mind was at ease about her father's state that was when she doubled her time focusing on work, she asked Kate for all the files in the recent year, and she carefully studied it. She found an anomaly in the reports as she initially discovered in the email, which she checked a few days ago.

She has been cross-referencing the data for a few days now and has been spending more time in her office just to get to the bottom of the discrepancy. As much as she missed the salty sea breeze and the warm feeling of the sun hitting her skin, she cannot also deny that she longs to be back and get into action in her office work. She was born to do this. A part of her was also thankful that she was so preoccupied lately that she had no time to think over the recent event she encountered with Ethan, for now, she has no luxury to get derailed by her emotional conflict. She won't allow Ethan to enter her thoughts even for a moment.

Based on her initial analysis and the reports sent by the marketing department there's roughly an 8 million difference in their profit for this year comparing it to the previous historical years, was there any changes happening in the services and products that curve the profitable amount?

Her curiosity was intensified when she noticed a bunch of expense reports that had never been brought to her attention before, which didn't make sense because all projects bubbled to her. The projects invested in those reports were real estate financing and property ownership. There were also massive shares that were bought from a company she had no idea about. It was odd.

She then concluded that someone was stealing money from her father's company and that's what she needs to find out soon. This business is what her father built over the years, and this is his tribute to her late mother. Nicole would be doomed if she allowed it to crumble without a fight.

Days passed and she sought legal action with her lawyer on her newfound anomaly. She didn't have the heart to tell her father yet. She decided to keep it a secret for now but promised to tell him as soon as his condition became stable.

Nicole was already halfway through the file she had studied for a while now when she suddenly pressed the intercom.

"Kate schedule a meeting with the board of directors and send them to the conference room please" she instructed.

"I will do that, any particular reason for the meeting?" Kate asked while she scribbled everything on her pad.

"Just inform them that it is an emergency" she just added. She exhaled after she pressed the end. The throbbing pain in her head warned her of a possible headache. She pressed her temple to ease the pain.

She sat back on her swivel chair and rested her head. She closed her eyes to gain rest. She suddenly heard a loud knock that made her eyes snap open. Kate went in and noticed the distraught in her features.

"So... You are back huh?" She spoke. Nicole opened her eyes and looked at her.

"What do you mean by that? She asked back.

"You are back to your old self. Driven and missing meals again. You looked good. Your sun-kissed skin is amazing" She pointed at her face and exposed arms.

"I have a lot of things that need to be sorted out lately. This is so important. So critical. If I can't fix this, we may lose everything" she seriously answered not entertaining the humor in Kate's voice.

Kate nodded. "The board of directors has arrived. They are all in the conference room as you instructed" she informed her.

"I will be there in a second, please bring this laptop there because I have an important announcement to make, also tell Atty. Lee to join us in the conference room as well" she told her and gathered all her stuff.

Kate took her laptop and made a quick call to Atty. Lee. He was the legal officer that Nicole confided in about her findings and what ground they could raise for the offenders.

Nicole marched her way to the conference room. It was at the building's far end. She touched her head again. When she reached the door. Kate was already there setting up her laptop and on the right side was Atty. Lee. She watched the people inside that room. The people that her father trusted. There are twelve boards of directors, and she has worked with them closely for the past years and she can say that she doesn't trust all of them. Some have greed as high as Everest and that puts their company at risk.

She cleared her throat. All voices subside. "Thank you all for coming even if it's short notice. Ladies and gentlemen, for the past weeks I have been away due to personal reasons. During those times I have not been informed of the progress nor any news of the company and just recently an unfortunate thing happened to my father. It has been tough for us." She began.

She moved closer to the white screen, and she signaled Kate to show the slide. "Now after I went back, I checked the annual reports for expenses and revenues we made for the entire year, imagine my shock when I noticed some irregularities in the data"

"What are you implying here?" Mr. Smith interrupted; contempt evident on his face.

"Am I implying anything yet?" She raised a brow. Mr. Smith just clasped his hand. Nicole went on.

"Please direct your attention to the screen," she told the board members. "Looking at the data from the marketing department there were contracts and projects made that I am not aware of. There were stocks bought that were not fully documented." She took the time to study the faces of the man and woman in the room. They were all silent.

"We are short in terms of profit, an estimate of 7-8 million dollars for this year. Too low comparing it to our trend for the past few years. Now I have called you here today to tell all of you that I do not tolerate stealing my watch." She said with conviction.

She gestured to Kate again and she flashed another slide. "This is the signatory of the projects and stocks that were not properly accounted for. It says in this document that it is from my father" A gasped was heard in the room.

"However, this was forged. I have this signed and validated by an expert as well as Atty. Lee to the ones signed by my father with me and some of the board members here and they confirmed that it is not legit." She paused.

Murmurs erupted even more. Kate distributed the papers that Nicole showed to the board members. However, one person did not even bother to check, instead clasped his knuckles hard under the long sturdy table.

"I caught your lies, there's no way out for you Christopher Smith!" She announced boldly.

All eyes were directed to the man who was seated in the far-right corner of the conference table. He was shaking his head repeatedly.

"It's not me!" He shouted. Incoherent talks were evident as the other board members chaotically confirmed if it was true. Christopher then stood up and ran towards Nicole ready to attack her, but his steps were stopped by the office security, Nicole asked for the safety brigade to be on standby anticipating that this might happen. Nonetheless, Christopher's eyes were full of fury and disdain as it landed in her direction. 

"Prove it!" He challenged her.

She smirked "Oh I will. I will make you pay." she uttered. "See you in court, Christopher Smith, hire the best attorney you can find. You will need it badly." she finally said as she turned around and exited the room. Leaving the people behind wide mouth.