Ella
By the third day, I'm beginning to wonder if Liam and I can ever find the bottom of this Renfor's mess. We've been putting in long hours every day, starting at eight am and not leaving until seven or eight at night.
The hours don't bother me. We've done all-nighters when closing jobs out or prepping bids for HCR, but trying to make sense of someone else's mess is completely different. Working in someone else's office under all this scrutiny and constant questions doesn't help. My shoulders and neck ache from days of hunching over a crappy table, and my eyes strain from sifting endless piles of paper.
After burning through all the files Renford's records management division prepared for us the first day in less than an hour, the next time we saw a company representative, they were less friendly. None of that seems to bother Liam though, whose stares and glares as he asks for more specific documents show that their change in attitude doesn't faze him.
He acts like my own personal shield, leaving me to the numbers and keeping the corporate people towing his line. Every day we come back and dig a little deeper, and we must be getting closer because Russel is hovering now.
"He's a slave driver, am I right?" Russel asks, leaning in with that cocky playboy smile that makes me shrink back.
The creep actually thinks he's charming! Thank God for Liam.
"Russel," Liam practically growls in warning. His keen green gaze never leaves the unwelcome man whenever he's hanging around.
I sigh and get up, moving over to the next set of boxes, but sit with Liam on my right side because really, I just want Russel away. Every day he spends more time with us, hovering, asking questions and just generally being a bother.
"You control what she says too?" Russel challenges, unfazed by Liam's warning.
"No, he doesn't," I answer, cutting off Liam's no doubt colourful retort. "I'm just concentrating. Your books are a mess, and they're giving me a headache."
Liam strokes his beard to hide the smirk tugging at his lips, while Russel stands there slack jawed at my uncharacteristic outburst. Unfortunately, he doesn't take the hint and follows me over to the second table, where he sits down on my left side, making my skin crawl.
"Clearly, you're stressed and overworked. A night on the town, my treat of course, could do you a world of good," he offers, leaning against the table far closer than need be.
"For fuck's sake!" Liam snaps, locking his darkening gaze on Russel. He takes a commanding step towards us and closes the gap. "If you put half as much effort into running this company as you do trying to pick up Ella, then you wouldn't be in this mess!"
Russel's carefree façade cracks, his body stiffens as he glares back at Liam and slowly stands. Suddenly, the room feels too small, with both men towering above me on either side.
"Come again?" Russel scoffs, shifting and waiting for an apology I know won't come. Liam, for his part, isn't bothered in the slightest.
That's my cue.
"Excuse me," I mumble, slipping out from between the men and beelining for the door. Thankfully, Liam steps in behind me, blocking Russel as he makes a move to follow me.
Hopefully, they'll have things settled when I get back from the bathroom.
After taking my time and practically dragging my feet, I freeze outside of the door, hearing raised voices coming through it. The thought of going back mid-argument doesn't really appeal, so I just stand there with no desire to even reach for the handle.
"There's a rooftop patio if you want to get some fresh air?" A woman's voice calls out, clearly picking up on my apprehension. I recognize her a moment later as Abby, the secretary who's been running us files non-stop.
"That would be great," I admit. She flashes me a sympathetic smile and leads the way down a short hall, and holds the door open for me.
"I'll let Mr. Anthony know where you are, if they ever finish," she says with a laugh. Clearly, this isn't Russel's first outburst, but I have no doubt he's never come against the likes of Liam before.
The patio isn't much to look at; some outdoor furniture, gazebo for shade, and a few potted plants sit on a cracked concrete slab, but the silence is blissful. For the first time today, I can hear my own thoughts and find myself missing my friends.
My phone is in my hands before I even think about it and ringing while I wait for Sophia to pick up. She's been great about keeping in touch but giving me enough freedom to do what I do best.
"El-Belle!" she greets excitedly, making me pull back from the volume. "We were just talking about you!"
"We?" I parrot with concern.
"Heya, Sweetcheeks, we missssssss you!" Tim shouts into the line. I laugh, but my chest tightens from hearing my two best friends.
Only five days have passed since I left the comforts of home, but it's the longest I've gone without seeing them since I don't know how long. Time's been flying with Liam and it's been great to see the more personal side of him, but being so far from home tells me just how much of a homebody I really am.
"I miss you guys too," I choke out, feeling my eyes water.
"Oh, El, is everything okay?" Soph asks, suddenly very serious.
Tim sounds just as serious when he says, "If Mr. Green eyes is getting out of line I can fly in and—"
"No, Tim," I laugh. "It's nothing like that. He's been good, I just miss you guys."
"Aww, we miss you too, Smelly Ellie," Tim coos.
"Well, that cures that," I huff, rolling my eyes.
"Stop, you know I tease out of love," he backpedals.
"Give me that," Soph snaps and the phone makes muffled sounds as she no doubt grabs it from him.
"Ow!" Timothy whines. "El, I miss you, and Soph's abusing me. Hurry back, please!"
"Is it abuse if you like it?" I tease.
"Ugh!" he scoffs in the background, followed by the sound of a door slamming.
"Seriously though, is everything good?" Sophia asks again; all lightness leaving her tone.
"I promise everything's fine... Liam and Russel were arguing, so I thought I'd check in," I reiterate.
"So, do you think you'll be back in time for my party?" Sophia asks with guarded hope in her voice. "I mean, I can reschedule—"
"No, please don't change it on my account. We're really trying here, but their books are a mess." I sigh. "I know we just have to keep digging, but I just don't know how long it will take. Sorry."
"Don't be, babe. We knew this contract was ambitious and that we might need to make some sacrifices," Sophia says, though I can hear the disappointment in her voice. "Pushing my birthday party back a week is not a big deal."
"It's only Wednesday. Have some faith," I murmur, trying to give her some hope.
"In you? Always," she replies, having recovered her cheery tone once more.
I hear the door scrape open against the uneven patio and see Liam step out. His shoulders seem to relax once his green gaze finds mine, and I offer him a quick smile.
"I've got to go," I mumble. "I'll keep you in the loop."
"Bye, babe, and be safe," she replies.
"Always."
I hang up and look at the phone with her picture a moment longer before turning my attention to Liam. His golden brown locks are tousled lightly from running his hands through it but otherwise look no worse for the wear.
"You good?" he asks, eyeing me from a distance.
"Yeah, was just checking in with Soph," I reply, getting up from the picnic table and walking over to him. "Besides, you guys sounded a little intense."
Liam sighs and ticks his jaw. The look in his eyes says that he has much to say, but he holds back.
"We're going to the source," he says instead, and gestures to the door. "I just came to get you before heading down so you didn't get lost."
"I said I'd look after her," Russell grumbles, standing in the doorway.
"And I said no."
Instinct has me slipping to the far side of Liam and following him through the door and down the hall. Russel tries a few times to make light conversation, but Liam shuts him down each time.
Finally, we come to a stop in some sort of large filing room. The lack of windows, stale air, and substantial rolling metal shelves make it feel like a prison. On the surface of a small table in the room's only open floor space, piles of paper are haphazardly stacked.
"Sir, you two-thirty is here early," the secretary calls. I look behind and see Abby pushing out a cart of files over for us.
"Of course he is," Russell groans. "Abby will make sure you're taken care of." He doesn't even acknowledge her before leaving us.
Liam lets out a breath and passes a paper to Abby, presumably the list of files we were previously working on. The fact that all the final versions of the reports have been doctored became clear early on. What doesn't make sense to me is how no one's noticed? Every faulty report I point out draws shocked responses that look genuine to me.
"You'll have to forgive the mess," Abby says, leading us over to one of the shelves. "With all the records being digitized and restructuring... our records management division is understaffed."
Several hours later, the previously messy room now looks like a tornado ripped through and several Renford's employees have been recruited to help. As we dig deeper, I grab anything that looks suspect and before long have my own pile.
Finally, we are in the original documents and, once again, the Renford employees leave to catch up on their regular jobs. As I expected, these files paint a completely different picture.
"You have got to be shitting me," Liam scoffs before flipping the page he's reading. "What do you make of this?"
I take the sheet from him and scan it over. Liam's found what looks to be a long list of transactions and accounts—many of the amounts tickle my memory on the amounts fudged in the rest of the records. Looking closer at the account numbers, they look familiar.
"I've seen these," I mumble, sliding my chair over to a stack of files I've held back as suspect. As I flip through them, looking for the one I want, I feel Liam walk over, casually lean against the table, and rest his hand on the back of my chair. While I know he's just getting a closer look, his proximity sends a shiver down my back, distracting me for a moment before I can focus and find what I'm after.
I pull a folder from the stack and open it, leafing through until I find the right page and skim my finger across it, stopping on the account number in mind. I grin as a thrill surges through me.
All week we've been looking for the black hole or anything to explain all the inconsistencies, and this is it!
"I knew it!" I say triumphantly, turning to face Liam, but completely derail my train of thought as I come mere inches away from his face. His cologne washes over me, shoving that train right off the cliff. Somewhere the gods are smiling on me, and Liam doesn't notice me gawking at him; instead, his eyes and attention focus completely on what I'm pointing at.
"Well, I'll be damned," he whispers as the pieces fall into place. "El, you're a genius!"
Liam's praise leaves me grinning like a fool, but the moment he turns his attention to me, it feels like all the air is sucked out of the room. His green gaze holds so much intensity as it burns into mine, making my heart flutter in my chest.
"I knew you could do it," he whispers, bringing his hand tenderly up to caress my cheek before faintly trailing his thumb over my bottom lip. His gaze flickers down to my lips and back up. I swallow hard and lick my lips as I sit there, frozen under his spell.
Just shy of him brushing his lips against mine, shuffling feet sound warn us that Abby's back and he pulls away.
"That's the last of it," she says, setting down another box of files.
I feel a pang of disappointment as Liam turns away from me and begins explaining what we need next. Shaking my head, I let out a shuddering breath and clear my mind to focus back on the task at hand.
Now that we know where to look, we should be able to clean this up in a day, less if we're lucky.
"Dec? Yeah, man, we got it!" Liam announces, having called Declan to fill him in. "Yeah, El was right, there was a pattern, but it went way deeper than we thought... No... I don't know, she literally just found the accounts. Yeah, brilliant."
I can't help but watch him pace and talk animatedly on the phone. He shed his jacket about an hour into searching down here, leaving him in a fitted white dress shirt, and the way he moves and his body flexes steals all of my attention.
"Rainman-level shit," he murmurs. "Yeah, yeah, you were right. Yeah, that too. Christ, man, stop with the 'I told you so.'" His conversation pauses for a moment while Declan no doubt has his say. "Yeah, we're going to keep going here, probably another day, but it'll be a steal. You too, man."
Liam hangs up and walks back over with the biggest grin I've ever seen him wear. If he was sexy on a good day, right now he is beyond that. The way he's looking at me, full of admiration and excitement, sends a flush of heat throughout my body.
"El, you are heaven sent!" he says, holding out a hand for me. "Tell me what you need, and I'll make it happen." I know his words are for work, but for whatever reason, my mind races right off track once again. A small smirk tugs at his lips as if he can sense my train of thought, and I feel my cheeks burn.
"More," I whisper. Liam arches a brow and takes a step closer, looking down at me with that same intensity that makes my knees weak.
"Deeper," I choke out, earning a husky chuckle.
"Oh God," I groan but it comes out more like a moan.
Liam lightly lays his hands on my shoulders and gives them a gentle squeeze. "El, breathe," he whispers, trying to relax my flustered state.
"We have the account..." I focus on the facts. "We just need to figure out who set it up, where it's drawing funds from, and where they end up... just need to dig a little deeper."
"Abby's getting the files as we speak, Declan is over the moon and drawing up the proposal... So, tonight, we celebrate," he says in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Then let's get cracking, Sir," I tease, turning my attention back to the table.