Peyton

I said I understood. But I’d been lying. Not only to him but to myself. Instead of simple disappointment, I was overwhelmed with sorrow. If ever there was proof he would always pick his job over me, this was it. On a silver fucking platter. Served up for me to eat cold the way my dinner was by the time I composed myself and returned to the table with my family.

Since I didn’t want my nieces to see me sad, I left as soon as I could, driving the five miles back to my house. I told my sister I’d take a raincheck on spilling my guts, not yet able to voice my feelings. On the way home, I did stop at the grocery store to pick up the heartbreak essentials. Ice cream, port wine cheese spread, and Ritz crackers. Not to mention a big ole bottle of wine.

Halfway expecting a knock sometime in the middle of the night, I felt disappointed when none came. There wasn’t even a text message. The first time my phone did ring the next morning, it was George’s name, surprisingly, that popped up on caller ID.

“Hi, George.”

“Hi, Peyton. Sorry to bother you on a Saturday.”

“No, no it’s fine. Everything okay?”

“Yes and no. I’m hoping you might be able to come down to the office. We have a few things to clear up and could use an expert on the system. No one understands it better than you.”

“Of course. I’ll be there within the hour.”

“Thank you. Please come directly to the eighth floor. I’ll meet you there.”

I hung up the phone. Obviously, I was already aware there was an issue with the sale, given last night and having Simon leave. I was curious to find out what could’ve been so important for him to make it his priority.

After showering quickly, I donned jeans, a sweater, and boots. If I was getting called in on a weekend, I was dressing comfortably. I let Cooper out one last time, grabbed my laptop in case I’d need it, and then drove the distance to the office.

The first person I saw when I got off the elevator was Emma. She looked both tired and shocked to see me there. “Peyton. Hi. Uh, what are you doing here?”

George’s voice came from the doorway of the conference room. “I called her in.”

My eyes met his through the doorway, and he then gestured for me to join them in the conference room. As I walked in, I immediately noticed Simon. He’d changed from the clothes he’d been wearing last night, which meant somehow he’d had time to go home but not to call me. I shoved the thought to the side, my gaze landing on Tom, who appeared annoyed, and then moving on to a man I didn’t recognize.

“What is she doing here?” Tom asked. For his rudeness, he received a glare from Simon and a retort from George.

“She’s here because she’s an expert in the system, and I’m tired of wasting time. Considering she’s my officer of the company and knows the financials inside and out, not to mention can help Lyle here find what you’re looking for, I don’t expect to hear any arguments. Especially with her being gracious enough to come in on a Saturday.”

“It could be a conflict—”

I had no idea what Tom was talking about until George lost his temper. “We’ve been through this, and you have no evidence. I’d stake my entire company on the fact Peyton didn’t steal a penny.”

I sucked in a harsh breath. This is what they’d thought? More specifically, this is what Simon had thought? This is why he hadn’t told me what was happening? He believed I could be a thief.

“No one in this room would argue with you, George.” Simon held my gaze as if trying to convey a message.

“Good. Lyle, show her the spreadsheets.”

I took a seat, needing to focus on why I was here. The man I hadn’t recognized, Lyle, passed me some papers as I set up my laptop next to his. For the next hour, we pored over the numbers. I brought up the database to allow him to cross-reference the transactions in the spreadsheet to what had actually been recorded in the system.

I had to turn off my emotions and keep myself from looking at Simon. So many thoughts were running through my brain, but if I were to assist here in the conference room, I had to concentrate.

“The totals are the same on each sheet, but the individual employee amounts have changed, almost like someone redistributed the amounts,” I said after comparing to the two spreadsheets Lyle handed me regarding compensation and then cross-referencing them to the system.

“We knew that last night. Jesus, how is this helping?” This from Tom.

I was instantly annoyed by his accusation and tone. “Well, maybe if someone had told me there was a problem last night, I wouldn’t be behind what you already know. But as it is, I’m catching up. Now then, if you have an issue with me, Tom, we can spend some time clearing the air, or I can get back to work while you sit there and watch me do it. Which will it be?”

Before he could answer, Simon did it for him. “Take a walk, Tom. Come back in an hour.”

Both men stared each other down for a minute before Tom opened his mouth. “Fine, I’ll work on our trip next week to London. Let’s hope we can still leave by Wednesday.” With that, he turned on his heel and left.

Once again, I kept myself from looking at Simon, but I couldn’t help thinking about what Tom had just revealed. They were leaving on Wednesday for London—apparently, all of them, including Simon? The hurt sliced through me, but I simply had to shove those thoughts to the side.

Meanwhile, I had to ask the obvious question. “If these are employee compensation sheets, why would you think I could’ve been a suspect?” Payroll wasn’t even my domain; it was Jeff’s. Frankly speaking, I could think of much better ways to steal if I was so inclined. That was why I reviewed everything meticulously.

Lyle glanced at Simon, who gave him a nod. What the hell? They were exchanging silent signals as if we were in some interrogation room.

“Because you sign off on the spreadsheets,” Lyle explained, “and your team would’ve input the numbers into the financial system. The question is why would they have changed between the time you signed off on them and now.”

“There would be no changes once I sign off. I retain a copy of what I sign off on in a directory if we want to do a comparison.”

Simon and Lyle exchanged a glance.

“Can you show us?” Simon asked.

I was happy to do so, especially if it would shed light. Nothing I signed off on wasn’t filed somewhere electronically. I could say I did this in case of an audit, but it was more about covering my ass. This was appropriate, given the issue at hand. After I pulled up the spreadsheet with the last date in question, we compared it to the others.

“It matches what is in the system, but not what Jeff gave you. What I need is to go through the actual employee payroll register.”

Lyle nodded appreciatively. “That was going to be our next step this morning.”

“What doesn’t make sense is the cumulative amount remains the same despite the details no longer matching. Why would someone shift the numbers from one account to another unless—” A thought occurred to me. Something I’d learned in an article on fraud. It was the classic payroll embezzlement scheme.

“Unless what?” George asked.

“Unless we’re paying someone we shouldn’t be. It’s guaranteed such an unauthorized person wouldn’t be in the spreadsheet, but they would show up in the system. That’s why someone had to alter the numbers—to hide the difference. If they’d listed non-employees, then you’d have seen it when you did the audit. Luckily, I received access to the payroll system on Thursday.” Jeff had fought it, but since I was his new boss, he hadn’t had a choice.

I pulled up the last payroll cycle and sighed. We had over a thousand employees in the file.

“Sort by those who don’t have any deductions. Normal employees have 401K or medical, fictitious typically wouldn’t.” This came from Lyle, who appeared to be very adept at looking for fraud.

As soon as I sorted, it became obvious. Two employees stood out at the top.

Simon shook his head. “I show them as active in your HR system.”

I quickly pulled up my company email roster. “Yet they don’t have email, nor are they in the employee directory.”

“Who would have access to this?” George queried.

“Jeff, but he’d need some help from HR.” Like the girl he was sleeping with. “My guess is these two employees are recent new hires, showing up for the first time within the last few months.”

Looking at his computer, Simon nodded.

“Then I’d check with Courtney,” I suggested.

“Let’s call them both in,” George decided.

“If we did that on a Saturday, they’d be suspicious,” I pointed out. “Probably better to follow the money, check out the bank accounts and the cashing of the checks. Let me work with Lyle here to get him everything he needs from the system. Then we’ll document it all.”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement with this approach. I worked with Lyle over the next couple of hours to document all of the details, getting sicker to my stomach by the minute. Turned out over the last six months, two fictitious employees had been pulling a salary. Courtney had entered in their details and Jeff had processed their paychecks. It was the perfect fraud if anyone were comparing the HR system to payroll. But where it had fault was when Russ had originally requested a listing of all employee compensation. Jeff had provided the raw spreadsheet, the one I’d signed off on. Then when Lyle had gone back to ask, Jeff must’ve gotten nervous and deleted those two people from the spreadsheet. He’d spread out their payroll amounts to others so as not to change the total.

George hung around for a while, but when he realized we had everything we needed, he took off. Tom came back but remained quiet, merely spectating while Lyle and I went on a roll with all of the details. Finally, after giving them everything, I stood up. I was hungry and ready to get home. I avoided acknowledging Simon until he came to his feet and spoke.

“I’ll see you out.”

We walked in silence until we were in the elevator.

“Thank you for coming in today.”

I couldn’t contain my sarcasm or temper. “Yes, well, thankfully George thought I could be helpful rather than a suspect for theft.”

He sighed. “I know you’re angry.”

“Yes. I am. But mostly, I’m hurt. Not only did you leave last night in the middle of dinner—evidently thinking I could be stealing—but I find out from Tom that you’re traveling to London on Wednesday?”

I waited a breath for him to tell me I’d misunderstood. That Tom had meant the royal we, but instead, he started with excuses.

“I heard about London for the first time this morning. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Phillip to remind him I’m on holiday. As for Friday, you have to believe I never for a moment thought you were stealing. I left so I could keep Tom from going down that idiotic path. You believe that, right?”

 I swallowed hard, trying to think of it logically despite my emotions threatening to intervene. “Yes. I believe it. But does that mean you’ll turn down London? Tell your boss no if he insists you go?”

He hesitated. In that beat, I knew he wouldn’t. “My intention is to speak Phillip, but he may not understand.”

“He’s not the only one.”

 “Peyton, please. I acknowledge I haven’t exactly had the best track record, but I promise—”

I cut him off. “Don’t. Don’t make promises you and I both know you may not be able to keep. It’s not fair to me, but it’s also not fair to you. You think I didn’t see how stressed out you were last night once you received the call? That I wasn’t aware it was the reason you excused yourself to the restroom? It’s the classic move. One my dad perfected over the years.” I stopped trying to rein in my unresolved feelings over my father putting work first.

Simon’s blue eyes locked on mine. “There are many things last night I wish I could’ve told you.” He cursed under his breath and then appeared resigned. “It was an impossible choice. And I thought you understood I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have to.”

The elevator doors opened, and he walked me all the way to my car before I spoke again. “I lied about understanding. Not only to you, but to myself.”

“What if George had called you last night with the same request you got this morning? Could you definitively say you would’ve told him you couldn’t come? We all have to make some sacrifices from time to time. I need a little leeway here. That’s all I’m asking for.”

I hadn’t expected the flipped argument, and it made sense. When George called this morning, I had instantly made work a priority. But I had my limits. “You’re right. I would’ve come, and I did, but what about our vacation next week? I never would sacrifice that for work. And I think we both know you’re not going to tell Phillip no.”

“Is this about me not being able to apologize?”

It dawned on me that while it was bothersome he had trouble expressing an apology, that wasn’t the crux of the problem. The fact he thought that was the issue made it clear he wasn’t focusing on the right thing.

 “No. It’s about you not being able to commit to anything outside of your job. Of course it’s tough when you won’t say you’re sorry for something, but that inability isn’t the real problem.”

He swallowed hard, rocking on his heels and looking defeated. “I need more time to work this out.”

“Simon, I know you’re trying, I do. But at some point, I believe this will eventually make us both miserable. We had a good few weeks. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Sadness overwhelmed me. “You and I both knew this would be a long shot when it came to lasting. We’re so opposite.” I didn’t want to be this person putting him in an impossible situation of having to choose. Neither did he want to be made to feel bad for doing his job. Perhaps it was simply a case of incompatibility.

“I’ve never felt this way about a woman before. Ever. Give me a chance.”

It would be easy to ignore the place in my gut that told me he’d try, and I’d let him. But I couldn’t. Because I didn’t want to be the woman who asked him to change and then became disappointed when he didn’t. I couldn’t become my mother.

My voice was thick with emotion. “I don’t think I can do this—” I motioned between us. “—anymore. I don’t know how this can possibly work.” There was no bigger truth than this statement.

He cupped my face and gave me a sad kiss. “Then I’ll have to figure out a way to show you.”