ChapterTwenty-Four
And there it was, the treachery she’d been half expecting, half dreading and one hundred percent certain wouldn’t really happen.
The fact that three of her files were locked and marked as complete, one of them being her biggest account which provided her with a bonus that equaled a third of her salary and made putting up with this god-awful job worthwhile, had her blood turning to ice in her veins.
If she hadn’t been sitting down, she might have fallen. That was her stake money. The extra that she squirreled away into carefully chosen investments for her nest egg. And the other two that were tagged as finalized were her next best bonus paying accounts.
Which could mean only one thing. After months of working her ass off on those three accounts, someone had made a sprint finish, using her personal notes as a guide, and completed the accounts in order to claim her bonuses.
Vainly, she tried to access the accounts, even though she knew it was fruitless.
The blood drained out of her face and black spots floated in front of her vision encroaching from the sides to try and take her down.
Bethany bent forward and focused on her feet as she concentrated on regulating her breathing. The last thing she wanted to do was pass out. As soon as she regained her equilibrium, she had some asses to fry!
This! This was why she’d barely taken any time off in the last three years. That subconscious understanding that someone might stab you in the back while you were gone. This was why she had so much holiday entitlement accrued that HR had authorized her last-minute arrangements to visit Elysium without so much as blinking an eye.
But she had honestly never believed anyone would stoop this low.
Sucking in a slow breath through her nose and blowing it out steadily through her pursed lips, Bethany sat up again now that the worst of the shock was over.
She still felt shaky and nauseous but that wasn’t going to stop her getting to the bottom of this.
On the way to her boss’s office, she stopped in the break room and filled one of the single use, throwaway cups with water. She made an effort to sip it, rather than gulping it down, as well as a conscious effort not to crush the flimsy plastic in her shaking hand. But by the time she finished and threw the cup in the trash, she was feeling ready to do battle.
She gave a brief knock on Bob Marsden’s door and walked straight in. “Do you have a moment, please, Bob,” she asked before he had a chance to object. “It’s important.”
He looked vaguely irritated, but if he realized she’d been on holiday he certainly didn’t show it by offering any pleasantries.
“What is it? I have deadlines, and I’m sure you do too,” he said bluntly without so much as a greeting. It got Beth’s back up.
“Nice to see you too, Bob. I had a great holiday. Thanks for asking.”
Bob just stared at her with a supremely unimpressed look on his jowly face. And as much as his disinterest in either her, or what she might have to say that was important, bugged her, the flash of anger it engendered brought with it a welcome clarity.
“Three of my accounts have been closed out while I was away,” she started, only to have Bob dip his head and continue tapping figures into a spreadsheet. “Without my permission or input.”
Nothing. He barely even paused.
“Well? What are you going to do about it?” She demanded when it became clear he wasn’t going to ask for details.
He looked up at her and blinked as if he’d forgotten she was there. “Why would I need to do anything about it?” he asked with a scowl. “As long as the work’s been done before the deadline, it’s all good.”
“Because someone has taken all my hard work, put their name on it and claimed my bonuses.” Beth pushed the words out from between gritted teeth as she spelled it out to him, frustrated by his lack of concern.
Bob just shrugged. “You snooze, you lose,” he responded flippantly and turned back to his monitor.
Beth’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Excuse me?” She didn’t need him to repeat himself. She just couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“What’s your problem?” he bit out sharply as if the fact she still stood there was bothersome. Maybe to him it was, but if he thought she was going to run off meekly just because he didn’t want to deal with this, then he was in for a shock.
Beth slapped both palms against the fake wood veneer of his desk. “My problem is that my computer was broken into, my accounts hacked, and my personal notebook with private information in it was stolen from a locked drawer which shows obvious signs of being tampered with.” Her voice rose with every word, but she didn’t care if the whole floor heard what she had to say. Hopefully a couple of the perpetrators were quivering in their boots because she wasn’t letting this go without a fight.
Bob narrowed his eyes on her. “This notebook with private information… Did it include the passwords for your PC and your accounts?” he asked.
“Yes! Yes, it did,” she exclaimed. Finally, he was taking this seriously.
He wasn’t taking this seriously. Not where her complaint was concerned, anyway. The next words out of his mouth proved it.