Dusk

9| tender

Ava

"The product design." I said, addressing everyone in the conference hall. "Who finalised it?"

"Hayden from the production department." One said. "He pretty much made the entire product so Mrs Collins let him choose the design."

"I'd like to meet him. Ask him to meet me in my office after lunch."

"He has work, he's the head. He's not free all the time to see you." The same man muttered. "Women." He scoffed under his breath.

"He'll be jobless by the end of the day if he isn't free today. Tell him that." I said. "So might you."

"Excuse me?"

"You insulted my position, and my power. And you insulted the entire female population. Do you want me to report you to human resource? Actually, no need for that. I could fire you right this second. No need to approach anyone."

Stupid egoistical men. It was a pity there wasn't a single female in the room today. This gave them more power. They thought they could corner me. Foolish men. They didn't realise I was still the boss, still the one in charge. I could fire them without giving two fucks and they'd have no option but to leave.

"Why?" Robert asked suddenly, scowling. "What did Hayden do?"

"I never implied he did something, Mr Yale. I simply said I wanted to meet him, could be anything. Funny you'd assume that of all possibilities." I raised an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" 

"That means whatever you want it to mean." I said, closing off the presentation. "I think we're done here. Have a good day, gentlemen."

I walked out like a boss. Maybe introducing myself as an employee was a mistake. Maybe I should have been stricter since the beginning and kept them in their boundaries. The women in this office were still easy enough to handle, but the men thought they were in power. They thought they could do things their way and get away with it. Maybe in Mrs Collins' time, but not in mine. Never mine.

I called up my boss when I reached my office, pushing my chair back. She answered on the third ring. "Tavron's design. Someone called Hayden finalised it."

"Hayden Gates, yes." Patricia said from the other side. "What about it?"

"It was signed with a deal of six hundred thousand dollars. Hayden's bank statement shows a transfer of two hundred thousand in his account. I believe it's from the six hundred we transferred to the designing company."

"How do we know it's related to Tavron?"

"Same date as the deal. A duration of two hours between both transfers."

She took a deep breath. "You know what you need to do, Ava."

I asked Brenda to clear out my schedule for the rest of the day. Hayden's involvement in the fraud wasn't yet confirm, but I'd always trusted my gut. My phone rang and I picked it up on the second ring, a smile instantly forming on my face. "Elias."

"What are you doing?"

"Planning to get a guy to spill his secrets out."

"Fun." He murmured. "You gonna be late then?"

"I can't say. I'm skipping gym today. If I'm right, the secrets he spills would have to be taken care of." I said.

He chuckled. "You sound so badass when you talk like a boss."

"I am the boss."

"Of course, at work."

I chuckled. "I have to go. I'll speak to you later, okay?"