Liar

6

"Good afternoon ladies!"

"TORI!" The girls looked up from their computers, beaming smiles. "You're in today? We missed you at lunch."

"Just a quick stop off. My father pissed me off so I thought I'd run over for a bit. I bring coffee." I set the holder down pulling the drinks out and putting them down beside them both. "I'm gonna run but enjoy. I will see you both Friday!"

I can't tell you how much more I enjoyed coming down here compared to working for dad. 6 months I'd been working for Mark and 2 of them I was completely remote. Even then, I was welcomed into the small team so quickly. He had everyone come in, told them all my duties, why I was there and everyone was so friendly. If I could work here 100% of the time, I would.

"Oh, hey Tori." I waved at Ellen, stood at the photocopier as I entered the office. "Didn't know you were in today babe."

"Just dropping off a coffee. He in his office?"

"Mhm. Bad mood."

"Oh no." I clenched my teeth. "What's up?"

"I'm sure he'll tell you all about it."

"Well hopefully I can fix it too." I carried on walking, shifting the cups in my hand as I knocked on his door. Mark was doing this pretty much all alone. He was turning over half a million a year which didn't seem like much in terms of it, especially when you look at dad's turn over in comparison. The difference here is that 90% of that was profit. Mark had mastered the art of keeping his running costs as low as humanly possible. I wasn't even 100% sure on how he was doing it. But he was and his team were well paid and happy, he wasn't cheaping out on anything either. He just was selling at such a high profit margin it was really working for them.

"If it's not important please come back later." Super bad mood. I rolled my eyed, using my elbow to push the door open. He sighed, not looking up from his paperwork.

"Not important but I know you're never going to turn down a caramel latte." He raised his head.

"You are not what I was expecting to see on a Wednesday afternoon Victoria." He smiled, sitting back in his chair. I walked over putting his drink down on the desk. "You're not working today."

"I am not."

"So why are you here? Not that I'm not glad you're here because I am having a nightmare day."

"Spill it."

"Why are you here first?"

"I have that report for you. I looked over it last night."

"I only emailed you it yesterday afternoon Tori. It wasn't urgent."

"I know but-" I shrugged at him, pulling it out of my bag as I sat down in my usual spot on the other side of his desk, sliding the file over the desk. "It's done. One less thing to worry about huh?"

"You are an absolute angel. You know that right?" I grinned, pulling my laptop out.

"So, this problem?"

"Our accountants went under."

"Oh shit."

"Mhm." He nodded quickly. "So, I'm trying to recover all the data and everything I need to get it looked at, finding someone else is going to be a nightmare."

"They kept everything? You didn't have like a shared point?"

"We did but they have all the passwords." I nodded, putting my laptop down and rounding the desk.

"You don't tell anyone I know how to do this. It's my little secret and I could probably get in a shit tonne of trouble for it."

"You seem to always be in trouble somewhere."

"I know. I called my dad out on wanting Emmett to take over and not me before I came over here."

"So, you didn't come to bring me the report?" I chuckled, bobbing down on my knees and hacking into the system for him.

"Can I steal your chair, I'm young but I'm not bend my knees for 30 minutes young."

"You can have me in in half hour?"

"More or less. Sit. Enjoy your coffee. Read the report. I'm on this." I pulled his chair up, using all of his screens to break the password codes. I'd worked with his accountancy firm before I started with him when I worked elsewhere. I knew their firewalls from having to do this before. They weren't as strong as they probably should be. Likely one of the reasons they went down.

"What did the great old Mr Kennedy have to say to you then?"

"Claims he doesn't have a favourite child." He snickered, sitting in my seat and reading his report. "Wants me to leave here. Same old shit, different day."

"He really won't drop that will he?"

"You have no idea. I gave him some of the ideas I want to do to the business and his reaction was why haven't you said anything? Like any of my ideas would be taken seriously anyway. I'm just holding out to make some money of the damn thing."

"What is it with you and making money?"

"Money makes the world go around. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there and the only way to thrive is to have money. Without money you can't travel or live happily. No big house, no fancy cars, no nice meals or holidays. I never want to worry about where my next coffee is coming from and I work damn hard for it all too."

"You do. Do you ever take a break? All I ever hear you talk about is all your little side jobs."

"I take breaks. I don't really do much when it comes down to it. The editing job is like 2 hours every other week so I squeeze that in on an evening. Like on a Wednesday or whatever so that's my plan tonight. My online courses, it's just a matter of recording it and uploading it. Most time-consuming thing there is editing which I do whenever. Morning or on the tube or on lunch or in the bath. I've done that before. And then I'm here or in the other offices. I don't do much on a weekend. Except spend all the money." He laughed. "Well, not all of it. A lot of it's in savings."

"You're good with money then?"

"No Mark. I'm just in finance for a laugh." He smirked sipping his coffee. "Do you think I could possibly not follow my own directions for making money? 70% of my income goes into savings every month and I've got like 4 different savings accounts. And then I have some in stocks too." I tapped away, going quiet as I nearly finished.

"This reports good Tori. Thank you."

"No problem boss. Okay. We're in. What do you need?"

"You're in?"

"Yes. What do you think? I just go around saying things that aren't true?" He grinned, almost running around the table and looking at it all. "Got a USB?"

"I'll grab one from Ellen. You are a fucking saint Victoria. Sent from some higher being to save my life every week I swear. How you're related to your father is beyond me." The middle-aged man raised both his hands, bowing to me in superiority until I chuckled. I love this place. So, freaking much.