Chapter 2

VIVIAN

“Better now that it’s Friday,” he said, nudging Molly in the arm.

“I feel that on an emotional level,” she said with a giggle. “Any plans for the weekend?”

“I’m taking the grandkids to the lake house. Haven’t seen those little munchkins in months. I’ve been looking forward to it all day, and it’s all thanks to you, Vivian.”

I arched a curious eyebrow. “Thanks to me?”

“Oh, yes. Arty mentioned that you pulled an all-nighter last night getting those bi-weekly reports in. We were able to expedite the whole portfolio review because of your hard work.”

My cheeks warmed. Arty was my immediate supervisor. It was true that I pulled an all-nighter, but it was entirely by accident. Sometimes I got so wrapped up in the numbers that I lost track of time. I’d forgotten all about it, figuring at some point Arty would take the credit for himself.

“It was nothing,” I assured. “I was happy to do it.”

He crooked his finger at me. I stepped forward and leaned in a bit closer. “Between you and me, you really shouldn’t work so hard. Take it from me, dear. Life’s about more than just your career.”

I shrugged. “The markets never sleep, so why should I?”

“Ah, to be young and energetic again.” Alistair looked me over fondly. “I like you, Miss Jones. You remind me of myself when I was your age. Keep this up and you might find yourself with a full-time offer to join our Blue Cloud family.”

A giddy excitement rose in my chest, but I suppressed it to the best of my ability. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone. “Thank you very much, sir.”

He patted me on the arm before shuffling on, checking with some of his other employees. He was basically an Alist celebrity amongst our circles. Alistair stuck around for another ten minutes before waving and stepping back into the elevator, wishing us all a good weekend.

Molly took my hand and gave my fingers a squeeze. “Did you hear that?” she asked, jumping up and down. “You’ve got a job offer!”

“He said I might have a job offer,” I corrected, sitting back down.

“Oh, please. That was totally a tap on the shoulder,” Molly squealed. “I’m so happy for you, and I’m not even jealous.”

I laughed. “Thanks, Mol. But I’m sure he’s going to give you an offer, too.”

Molly huffed. “Doubt I’ll take it.”

“What? Why not? People would kill to work for Blue Cloud.”

“We both know I’m only in the accounting program to please my parents. The second I graduate, I’m shipping off to New York to start my career as a model. Or have you forgotten?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten. I just didn’t think you were serious.”

“Don’t you think I’ll make it?”

I smiled at her. Molly was really pretty. Gorgeous, actually. Bright red hair and dazzling hazel eyes and legs for days. “I know you’ll make it. I’ll just miss you.”

“You could always come with,” she insisted. “While I’m walking runways, you can manage my books.”

“Tempting,” I said wryly, “but I’d rather stay in Chicago. I don’t think I’d last in New York.”

“Fair.” She tapped me on the nose. “Your book smarts won’t do you a lick of good in the Big Apple.”

“Ha ha,” I said. “Very funny.”

Marta cleared her throat again, more loudly this time. Molly grimaced and wheeled her chair back over to her desk. Even though I didn’t appreciate the attitude, Marta was right. It was time to get back to work. Quitting time wasn’t for another hour or so, and there was still an avalanche of numbers to crunch.

It was easy to fall into a rhythm against the soundtrack of clicking keyboard buttons, the ringing of distant office phones, and the soft murmur of water cooler conversation. I verified account balances and tallied up totals, crossreferencing transactions with notes listed in client profiles. Molly and I weren’t allowed to participate in the actual trading of stocks. That wasn’t our department. What we were responsible for was the diligent tracking of all funds, processing everything through the appropriate spreadsheets and forms to account for every single cent.

Some would consider it mind numbing work. I, on the other hand, ate it up.

Something caught my eye as I finished compiling everything for one particular client —The Azuras Association— near the end of my shift. Something wasn’t quite right. There was a discrepancy of almost a hundred thousand dollars.

It was just… gone.

I frowned at my computer screen. Did I make a mistake somewhere? That didn’t sound right. Not because I was being egotistical, but because I literally never made mistakes when it came to calculations like this. What was stranger still was the fact that the system didn’t flag this for review. Blue Cloud Financial had dedicated software to ensure things like this didn’t happen.

Leaning back in my chair, I peeked at Molly past the dividing wall. She was playing solitaire and losing, but that wasn’t my biggest concern at the moment. “Hey,” I said slowly. “Will you check this over for me? Something’s not right.”

Molly’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s rare coming from you.”

“Just come over here and help me.”

She rolled her chair over, parking next to me. Molly checked over everything, using the mouse wheel to scroll down and inspect the page. “Huh.”

“I know, right?” I typed quickly into the computer, pulling up the last three months’ worth of records. I tapped the screen in different spots. “They were missing ten grand last month, too. And here and here.”

“Whoa. Why didn’t you notice this before?”

“Arty literally assigned them to me today.”

“Who was in charge of the portfolio before you?”

“I’m not sure.”

“We should report this. Who knows how far back this goes?”

My mind swirled. That was a lot of money to just sprout legs and walk away without a trace. I sincerely hoped it wasn’t due to a clerical error on my part. I’d be fired on the spot for something so egregious. “I’ll go let him know.”

“I’ll do it,” Molly offered, standing up. “You need to get to the Snapdragon and save us some good seats. I don’t want to sit right by the speaker again. The bartender couldn’t hear a word I said last time.”

I glanced at my watch. I’d totally forgotten that we’d made plans to go to the bar together. All the co-op students in our program liked to meet at least once a month for drinks to catch up. It was lonely sometimes, working at different companies and being so far away from peers. The Snapdragon just so happened to be a central spot for all of us and somehow became our gathering hub. They had great drink deals, but it personally wasn’t my idea of a fun time.

I groaned. “Do I have to go?”

“Yes,” Molly said sternly. “You ditched me last month.

You said you’d make it up to me by buying me a pitcher.”

“But—”

“You pinky promised, Viv. I won’t take no for an answer.” Molly grabbed my purse out of the bottom drawer of my desk and gave it to me. “Come on. Up you go. It’s Friday! You need to learn to relax a little. I swear to God you’d live at work if you could.”

I sighed, reluctantly getting up to pull on my jacket.

“Alright, alright. I’m going.”

Molly winked at me. “I’ll meet you there.”

“You better not change my desktop background again,” I said over my shoulder as I left for the day.

“No promises!” she replied with a giggle.