Suddenly, I Am Rich

After quite some time, Chloe and Gray were able to talk and catch up about how they were doing so far.

”Actually...” Chloe sighed, ”I called you here because I really do need your help.”

Gray straightened slightly. He smiled, but became more attentive to her. He already knew that she had called him for help. After all, Chloe just doesn’t ask for him all of a sudden. He was just waiting for her to open up.

”Help? What kind?”

Chloe took a breath. She pressed her lips together as if thinking for a moment how to start. Then, she sighed.

”Right now, I’m in charge of overseeing some of the company’s finances. Father and Uncle thought it’d be good training, so they gave me partial control over a few of the smaller accounts. It’s mainly the marketing and development budgets.”

”Alright...” Gray nodded slowly, sensing where this might be going. ”So what happened?”

”That’s the thing. A few days ago, I noticed something off. One of the budget reports didn’t match the actual spending records. At first, I thought maybe the accounting team just made an entry error, but I double-checked it with two different reports.” Chloe sighed again.

”There’s money missing, Gray. Not just a little, but like a large sum.”

”How large are we talking?” Gray’s brows furrowed.

”Roughly around $50,000,” she said quietly.

”...” That number made Gray pause. He set down his teacup slowly.

”That’s not pocket change,” he murmured, ”And you’re sure it’s not just misallocation, maybe an error in calculation, or pending transfer?”

”I already asked accounting to confirm everything. All the payments from the company were processed. However, there are some cases where the transaction history doesn’t show the corresponding invoices. It’s as if the money just... disappeared halfway.”

”Do you have access to the records?” Gray leaned back against the couch, his eyes narrowing slightly as he thought of it.

Chloe nodded. ”Yes, I printed some of them.” She stood up, walked back to her desk, and took out a small folder from the pile that she had on the table. When she handed it to him, her voice dropped a little.

”I wanted to tell my dad about it, but... I’m worried. This division was entrusted to me. If I bring this up without proof, it’ll sound like I messed something up. I also don’t want to ask my sister, because she’s already handling too much.”

”I’ll see what I can do,” Gray smiled at her before accepting the folder.

He flipped through the documents carefully. Inside, there was a mixture of printouts of expense reports, payment confirmations, and ledger entries. He scanned them briefly before glancing up.

”You’re right to be cautious about it. If you raise it too early, people might think you made a rookie mistake.”

”Exactly.” Chloe exhaled. ”And if I accuse someone without solid evidence, it could backfire. But I can’t just ignore it either.”

”Hmm...” Gray rubbed his chin, flipping another page. ”Who else has access to these accounts aside from you?”

”The finance department head, a few team leads, and... one of my supervisors, Mr. Wilkins. He’s been here longer than I have.”

”Wilkins...” Gray’s brow arched slightly.

”He’s good at what he does,” Chloe continued. ”But lately, he’s been acting a little off. Sometimes, he was even defensive. When I asked him about one of the discrepancies, he got flustered and said he’d ’check again later.’”

”That’s suspicious,” Gray muttered. ”Do you think he’s involved?”

”I don’t know,” Chloe said truthfully before shaking her head. ”That’s why I need help. I’ve been tracking the payments and trying to match them manually, but it’s slow. And I’m scared I might be looking at it wrong.”

”It’s good that you’re doing something about it.” One corner of his lips curled slightly.

”Still...” Chloe bit her lip softly. ”It feels wrong to suspect someone without being sure. Especially someone who’s been mentoring me since I started.”

”That’s what makes it hard,” Gray nodded at her, understanding what she was feeling. ”But remember this, Chloe. It’s not about blaming anyone. It’s about finding out what really happened. Think of it that way.”

Suddenly, their interaction reminded Gray of the time when he was still tutoring Chloe. It’s like what was happening right now—him giving her a lesson. Though this time, it’s real-life practice, so they gotta be more careful and serious.

”You’re right.” Chloe nodded slowly.

”Can you send me a digital copy of these files later?” he said. ”I’ll look through them tonight and see if I can find a pattern in them.”

”Really?” Her eyes brightened again, a spark of relief flashing through them.

”Yeah,” Gray lightly chuckled, ”What kind of tutor would I be if I didn’t help my favorite student?”

”Tsk,” Chloe rolled her eyes at that. ”I’m your only student so that doesn’t count.”

Gray couldn’t help but laugh at her remark. ”Fair point,” he said, shaking his head with a grin.

Chloe also chuckled at that.

”So...” Gray leaned back slightly, resting his arm on the back of the couch. ”Is that all you wanted to talk about? Or is there something else you want to talk about?”

Chloe pouted. She crossed her arms lightly. ”Actually...” she said, dragging out the word as if she was reluctant to continue. She really does have something to talk about more.

”Actually?” Gray raised an eyebrow.

”There’s... one more thing,” she admitted softly, glancing down at her cup.

”Alright, what is it?”

”Uh...” She hesitated, then pressed her lips together before finally saying it. ”My dad wants to talk to you again.”

Gray blinked, caught slightly off guard. ”Mr. Lancaster?”

Chloe nodded. ”Yes. He mentioned it last week. He said he wanted to meet with you sometime soon.”

That made Gray pause for a moment. He leaned back, eyes narrowing slightly in thought.

”Did he say why?”

”No. He didn’t tell me the details,” Chloe said followed by a small shrug. ”He said he just wanted to discuss something important and that I should let you know when I get the chance.”