Thanks to Nat, Prettyflour, & Kitty for prereading.

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Chapter 35

Surely, he didn't suspect me? I knew given my history, I shouldn't blame him for thinking of me first but I didn't even have access to any of the company's finances. "Jacob, what does this have to do with me? Obviously what happened to me before is pivotal but I would ne-"

"God no, I'm not accusing you, Bella, far from it. I wanted to ask for your help. I've seen the reports you prepare for Eric, this department has the most accurate and up-to-date figures and costings in the company. There hasn't been a cent unaccounted for in months, and I'm told that is all down to you. I only suspect something's going on, I need to know for sure before I can do anything about it." Jacob pulled a wad of files from his briefcase. "Could you use your experience to look through these? It could be an honest mistake, and I'd rather figure that out now, before I accuse an employee of something more sinister."

"Jacob, I'm not sure I'm the best person...if anything were to come of it—the fact I'd been involved in discovering any discrepancies might work against you." I looked down and Jacob laughed.

"You have no criminal record, Bella. All charges were dropped and the FBI acknowledged you had been victim of a con artist. With your qualifications you shouldn't be taking notes, brewing coffee, or answering phones. I need someone who has no bias towards anyone in the company, someone who can look objectively at the information in these files and tell me if I'm wrong in my assumptions." Jacob pushed the file towards me. "Please? Just see what you think?"

I put my hand on one of the files and had a look. Expense reports, forecasts, invoices, receipts, requisition forms amongst other things. It was certainly my comfort zone, but I wasn't sure I had the confidence to trust my judgement any more.

"I've spoken to Eric, he's probably the only person I know isn't fudging the books—thanks to you, and he's agreed to remove a few of your duties from your daily schedule. That should free up an hour or so each day for you to go through these. Will you?" He stared across the table at me and waited for my answer.

"Yes." I nodded slowly. "But, I want to wait until I've been through everything before I report back. I won't show any bias...so that means I need to see your expenses and such, Jacob. I need to prove that everyone was being vetted etc. Is that okay?"

Jacob grinned and said, "Absolutely. I'll have my assistant bring you down everything you need."

"Would you object if I took some of it home to work on? I'd feel more comfortable knowing there isn't anyone looking over my shoulder." I flicked through the folders he'd pushed across the table and sighed. It was going to be a long job.

"Not at all."

"It's a lot of figures to go through...perhaps if you need it back urgently...how much money are we talking?"

"If you look at the figures individually, it's nothing that I would even bat an eyelid at...but collectively…well, it starts to add up." Jacob took a drink of his coffee and said, "I know I could hire someone independent. But to be honest, if anyone sees or hears of an outsider sniffing around the finances it's probably going to do more harm than good to our reputation. See what you think and let me know?"

"Okay."

"Thanks, Bella." He smiled and stood up. "I'd better let you get back to your work. It took quite a lot of persuasion for Mr. Yorkie to part with you, even for just an hour or so a day. You seem to be making quite an impact on several people in this company."

Now we were talking about Cullen again, so naturally I blushed. "Thank you."

"Cullen's a good guy, we've been friends for a long time," Jacob said sincerely. "He's also my best worker, and I know I'm going to have a hard time keeping him here. Although, maybe now I've got an ally in you."

Thank you so so much for reading and reviewing, pimping and alerting! I am absolutely gobsmacked with the awesome response from you guys!

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