*DISCLAIMER* I DO NOT own The Phantom of the Opera, its storyline, or its characters. Please R&R.

Erik arrived at his office at his usual time of 7 o'clock in the morning. As soon as he walked into his office, he walked straight to his desk to check the emails on his computer from yesterday. He made his way from the beginning of yesterday to the time he left. He had gone through quite a couple of emails before he arrived at one that caught his attention. The email had been from . The subject was 'The Truth Behind Christine Daae.' What on earth could this possibly be about? Intrigued, he clicked on the email to figure out what Ms. Gutierrez was going on about.

Dear Mr. Destler,

Thank you for opening my eye-catching email. Now that I have your attention, I was hoping to help you understand what exactly happened with Christine yesterday. Christine and I started off our days by arriving to work almost a whole hour earlier than what we are usually accustomed to. Christine made it very clear to me that you asked her to be present for any and every need that the board may request. At around 7:55am yesterday, a woman by the name of Centola Aziz-Khan stepped off of the elevator and into view of the presidential floor. She came to Christine and I, requesting for Christine to head down to the lobby and grab her a cup of coffee. She then added for Christine to grab copies of sheets from the basement that were in the 'Psycless Copy Room.' Noticing that it was close to meeting time, I told Christine to head down by herself and that I would get things ready for the meeting. From the time the meeting started to about 8:10 when Christine walked in late to your meeting, Christine was walking around lost throughout the entire basement looking for a copy room that she later found out didn't actually exist. After returning, to the presidential floor and checking the time on her phone which she had forgotten on her desk earlier she noticed that it was 8:10. She rushed to look for some pamphlets that she had left on her desk and she had carefully constructed for the meeting only to find them gone. When she walked into the meeting thinking that I dropped the pamphlets off and in an attempt to apologize and give her presentation. Centola kicked her out of the meeting, and you sir, made no attempt to stop her. I do not intend to let anyone off humiliating my best friend the way Ms. Centola Aziz-Khan did and I certainly will not stop until I get to the bottom of what really happened. If you have any questions about yesterday's events, you know where to find me. I will keep in touch with any information that I come upon.

Respectfully,

Magdalena Gutierrez

After reading Ms. Gutierrez's interesting and somewhat intimidating email, he decided it would be best to talk to Christine and get to the bottom of what happened. He noticed the time was about 8:30 AM and Christine should have arrived about a half an hour ago. He reached over to pick up the phone on his desk and dialed an extension. He waited for a pick up on the other end, "Christine, could you please come to my office for a quick chat?"

I hung up the phone after hearing Mr. Destler's request. I quickly got up and made my way over to his office. I knocked on the door and waited for a response before walking in, Mr. Destler was sitting behind his desk. He looked up at me, "Christine, please come in and take a seat." I quickly made my way over to one of the seats in front of his desk and took a seat. I looked up at him waiting for him to continue.

"First, I would like to start off by apologizing. I should not have spoken to you the way that I did, and I most certainly should not have let anyone but myself discipline you on your tardiness," said Erik. I nervously shifted in my seat. This certainly isn't what I expected… especially from a man as stubborn as Erik. "I accept your apology, sir. Please understand that it was not any intention of mine to undermine you, nor to be tardy to such an important meeting. I am so sorry for letting you down, sir."

Erik looked up at me and gave me a stern look before continuing. "Christine, you may call me Erik. I apologize for being so cold and commanding you to call me sir. We agreed that we would call each other on a first name basis. Unless of course, you'd like me to revert to calling you Ms. Daae once more?"

I quickly shook my head. "No, I think I would rather you call me Christine," I quickly said. Erik let out a small chuckle. God, his chuckle is like music to my ears! "Very well then," he continued as he reached for the phone on his desk. He picked up the phone and waited for a pick up on the other line. "Centola, I need you to help me with something in my office. How soon can you be here? Very well, I'll see you then." He quickly hung up the phone and looked back up at me.

Erik and I conversed for a little bit. After about 15 minutes, there was a knock on the door and Centola came walking into the room. If I wasn't at work, I would leap out of my seat and put her ass in her place! Erik looked up at her, not noticing the look of displease that was most likely plastered all over my face. "Centola, please take a seat," he said.

After Centola took her seat, Erik looked up at us and cleared his throat before continuing. "I called you here today to decide which one of you two I can trust to help me with a paperwork matter," he said as he pointed between the both of us. We both quickly looked at one another as Erik pulled out a couple of folders with many papers inside of each of them.

"I need one of you two to turn these reports into a business plan. You will also need to project them on the general balance of the company, and on the latest figures from the reports of other departments," said Erik as he placed the stack of folders on top of his desk.

I was just about to say something, when Centola spoke out. "Why don't you do it, you little toad," she yelled at me. I was about to snap back at her when I realized that I had all of the power in this situation. This could be the perfect opportunity to get my revenge on Centola.

"I really shouldn't. I mean you did such a good job on those pamphlets, I am sure you would do an even better job on the report, " I said with a sly grin on my face. How are you going to get out of this one cuntola? Gosh I can't help but laugh on the inside… HA. HA. HA! "But, I… it's your job!"

Erik spoke up unexpectedly, "I agree. You did an amazing job with those pamphlets and I am more than sure that a report like the one I am assigning would be a walk in the park. Do you not remember saying you wanted to be more involved with the company and what not?" He turned to look at Centola with a questioning look on his face.

"I did, but don't you think it would be better for your assistant to do it? I mean how will she learn if she is always being so lazy," she said through her teeth.

Erik looked up at me giving me an icy stern look. "It seems to me that Ms. Daae seems quite comfortable with the idea of you coming after her job. I expect you to turn in that report by the end of the day," he said.

Centola's face went pale and before she knew it she was yelling out, "By the end of the day?! How on earth am I supposed to finish this by then, Erik?"

Erik looked up at Centola, "You'll figure it out. It's almost 10 in the morning, you have until 5 o'clock to turn in your assignment. Go on now, you won't get much work done sitting in that chair with your mouth gaped open.

Centola quickly got up and ran out of the room, no doubt freaking out about the job she needed to get done in 7 hours. I chuckled at the thought of her scrambling to do something work related for once in her life. I was about to make my way out of the room before I heard Erik clear his throat in an attempt to get my attention. I turned back and looked at him. "Yes, Erik?"

"Did Centola actually make the pamphlets with the reports for the board of committee," he asked. I grinned at him before speaking. "Well, let me put it this way… if Centola comes back with a well made business plan, then she made the pamphlets. Oh, and if she doesn't… well then you've got your answer," I said as I walked out of the room.

A/N: I want to apologize for disappearing on you guys for such a long time. I have been caught up with work and other things around my house. I hope the amount of times I will update in return may earn your forgiveness for keeping you all on the edges of your seats. I hope to continue to update this story as often as I can! Thank you all for keeping up with my story. Much love to you all! :)