The choice (Seviradus & Geometryc)

A wonderful day, the sun was shining and John enjoyed the view He had over the city from His office.Turned away from His desk towards the window He could see many windows from other buildings reflecting the images from the ground making it a colorful mozaik that kept changing. Since His office was on the top of the building on the 25th floor He had the best view of all, no wonder, being the CEO of Digital Investors who owned the building. Becoming the multinational in electronics and preferred supplier to the defense department. John was a well respected businessman. Decisive and with a natural overweight He needed few words to get done what has to be done. His green eyes narrowed as He heard the glass door open to His office and a female voice call Him to attention “Sir, i need you to sign these papers for our office in Belgium”
John turned His chair and gave a slight nod and looked into the papers on His desk she presented Him.

The secretary placed her hands behind her back awaiting Him to sign the papers. slightly shifting her weight on her high heels she tried to catch eye contact, yet John kept studying the papers on His desk. “Did you arrange the appointment with Mister Chui in Hong Kong ?” His voice calm and gentle without looking up. “Yes Sir.. As you instructed, you will be staying at the Four Seasons. Your regular suite.” John nodded again slightly as He signed the papers. He slides the papers towards the secretary and looks into her eyes. A brief eye contact. For a moment she hesitates and lowers her eyes as she handles the papers. “Mister Williams from business security is here to see you, he has no appointment but he says it can’t wait. What can I say Sir ?” Her blond hair swept over her shoulder as she steps back holding the papers with both hands on her chest. John slides His finger over His desk as the agenda pops up from the touch screen. “Guess we don’t let him wait. Allow him in.” She nods “Yes Sir.” her blonde hair does a twirl as she makes a graceful 180 on her heels and walks towards the glass door.

Again the door swings open and a bald man steps in while the blonde keeps the door open. “How about a coke love...” the man commands as He passes the secretary. She quickly looks at John who gave a nod. With one hand holding a handkerchief pressing on His forehead, the other offering towards John to shake hands. “Too damn hot, traffic was crazy.” The bald man continues while shaking John’s hand. The girl came in with a coke and a glass and the grabbed the bottle. “Thanks love…” placing the bottle on His lips. “The secretary looks at the bald man in disbelief, then takes the glass back and disappears behind the glass door. The man finishes the bottle and places it on John’s desk. John frowns, looking at the bottle. The bald man looks at John, then the bottle.. “Sorry….” picks up the bottle and searches the office to put the bottle down. Then shrugs and slides it into his inside pocket of his jacket. Then wipes the ring of moist left by the bottle on John’s desk with his handkerchief. “I have done what you asked me Sir, and you were right. We have to take action now..Before she shifts the money abroad ! We can sew her for every penny she has and let her rot in a cel. The devious witch, if you allow me to….” John only placed His finger against His lips. The flood of words stop and again the bald man wipes his head while standing in front of the desk.

“If you have done what I have said, you have something for Me.” John looks up at the man. He nods. “Yes.. of course, on a usb memory stick, i have it .. here” Searching in his pockets, taking out the empty bottle and finds the silver stick. “I have gathered all i could find on her, it is all there. Like i said, we need to take action now… She will not stop, and this will give a good example for the other employees. I say we drag her to court and sort her out…” John looks up at him while placing the stick into a socket in His desk. “I will take care of this Myself..” Again sliding the empty bottle back into the inside pocket of his jacket the man shakes his head. “I would strongly advise against that Sir, let Me handle this and I will promise you..”, “It’s ok Mister Williams, thank you for the files. I will handle it from here.” Again the man shrugs and smiles. “You are the boss, you will find everything there, her birthmarks to what kind of brand toothpaste she uses, can’t say i am not thorough..” Again no response as John slides through the document on the stick. Then slides open a drawer and takes out two tickets. “Indeed, a job well done. Since I dont have the time this weekend, perhaps you can find some good use for these tickets. ‘Miami vs the LA Lakers’.” The Bald man opens his eyes wide. “Do I…” Holding on to the tickets John looks at the man. “I hope we can keep this between us.” The man looks at the tickets, then at John and shrugs again. “You are the boss..” Sliding the tickets into his pocket. “If that would be all, i’d be off then Sir” John smiles and nods. “And thank you again Mister Williams” John leans over the touchscreen as the bald man leave the office. His finger slide through the files. “Well well, you have been bussy Miss..”

"C'mon..c'mon...I know you have something available, Delta..." Jolene Briggs, the head of accounting of Digital Investors mumbled in her office. She'd worked for John for years, though she doesn't recall ever formally meeting him. She believes that as far as he's concerned, she's just another ant on the farm working to put money in his pockets. Despite her climbing the ladder and advancing to her position faster than many of her peers, she knew he still would most likely never know her name. It's not like he did the pay roll, that was her job.

Green eyes decorated in nothing more than mascara scanned the computer screen in front of her, as she scrolled through available flights to Europe. One way. She knew that they'd been investigating, and that it was only a matter of time before they found out. She'd allocating funds to her personal bank account, while claiming the company wasn't eligible for many of the tax credits available. When questioned as to why John's estate would owe more money rather than receiving a dividend since being under her care, she claimed that cut in hours and pay had increased the amount of money they would owe for not providing insurance and other benefits that could otherwise be claimed as a credit. She wasn't exactly sure how she had been getting away with it, but everything seemed to fall in the right place.

The next available flight was tomorrow morning. She wasn't exactly sure what point they were in there investigation, so she purchased the ticket anyway. She was just going to finish this work day and leave. Leave her apartment and all of it's belongings, she had enough money to get here there and get her settled. Frantic, manicured fingers brushed through a long, wavy mane of golden brown hair that had just been released from a braid. She'd started getting a headache rom the stress and undoing her hair would help her relax a little as she pondered her next move. She stood up from her desk, her short 5'3 frame moving to the window. She peered over her surroundings, pushing her soft, pink lips together in thought.

She began pacing, her heels softly thumping on the floor as she tried to not draw attention to herself. A professional white and black dress hugged her figure, accented by simplistic gold jewelry. Diamond studs glistened on her ears, but they belonged to her grandmother - none of her fancy embellishments were the result of her theft. With each step, her lady-like hips moved rhythmically, swaying back and forth. One look at her legs and rear would indicate she was no stranger to her squats and lunges. Her shoulders and arms had feminine definition, but showed she could bench with the boys. While she was no fragile Barbie, her body was earned.

She folded her arms over her chest, a plump and full C, before folding her hands over her face in shame and fear. She thought for a moment and decided against her decision to remain the rest of the day. She grabbed her purse and locked her office, putting on her coat and sunglasses so as to discreetly leave the premise.

John slides through the files, reading her work dosier. Within the company for almost six years with no abnormal behaviour. WIthin the five performance appraisal interviews He couldn’t see anything strange than a woman who done her job as expected. Yet the numbers didn’t lie, she was embezzling money. Somehow things didn’t add up, therefore He ordered Williams to do research on her. His choice because Williams didn’t have the connections to the board nor anyone close to the board. John was sure the whole matter would be isolated and could be handled by Him no matter the outcome.

Opening the files from Williams He starts reading about her private life, looked at pictures of her apartment. Nothing too fancy, yet styleful and tidy. Scrolled through her phone records to see if there were any regular calls then took a look at her bank account. Besides the regular costs of life He could make up that she was a member of a fitness club, and judging the grocery’s her eating style was healthy. He scrolled through some pictures taken in her free time and at work.
His hand covered His smile, then leaned back into His chair.

Again His fingers slides over the touchscreen and an overview of all employees in the building. “Miss. Briggs. Still in the building, Floor 6. office 14 Accountancy. Logged in on terminal PS01541” John tapped on her name and saw the screen change. Now He could see her from behind through one of the surveillance camera’s sitting behind her desk. Her long brown hair hanging down from her shoulders. A front view through the webcam He could see she was a bit agitated by her face and her green eyes scanning the monitor. In a hurry, judging the mouse moving over the screen erratically. He could see everything including the screen she was viewing on her monitor.

“Delta Airlines” He whispers. He oversees her scrolling through available flights to Europe, not a specific destination though. Her final destination changed from Germany, France which all were full. Then a available flight must have catched her eye. He sees the reservation being confirmed. “Amsterdam” He sighs. John sees her standing up, hesitate for a moment and wonder off.

John presses His lips together, then stands up and bows over His desk. Pushes the phone to dial His secretary. “Yes Sir…?” sounded through the speaker, “Cancel all My appointments for tomorrow, book Me a business seat on the the tomorrow flight to Amsterdam, Delta Airlines Flight QT317, also I want you to upgrade a reservation on that same flight to business class to a seat next to Me. Reservation on the name Briggs...Miss. Briggs” One moment silent then the speaker replied. “Yes Sir.”...

She'd escaped, not one interference as she exited the building. She'd made it to her vehicle uninterrupted and unnoticed; the number of employees entering and exiting the establishment throughout the day concealed her suspicious behavior. She unlocked the vehicle, getting into it frantically and slamming the door. Both hands on the wheel, she'd rested her forehead against them and let out a long, worried sigh. Despite her attempt to fight back tears, the waterworks flowed. Her mascara ran down her smooth cheeks, the hot tears burning her eyes. She took a moment to allow her emotions to take over before regaining her composure. She flipped down the visor and wiped her fingers under her eyes, doing her best to wipe away cosmetic remnants. She took another deep breath before starting the vehicle.

After handling her affairs, telling no one of her plan, she packed the bare necessities - clothing, laptop, passport, identification, those sort of things. She'd thrown out any of her spoilables - fruits, vegetables, meats and donated any food she had left that were nonperishable. She'd prepared a cup of hot, herbal tea to soothe her nerves, lighting a lavender candle to try and relax. She logged on her bank account and invested what money she could into stocks and mutual funds so she could cash them once she arrived at her destination. It took longer to freeze those things, so it gave her time to get a new life started across the world. Her flight would leave from NYC first thing in the morning, about a twenty minute drive from her apartment. She'd made cab arrangements for the morning and printed her ticket. She had everything together and slowly drifted to sleep.

The next morning, the cab arrived at her apartment. With one large luggage bag and her purse, she anxiously awaited her arrival at the air port. She pushed her way to the terminal the best she could, though still trying to maintain a non conspicuous composure. Her black heels hit the floor as she walked, the sound muffled by the thousands of people around her. Her long hair was in prim bun, a few stray pieces resting around her face. She'd worn a hat, resembling something like Audrey Hepburn. She loved the style from that era. A simple royal blue dress, cinched at the curves of her waste flaring out slightly to her knees, was her choice of attire for her departure. She'd worn a stylish trench coat to protect her from any rain that was in the forecast for the day, but held it over her arm indoors. She'd waited in the lobby at the loading terminal waiting for the cashier to begin accepting tickets. She checked her phone, tapping her foot impatiently, those green scanning her surroundings. She couldn't help but feel like everyone knew...

The day came slowly to an end. The remaining agenda of the day seem to matter less. And to be honest, His thoughts were elsewhere. John logged out and walked towards the elevator passing the secretary. “Nice evening Sir. and have a nice flight tomorrow.” John looked at the blond girl behind the desk and smiled. “Thank you, and you have a nice evening too. As to My flight tomorrow… It will be a revealing one.” The blond woman smiled out of courtesy without understanding what He was referring to. John grinned as the doors closed and the elevator moved down to the parking level. His car was parked close by the door of the elevator. A loud beep and the sound of unlocking doors echoed as He pushed the remote of His car.
The drive home was short, maybe because He was thinking of the whole situation. Before He knew it He was driving up the lane towards His mansion. The three-story white clapboard home is reached through a gated entrance and down a quarter-mile-long The lights of His car throwing long shadows by the trees along the curvy drive. A rhododendron-lined drive to a white-pebble motor court which reflects the light of the headlights way up to the tree tops.

The mansion was lit by exterior lighting, slowly coming in full view as it revealed from behind the trees. He parked the car, turned off the lights and took a moment to look at The eight-bedroom 1898 house has been totally redone, meticulously designed and decorated with a Versace-esque flair. The home was restored at the highest quality.When entering the door He was awaited by a older woman taking His coat. “Good evening Sir, dinner is served in the dining room, i have had a call from the office that you will be traveling tomorrow so i have packed your bags.” John smiled. “Thank you Alice, that would be all. Have a nice evening.” She looked up at Him. “Are you sure Sir ? you look tired.. “, “I am ok Alice, you go and take the night off” She looked worried yet nodded and wandered off. He walked toward the library and took a whiskey. Softly nipping His drink He settles behind His piano. Slowly He started playing. Closing His eyes He allowed Himself to drift along the notes of “Nothing else matters” by Linkin Park”. When He ends His song with the final note He leans over the piano in thoughts.

John sipped His coffee while He reads His mail. Waiting in the business class lounge wasn’t so bad.Some people find the process of going through the airport somewhat stressful, especially with the hustle and bustle of the public departure lounge.This providing a relaxing pre-flight experience. A few other passengers scattered around reading their newspapers in all kind of different languages. Some behind their notebooks or taking their time to have some face time with their family at home. “Is there anything i can help you with Sir ?” A attendant asked John. “No, thank you….. Ehmm, come to think of it, the woman who I am travelling with, did she board the plane yet.?” The attendant took a look into his iPad. “The name Sir ?”, “Miss Briggs..” John answered while He looked at His watch. “Ah I see. She is checking in as we speak Sir and will go through customs soon, shall i arrange her to meet you here ?”, “That won’t be necessary, I will accompany her on the plane. It is a surprise.” John took another sip of His coffee. “As you wish Sir, still twenty minutes till boarding, gate C5” The attendant walked towards the next passenger. After finishing the last mail He closed His laptop and opens His attache case and places the laptop in it. Then inspects if all was there, taking a few papers half out and reads the bold typed headlines. “Contract”..