Stealing is just a small sin right? (Moonsblackwolf & Askeladd)

[Askeladd]

Damon was a simple guy just trying to make his way in the business world, he had worked for a while getting to his position and he was good at it which is why he was valued. He was not one of the top dogs in the company but he was right below them, he had enough power to get the things he wanted along with the money he wanted. All in all these things were very good and he had a good life, he was not a bad looking guy, he had money, he had some clout weren't these things what people tried so hard to get he asked himself as he exited the elevator for work. His clothing was the usual dark blue business suit, nice of course but not overly pricey as he wanted to look good not like a selfish prick who was flaunting stuff he did not have. His tie was a light red that blended in well and his shoes were black with a nice shine to them with each step. His hair a light blond color was properly combed back to show off his locks of hair, his eyes were a hazel color mixing nicely was green with little brown flecks in the green. His jaw was almost squared and his body maybe a bit fitter then the average person, but that was only due to a good diet and wanting to actually take care of himself. Though he was nowhere near as good looking as some of the ridiculous models you see these days, he was a bit cut but not to the point where you could see every little muscle and vein on his body. He was happy the way he was just above average as that was all he needed to be to live a good life he thought as he walked towards his office.

He walked in and set his hot cocoa on the desk carefully, he had never been one for coffee and while hot cocoa seemed a bit immature to most he liked to have it in the mornings as it would get very chilly. So he opted for hot cocoa and made it seem like it was coffee, no one ever asked if it was and he did not care to tell them it wasn't. Sitting in his chair he took a moment relax before he went to work, his fingers flew over the keyboard like he could see everything that he needed to type without needing to actually see it. He accessed a few files here and there looking through the profits and spending, he noticed a few errors were small amounts of money were in the profits but not in the spending area. So he looked deeper now tracing almost everything carefully watching for even the smallest margin of error in the system and he found many over the last six months. This did not make any sense he told himself, there were a few possibilities but there was one that stuck out much more then the others and that was that someone in the company had been embezzling money. But who could it be he asked himself as he began to run a trace through the system to everyone that had been in contact with the money and what computers they were using when they did. He would have to wait a few moments for the computer to run through the names and bring up the one person that had been in contact with all these monetary transactions, so he sat back in his chair calmly tapping his finger on the desk as he wondered who might pop up onto his screen when the search was done.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

Ashley was not the lowest on the totom pole in the company but she wasn't that high either. The pay was not wonderful but it was slightly better than working at Walmart or such. But she still had bills to pay and the salary was not cutting it especially when she had large student loans to pay off. It was frustrating as had applied for a higher financial position that suited her degree and the job was handed to some brown nosing jerk. Now she stuck struggling to pay all the bills and underneath someone who has less qualifications than her. It was something that bothered her immensely.

But Ashley had found a way to supplement her income slowly. Even though she wasn't very high up, she had enough access and knowledge to toy with reports. She never took much money that it was noticable. It was snuck into little unnoticed places that she figured no one would ever look for. It helped to get her out of the red but she wasn't greedy, she didn't take enough to get rich or anything. It would take someone very good to realize that the money was missing and where it was going to. Still Ashley came and worked the same every day. When she walked in that day, she was dressed to the nines as always. Her grey pencil skirt hit mid-thigh and matched her jacket, her pink button-up blouse covering her cleavage well. She wore kitten heels with panty hose and her long blonde hair was in a neat braid down her back. Her bright green eyes were surrounded by delicate make-up as always. Sitting at her desk, she went about her business quietly.

 

[Askeladd]

Damon was continuously tapping his fingers in sync with the beeping that was coming from the computer as it slowly eliminated each person from the embezzler category, his eyes watching the screen ever so calmly as he expected the name to pop up at any second. He had a few ideas on how to handle this when he found them, depending on who they were well he expected to fire them right off the bat and then completely blackball them in the business area of the working world. But there were other ideas as well, he could always use this against the person easily, he had the clout to stop them from ever working in this city again so he could take quite a bit from whoever had done this, he was just not sure what he might want with them. In the middle of his thoughts is when the computer finally finished the search of everyone that was in contact with every single one of the reports for the money and only one person came up.

It was a woman he could see and as he brought up her files he saw some pictures that made him grin, he was definitely not going to just fire this one he thought calmly. She was too good looking to just be fired so he would have a little fun with her, his hands flying over the keyboard once again to close her file and then bring the monetary reports back up to view. He was going to play with Ashley before he called her out on the embezzling scheme she had going. So he picked up the phone and called his personal secretary, "yes send Ashley up here right away she is on the third floor with the rest of the financial section, thank you". He spoke in a confident tone before hanging up the phone, he yawned and leaned back in his chair as he awaited Ashley's arrival. He wondered what she would think of him suddenly calling her in like this, she had been very careful so there was no way she would think that he had caught her, maybe she would think it was a chance at promotion. His lips formed a small smile now as he waited for her, he was going to try and draw out this little bust as long as he could so he could watch the reactions she was certain to give.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

The morning went by as usual, the routine all the same as it had been evey day since she started. She tapped her short manicured nails on the keyboard transfering expense reports from paper to hardware and making sure that numbers all matched. The time ticked by slowly and she was looking forward to lunch so she could leave for an hour. It seemed things weren't going to be all that ordinary as she was greeted by Damon's secretary and told she was needed. Giving a little nod, she finished her report before she closed it and she stood to follow. Her hands smoothed his skirt in a nervous habit, not quite sure what he wanted with her. It couldn't be over the money she'd taken, she'd been so careful and the amounts were meticulously hidden. It wouldn't be possible. After a moment she thought perhaps she was finally receiving a raise or a promotion!

When she reached the outside of his office door, she stood out there for a moment in hesitation. She still didn't know what he wanted with her but she was about to find out. She raised one hand to tap on the door a few times before opening the door and peering inside. "You needed to see me sir?"

 

[Askeladd]

Damon was running through the plans in his mind as his secretary went to find Ashley for him, he had a few ideas on how to approach this but one of them was really running through his head quite a bit. Usually when someone found out about an employee stealing from the company they were to fire them, well let's just say Damon was definitely not in the firing mood for this little minx she was clever and sexy a good combination he thought. But today her luck had finally run out as Damon was very observant when it came to work as he had a lot riding on this job and a possible promotion, with this little information he could skyrocket to the top if he sold her out though he could do that anyways by placing the blame on anyone. So his idea was to call her out on her little embezzling scheme after some playful words to get her overly worried about the fact that she had been caught, when this was done well he would have even more fun with her right here in the office. His thoughts dashed away now as there was a knock at the door and Ashley entered asking if he needed her, he nodded and smiled at her warmly before getting up from his seat and walking over to her rather quickly "yes yes Ashley you see I have found something quite disturbing" he said as he shut the door behind her. He led her to the seat though he did not make her sit he just sat on the edge of his desk now while making it seem as if he was worried about being overheard, "you see I have found multiple accounts missing small amounts of money" he explained as if she didn't know. "The problem is I cannot figure out who might be doing it they are covering their tracks quite well I must admit, so I was wondering since you worked in the financial area and the computers if you had seen any suspicious behavior from any of your coworkers?" his tone now convincingly curious to make her think he did not suspect her at all of doing this deed.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

As she walked into his comfortable office trying to not be so nervous. Surely if she was in trouble or caught for stealing the money he would've had someone else in the office as a witness or a security guard stationed outside if she decided to get loud or violent or tried to run. But they were alone in his large office and he didn't seem angry with her, upset at something but not directed towards her. She walked over to the chair in front of his desk, watching him as he shut the door behind them and blocked her in. She gave a little sigh, trying to calm her nerves as she sat on the chair, crossing her ankles and putting her hands in her lap. When he mentioned that there was something rather disturbing. "Please, tell me about it?" she asked, waiting to hear him continue the story. When she heard that he was in the search for the person behind stealing all of that money, she fought to keep her composure and not give anything away. She frowned and nodded at his information.

"That's quite a problem indeed...I could see why you're trying to get this taken care of quickly. I mean, I have access to some of the computers but I don't think I have any better idea than you over who did it. If it's someone higher up than me, I wouldn't be able to figure it out. I haven't seen anything that would lead me to think of anyone who did it." she added, watching his expression.

 

[Askeladd]

Damon smiled at her politely almost as if he had expected her to act like this the whole time which he did, the little sigh indicated that she had something of worry on her mind maybe she was thinking she had already been caught he thought now. If he did not already know for sure that she was the one who had been funneling money from the company he might actually believe that she had not a clue of where the money was or who could do such a thing as she had a good calm face right now as she listened to him. As she asked him to tell her more he smiled knowing she would do this to cover her own tracks, he told her all of it now and looked at her expression which seemed strained to him only because he was looking so closely at her. When she frowned at his information he wondered if she considered herself caught but it seems she was trying to play it off as a ghastly thing for someone to do, she tried to agree with him and say that she understood why he wanted this solved soon. She then tried to play off her own innocence by saying she did indeed have access to the computers but she did not have a better idea of who might be doing such a thing and that she had not seen any activity of this possibly happening. He nodded in a sage like fashion and crossed his arms while a hand rested under his chin as he looked thoughtful, "well this is rather disappointing, I was hoping to find some kind of information but it seems this criminal is smarter than I thought" he said in a calm almost bored tone. He now looked at Ashley right in the eyes "if you found out that someone was stealing from the company and you were their boss how would you deal with them Ashley?" he asked in a curious tone as he picked up a notebook and made it seem like he was writing some serious things down to try and make her a little more nervous about being in this office alone with him while he questioned her about her crimes.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

Ashely wasn't quite sure what she was going to do. Obviously her days of embezzling from the company were over. If they knew how she did it now they would be able to figure out who was doing it soon after. It was too risky now. While she was going to miss the additional income, she needed her job too much to risk taking more. Her eyes looked up at him, watching his responses carefully for any sign of foul play. He seemed rather unhappy that Ashley claimed she couldn't figure out who was doing it with her current level of access. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you out more, I wish I had the ability to help you catch them." The comment about her being smarter than what he thought made her smile inside, obviously she'd done something right to keep him from knowing it was her.
When he asked what she would do if she caught a thief she gave a little thoughtful look and shrugged her shoulders some. "Well, I'd probably give them a chance to explain themselves before punishment. Who knows why someone tried to steal, but they could've had their personally valid reasons for doing so. As far as punishment...I don't know, it would be a decision on trusting them to continue their job or not. Although it also varies based on the amounts stolen too I suppose...it's hard for me to say without knowing all the details..."

 

[Askeladd]

Now Damon was enjoying the fact that Ashley continued to act as if she had nothing to do with this, the little apologies about not being able to help him when she of course thought that he had not a clue about the fact that it was here doing these things. As she said she wished she had the ability to catch whoever was doing this he had to hold back laughter as that was the biggest bold face lie he had ever had the privilege to hear and being close to the bosses he heard quite a few. She was sitting there probably thinking he was such an idiot for not knowing who it was and he could not wait to see the look on her face when he called her out on the naughty little things she had been doing in the company. When she looked a bit thoughtful at his question he did wonder what kind of answer she would give, she gave an answer that was most common with thieves they had a reason to do so, this answer was so useless he just felt the need to throw it back into their faces. But he did not show distaste for her answer he merely nodded his head slowly, "Hmm I suppose that is true perhaps a mother with kids needs a bit of extra money so she can make ends meet, perhaps a person in debt needed some easy cash to pay it off, or it could be a student with some heavy tuition fees" he said in a calm tone. He looked right into her eyes and gave her a big fake smile "that reminds me you have some student loans don't you Ashley? how are those coming along?" he asked in that same calm tone though now his eyes stared at her like a predator with it's prey in front of it.

(Sorry I thought I replied to this like four or five days ago, so busy lately things slip by sorry again.)

 

[moonsblackwolf]

(It's alright, apparently I did the same thing...)

Ashley was confused by the sudden change in questions, a little more personal now than the previous ones. He was pushing at the edge of something but wasn't crossing the line yet, she was starting to get a little nervous. Maybe Damon knew more than he was letting on? She wasn't quite sure what to do except get the heck out of there before it got any further. If she walked out quickly, it would be less likely that he would accuss her or she would slip up and let something out that she didn't mean to. "Oh, well of course I do. I just finished college and they take a long time to pay off but I"m managing them." she replied cooly, as if they didn't really matter. It was alright, he didn't have anything against her or he would've started out with that information and not played games. "So...I've got some work to do, I better head out of here."

 

[Askeladd]

Damon could see it in her eyes she was lost on way the subject had changed from catching the criminal to her, unlike her he knew why he did that as she was the criminal. He wanted her to let something slip out to make her admit it to him but it seemed she was not going to have that as she said she was not having problems with college fee's at all, hmm I can't imagine how she paid for that he thought to himself jokingly as she began to speak again. Well it seems I will have to go with the more direct approach he thought as she said she should probably get out of her, "ah I don't think you should seeing as your career rests on you staying here and listening to me Ashley" he said in a calm tone as if he had not just thrown out a threat to fire her. He glanced at his hand like there was something interesting on it as he waited for her to react to his words, his cellphone vibrated in his pocked but right now she was his only focus so he reached into his pocket and pushed the button to turn the phone off for now.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

Ashley had begun to stand up to walk away from the office and pretend nothing had happened. But it seemed that he knew more than he originally let on. Her stomach flopped and her heart thudded loudly in her chest as he spoke to her. Her eyes kept neutral but still focused on him as she lowered herself back into the chair. She gave a small frown to him, still acting as if she didn't know anything. She figured he had tried the nonchalant approach first to see if she would talk herself into trouble. When that hadn't worked for him, he thought a more direct threat would get it out of her. Ashley was not going to incriminate herself however. If he actually had evidence that was one thing. But he seemed to be pulled at strings that had no where to go, at least that's how it appeared for now. "I don't know what you're talking about..." she replied, letting herself look confused.

 

[Askeladd]

Damon smiled as she froze in mid step, right now her mind was probably going a mile a minute trying to figure out how he knew what she had done or if he was bluffing and trying to make her confess. When she sat back down with those neutral eyes he nodded at her like she had done the right thing, now she said that she did not know what he was talking about while putting on a confused look as if he were some idiot trying to con some money from her. He turned his computer screen to face her now showing the logs of the money transfers, "you know oddly enough each time money was withdrawn you were on your computer, now that isn't enough is it?" he said in a thoughtful tone. He hit another key and then came up her pay grade, "now you make this much, yet" he said as he hit another key bringing up her deposit log "you have been depositing this much, how could that be possible if you don't know what I am talking about Ashley?" he asked in a playful manner.

 

[moonsblackwolf]

Ashley watched as he moved around the computer desk and rotated the monitor towards her. She had to lean forward a little to read the print, but she recognized the type of screen immediately. It was a transfer screen showing a number of logs and the computer that they were made from. It was all from the same computer, hers. She watched the next screen pop up on the monitor, showing a copy of her pay stub and what she earned each paycheck. The last screen was a deposit log that showed the extra money added to her direct deposit. At first she debated feigning innocence, pretending that it was someone else's error not her doing. But she knew that he easily had enough evidence to convinct her. "What do you want me to do? Get fired? I'll pay it back but I can't right now..." she added, trying to not lose control.

 

[Askeladd]

Damon waited as she looked at the logs and said nothing, he had no reason to as the evidence was there after all so he let her look all she wanted until she had a worried thoughtful look in her eyes. As she asked what he wanted her to do he laughed at the suggestion of firing her and that she would pay it back just not now, "well you have two options and only two my dear" he said calmly as he stood from his desk now. "The first option is you walk out of here get fired, then get black balled in every business job there is and yes I have the clout to make sure you never work in this business again" he said confidently as he knew he could indeed do what he was threatening. "Now the second choice would be you continue to work here even getting a raise, you stop embezzling money and you listen to every order I give you Ashley" he said the last part with a gleeful tone in his voice, "make your choice".

 

[moonsblackwolf]

The first option would ruin her. Not only would she have no possibility of getting a decent job anywhere in this town or likely in the state. So not only would she be out of a job but her entire college education that she was still paying off would be useless. The whole reason she got into this mess would be pointless, an insult to injury. Giving a grave nod to the first option she waited for the next one, not sure if it was going to be any better than the first. And it wasn't...Ashley wasn't quite sure what he meant, but she was sure it meant being his work bitch and doing all this work for him. But...if it meant keeping her job...

"What do you mean...every order? I mean, what all will you expect me to do?" she asked cautiously, unsure if she would like the answer.

 

[Askeladd]

When she asked what he meant by every order he rolled his eyes as well it was rather obvious what he meant by every order he thought to himself calmly while walking over to her. "I mean every order Ashley, if I tell you to come to work wearing red lace panties you will, I tell you to bring me a report you will and so on as long as I please" he said in that same calm but firm tone with her as she really had no choice but to accept. "So basically your options are to become a personal servant for me or get fired, black balled, and possibly sued into an inescapable debt by the company if I tell them what you have done" he said in the same calm tone it was as if he was ordering coffee or saying hi how are you so casually to someone. He smiled a little now showing something more than his calm side, right now he had every card in the deck stacked against her and she knew this seeing as well he had the proof and motive to crush her beneath his shoes without blinking an eye or losing a wink of sleep.