“Bastard. Surely, like every man you have needs you have to fill. Find a woman and settle down. Have a few kids.”
“Yeah, look what happened to our parents. Mom has not even looked at another guy.”
She heard the sound of an engine turning over. “If you’re about to drive then you better hang up. I’m not having you talk and drive. It is dangerous.”
“I liked you better when you weren’t dating Gallagher and Turner.”
Simone smiled. “Think what you like.”
“I wonder what Dad will say.”
She sighed. “He hasn’t been in touch. I’m glad. It means I don’t have to deal with a demanding parent.”
“Mom will want to meet them.”
Rolling her eyes, she saw Cole walking into the room followed by a very sweaty Callum.
“I’ve got to go. Both men have just come to get me. Chat soon.”
She hung up the phone before her brother could stop her.
“Anything interesting?” Callum asked, pointing to her cell phone.
“My brother doing his routine check up.”
“What do you two have in common?” Cole asked, leaning down to kiss her neck.
“We both loathe our father. We both came to the conclusion when we were growing up that Malcolm Allusifa is the spawn of Satan.”
Callum chuckled. “I don’t think you’re wrong there.”
“It must hurt to think that about your parent. Malcolm may be a bastard, but he’s still your father,” Cole said, reaching down to cup her breast.
“He was nothing more than a glorified sperm donor. There is nothing inside even close to being parental.”
Cole cupped her cheek. “Then we’ve got you all to ourselves.” He claimed her lips.
Simone pulled away on a giggle. Turning back to her desk she went through more of the file. Cole remained at her back, playing with her hair.
“Do you think we should go out tonight?” Callum asked. “I need to be seen with my woman again. The press will have a field day if I go alone.”
“I don’t want to go out. If we go out then we have to act all conventional. I want to touch Cole as well as you,” she said, pouting.
Cole laughed. “I’ll account for every touch and kiss. You can make it up to me in more interesting ways,” he said.
Simone laughed with him, gazing down at the sheet. She frowned looking at the piece of paper. Picking up the paper, she held the page to the light seeing none of the watermarks from the office supplies on the paper.
“What’s up?” Callum asked.
“This is not my signature, and the paper is not from my office.” She glanced at the figures seeing a withdrawal of a sum that made her gasp. “This is not right. I don’t understand. Someone should have noticed this. It is so obvious.”
She flicked through the file seeing the correct date with alternate figures. The doorbell rang interrupting her.
Callum left to answer while Cole leaned over her. He was watching her make quick calculations and then holding several sheets up to the light.
“These are what we’ve been looking for,” she said. “Someone has tried to forge my signature. You see how they have not curled the ‘f’ in my name. I curl mine.” She signed her signature on a piece of spare paper for Cole to look at.
“I see. Your signature is nothing alike.”
“There is something else. Because my figures get looked at for tax purposes I have watermarked paper that I use when printing off the correct information and data for file. I fill in each form, print off, then sign. This then gets filed away into the correct file for month and year.”
Cole nodded his head. She lifted up a piece of the work she’d done. “See, the company’s ledger and watermark can be seen.” Then she held up the doctored figures.
“There is no watermark,” Cole said.
“That’s because it is an ordinary piece of paper.” She smiled feeling like she’d accomplished something. “Not only that, this was filed away under last year’s accounts. They’ve already been processed, and this is dated for over four months ago. This would get overlooked, and no one would be any the wiser.”
“Who can get this water-marked paper?”
“About every other person in the company.”
Cole sighed. “We’re still back to not knowing who could have doctored these files.”
“Then maybe I can help,” Daniel said.
Simone turned to see her brother. He was holding a file as well.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“I think it is time we bring her up to speed on everything that has been going on.”
All three men looked at her with sober expressions. “Wow, what the hell is going on? You guys look annoyed.”