(Joshua's POV - Thur. 15 May 2016)

Just as Allan and I wrapping up our meeting about ten minutes before six, a knock echoes on my door and Tony walks in, followed by Myers.

"Sorry to disturb you," Tony says sternly, "but I believe that you would like to hear what Myers has to say." Shit! I wasn't expecting him to give me another report until the final one tomorrow and I told Liam that we would meet at six in the parking lot.

"If that's so important... please just let us do this quickly," I reply with an intent look for the attention of Tony who nods back in answer. "Allan, can you stay for a few more minutes?" I then ask my friend who was about to gather his laptop and notebook and go. As my second in command, he already knows about the audit and I keep him updated on a regular basis but I think that it will be better if he attends this short meeting, especially since we are getting closer to the end of the investigation.

The four of us settle back down at the table and Myers begins to reveal part of what he has discovered while leading the audit. He briefly exposes the issues he picked up - issues that clearly incriminate my CFO - which throws me into a deep wrath that I barely manage to hold within me. Fuck! I have had my doubts on Derek's loyalty recently but I wasn't expecting anything like this. I was trying to convince myself that he might be growing tired of the job and thus getting less efficient; somehow I hoped that he was just slacking a bit, which is not much less excusable, but betrayal is a different story.

Every single employee of Pierce Construction is valuable to me, from the bottom of the ladder to the top. The guy who delivers the mail is as important as the one who makes photocopies or the one who lays bricks on site or the one who puts some figures in an Excel spreadsheet or the one who leads an entire team in any department and I really try my best to make them feel comfortable working for my company. They have more than decent wages, way above the average; they get at least four to five weeks of vacation each year depending on their length of service; they also get health care insurance and performance bonus as well as various other pensions.

Not all companies provide such benefits to their employees in the US but I consider it as a due to valuable employees. In return, I expect not only seriousness and hard work, but also a loyalty beyond reproach. Every year, we all go through some kind of online training dedicated to ethics and compliance; this is a yearly reminder on the Do's and Dont's, boring as hell, yet necessary to remember the good practices and ethical values. If I expect a lot from all my employees, I expect twice as much from my leadership team members. Much, much more and loyalty comes first because I trust them with all I have: my wealth, my projects, my customers and my future. Having one of them infringe on this basic rule is like a stab in my back and as much as I can be indulgent when it is necessary - I can understand that people sometimes face hardships at certain times of their lives, I am human too... - betrayal is not something I can tolerate. And Derek Jones will learn it the hard way.

"Josh, we need to have him come up here immediately and fire him right away," Allan suggests, but before I can answer, Myers speaks again.

"I would advise we wait for a few more days, Sir..." he suggests.

"Why would I do that? You have just clearly proved me that the CFO is guilty of embezzlement!" I reply more dryly than I would like.

"My other theory about the implication of more of your employees is confirming and I need another day of work to prove this too. For now, Derek Jones has been quite unsuspicious about our discoveries because we have managed to make him believe that we were following another lead," Myers explains warily. Damn! The guy is smart!

"What makes you believe that he hasn't been doing this on his own? And how many more people might be involved?" Allan asks.

"When I give you the full details of our investigation, you will understand that he can't have been doing this on his own, and to be honest, I actually believe that he wasn't at the bottom of things. Let me just finish this and tomorrow, I will be able to provide you with names or at least the departments that are concerned by the treacheries," Myers concludes.

"Trust him, Joshua. I have Jeff working with them now and it'll require more investigation later on, but you can count at least on three or four rotten folks..." Tony comments angrily. "I just thought you'd like to know about this tonight."

"Yes, thanks..." I reply thoughtfully, already hatching my own theories. The rattling of chairs brings me out of my thoughts and we all say our goodbyes before Allan and Myers leave my office.

"Joshua, hurry up, it's already way past six and Liam must be waiting for us..." Tony says, already heading out my office with his own laptop bag.

That definitely wakes me from my light daze. Fuck! I didn't even send a text to Liam to let him know that I was going to be late by a few minutes. I hope he is not worrying. I told him we would meet directly at the car in the parking at six, so I hurriedly pack up my laptop, phone and a few files that I will need tonight and meet Tony at the elevator, glad that he had already taken his own things from his office. Our ride down to the underground level is silent and my heart skips a beat when the doors slide open and I notice that Liam isn't anywhere to be seen by the car. It is barely 6:15 but could it be that he got tired of waiting for us and decided to walk back to his place? No, I don't think so. Seeing that the car was still there, he would have simply gone up to my floor...

Damn!! Where could he be now? Tony and I are walking along the wall that leads to the parking area and just as I am about to pull my phone out of my jacket to call him, Liam suddenly and absent-mindedly pops out of an indentation that opens on a space where they stock cleaning machines and products. Liam shrieks out and jumps back when he bumps into Tony who was walking beside me, sticking a hand against his heart as Tony grabs him by the arm, avoiding him a definite fall backward from the shock.

"Hey... what's wrong, Babe? What were you doing there?" I ask as I reach out for him and try to hold me against me.

"Damn!!! You... you two! Y-you just scared the shit out of me!!!" He shouts, stuttering his words out and fighting to disentangle from my arms. I notice Tony struggling to suppress his chuckle at the sight of a fiery Liam. "I didn't even hear the damned elevator doors open! Ughhhh! And did you put some carpet under your shoes or what?? What's with you two always being so quiet?! Damn!"

"Sorry, Baby, just a habit... Why the hell were you hiding there anyway?" I ask, trying not to scold him for his talking back. From the corner of my eye, I see Tony about to burst out laughing. Good thing he walks away to the car or I might as well kick his ass.

"I've been waiting for you for twenty minutes! What were you doing?" Liam accuses.

"I had an unexpected short meeting," I reply a bit dryly, remembering how unpleasant the said meeting was. "I'm sorry, I should have at least texted you to let you know, but that meeting nearly interrupted the previous one and I got caught into some urgent matters. I'm sorry," I apologize yet again, and because I don't want to start an argument already, I pull him to my chest and drop a kiss on his soft hair. "Sorry Baby, next time we'll do as we used to. You'll stay in the office until I tell you we're ok to go," I whisper, hoping for the tension in his body to dissipate. I then lead him to the car where Tony is waiting for us. Thank God, he has recovered his blank expression but once Liam has disappeared inside the car, I see a little smirk on his face that makes me scowl at him.

The ride home is not as silent as I would have imagined after this scene. Liam looks nervous at first but when I ask him if he is okay, he seems to recover his self-control and rambles about his day at work and how Allan tested him and invited him out for lunch - which my friend has already told me about, but it is even better to hear it from Liam. Allan is always amazed by how clever Liam is; he even finds him more efficient and pro-active than Edna who has many more years of experience; Liam's insatiable demand to learn new things and to propose his help to everyone at the Projects Department is always high and of course, people like that because they are able to delegate some of their tasks and they know that they can totally rely on his seriousness.

Honestly, it is not because he is my lover, but Liam is really a smart guy who picks up on things very quickly. He is one of our best recruits these last few years, with a very high potential. Of course he still needs to learn a lot and he will have to go back to school before I entrust him with any serious project, but I am confident that he will learn quickly. He might continue working for the company while taking evening classes. Or maybe we can find a program that will allow him to work part-time. This will require some adjustment in our schedules but it should only be a matter of a few years. He is still very young and this doesn't represent much constraint if it can lead him to a nice career.

Later this evening, after a warm shower that ended up with delicious blow jobs and a not-less delicious dinner, we clean up the kitchen and I propose Liam to watch TV in the family room while I work on the couch beside him. Having spent the afternoon in meetings, I have quite a backlog in reading emails and reviewing some reports that Ally left for me. However, I am mostly preoccupied by the audit's results. I don't know yet how long this has been lasting and how serious it is, but I am angry at myself for not detecting that something was wrong any earlier and I hate the fact that I will get rid of some people. Not that I feel pity for treacherous employees, but this means that we will need to replace some of the staff. I will have to talk to Connie, the HR leader, tomorrow to let her know about upcoming dismissals and more recruitment.

As much as I try to concentrate on what I am doing, I can't help noticing how Liam looks a bit nervous tonight. He keeps biting on his cuticles and I systematically brush his hand from his mouth. I wonder if he is still upset by the fact that I was late tonight and scared him. However, just as I am about to ask him if he is alright, my mobile phone rings and I sigh as I accept the call from Allan, standing up from the couch and heading toward my study.

"Don't tell me you're still in the office, Allan..." I grunt, thinking about his wife and kid as I shut the door. Not that I don't trust Liam with confidential information, but I just don't want to bother and worry him with something that I haven't told him about at all yet.

"No, I'm not... I was just thinking about that conversation we had with Myers tonight... Has he told you how far he dug into our archives? Does he know how long this has been going on?"

"No, he hasn't given more details than what you heard tonight, but I was wondering the same. I guess we'll find out more tomorrow..."

"Damn... How could we not see this earlier?" Allan asks angrily.

"I don't know, Allan... Jones has been weird lately... I mean for quite a few months, but I wouldn't have thought that of him. I'm not a super expert in financials and I really thought I could trust him."

"What do you think Myers meant when he said that Derek might not be at the bottom of the problem?"

"I'm not sure. I think he might not be the one who initiated the trafficking. I mostly wonder how many people are involved..." I reply thoughtfully.

"Yeah me too; I wouldn't be surprised that Dominic is in... That would explain the guy's recent promotion. Don't you think?" Allan asks.

"Yeah, you're probably right..."

Allan sighs before I hear Amely call him out in the background. "I'm coming, sweetie!"

"I didn't know you'd given me a new nickname..." I chuckle, hoping to release some of the tension.

"Dumbass..." he grunts in answer, making me chuckle.

"It's late, Allan, go take care of your wife..." I tell him.

"Yeah, you do the same..." he replies, guffawing in the phone.

"Asshole..."

"I love you too, sweetie. Good night, Josh!"

"Bye, see you tomorrow!"

When I get back to the couch, Liam wears a wary expression and snuggles into my side. I wrap an arm around his shoulders and start reading a paper report while he continues to watch the news on TV. The breaking news of the day is that they finally caught the serial killer in Chicago. Well it was about time after six murders in the city and its close suburbs. That's one worry less, even if Liam won't have to take the train to commute every day for a while. I return my attention to the document I was reviewing but after about twenty minutes, I am still staring at the first page because my thoughts keep straying back to the audit.

"What is it that worries you?" Liam suddenly asks, pulling away from my arm and kneeling on the couch beside me. He is staring at me with worried eyes but now is not the time to inform him about what is going on at work, especially as I don't have any firm information to give him. Nevertheless, I can't obviously tell him that I am not worried. He is far too smart not to have noticed it.

"Just a little issue at work. Nothing for you to worry about, Baby," I reply, slipping a hand beneath his tee-shirt at the small of his back and pulling him to make him straddle my lap. "How about you? You've looked a bit nervous tonight. Are you still upset that I was late tonight?" He seems to think this over for a few seconds before his expression softens.

"I'm not nervous... and you're forgiven," he replies with a smile before his lips delicately attach to mine. My tongue begs for entrance and the kiss soon becomes hot enough to have both our manhoods swell against each other. A moan escapes his mouth when I break the kiss a few minutes later. "Time to go upstairs... I've got better ideas to spend the rest of our evening..." I suggest, wriggling my eyebrows.

"Err... I'm still a bit sore from yesterday... Hadn't you been that rough last night..." he begins, blushing a little.

"I thought you liked it," I tease him, remembering his screams of pleasure while I pounded into his prostate last night in the playroom.

"I did... I enjoyed it a lot... but my hole needs to get used again to your... monster..." he explains, blushing even deeper and making me burst out laughing.

"Okay, understood... That's fine with me; and you've got another hole I can use..." I reply, flicking my tongue against his lips. I can definitely go with another round of blow jobs!

* * *

I frown at Liam when he enters the kitchen, finally ready for breakfast when I am already done drinking my coffee and eating the pancakes that Liz baked for us. He is dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans that fit him very well, casual leather boots and a light-blue button-up shirt that he hasn't tucked inside his pants. He looks more like a student than a personal assistant, and also much younger.

"Casual Friday wear...?" I ask as he hoists himself on the stool next to mine. Liz puts a plate of pancakes and a bowl of cottage cheese with a bit of sugar and fresh raspberries on top in front of him. I notice the friendly glance between them before Liam turns to me with a grin.

"Yep! That's one of the advantages of not working directly for you!" he cheers. "I am free to dress like the guys of the projects team on Fridays," he explains, digging into his food.

"Wow... Have I ever given you any dress code while you worked for me?" I exclaim, mocking offense.

"Nope... not directly... but I know you wouldn't have appreciated..." he comments with a chuckle.

"Really...?"

"Well that's what I guessed from all the business suits and ties you bought me when we started... dating..." he explains and I am amazed at how right he is. I just wanted him to be as elegant as I thought my personal assistant should be at the time.

"So the guys at the Ops Department dress like this on Fridays?" I then ask.

"As if you didn't know..." he replies, rolling his eyes. "The team is young, so that's only normal..." he argues, hurrying to down his mixture of cottage cheese and fruits.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm old?" I ask with a playful warning tone. He only shrugs his shoulders, wearing a little smirk on his face, and I hear Liz's soft chuckle at the sink. Oh God... I'll have to get this young man back on track soon before he gets too bold. I stand up from my stool and go to stand behind him. "Be careful... You might get some punishment for your sassiness..." I whisper in his ear, and when I see his grin widen, I understand that this is exactly what he is looking for, promising us a fun evening in the playroom tonight.

On our way to the office, I remind him that we are just dropping him off because I have some meetings out of the office today. One will take me most of the morning and the second one will be from 1:30 to around three this afternoon. An idea forms into my mind when we are about to reach his destination.

"I'm having lunch with Tony between both meetings. Would you like to join us?" I propose, knowing that Tony wouldn't mind. "The restaurant is less than a five-minute walk from the office and we won't take too long."

"Hmm... I don't know... I have quite a lot of work today..." he replies hesitantly.

"We might stay a bit late in the office tonight. You can afford a lunch outside and catch up later on on your work," I suggest.

"I know, but... I really have a lot to do... I was intending to have lunch at my desk actually..."

"Does Allan give you too much to do?" I ask with a frown.

"No!! But I wasn't too efficient yesterday and the department is just really busy at the moment..." he explains.

"Alright; I'll send you the address by text this morning. Try and see if you can spend a little hour out?" I almost beg him, trying to convince him with a sad face and a brief kiss as Tony pulls over by the building.

"I'm not making any promise... Just don't wait for me if I don't reply, okay?"

"Okay..." I sigh. "If not at lunch, I'll see you tonight. I love you, Baby," I add in a whisper before he quickly slips out of the car and disappears too fast into the building. For some reason, I have a feeling that I won't see him at lunch but I find comfort in the fact that today is Friday and that we have the week-end ahead to catch up. Apart from a visit to the club on Saturday evening, we don't have anything planned. Hopefully I can wrap up as much as I can at work today so that I don't have too much to do over  the weekend because I well intend to spend a lot of time with my sweet boy.

Published on 1 Dec 2016

Here you go with another chapter :) and that's it for now! Next update will come either on Saturday or Sunday because I really need to get back to Twisted Moon now. Haven't written a line in nearly a week and that sucks because I'd really like to finish it before Christmas. I start doubting that it will be possible but I'd love to start publishing it for Christmas so I need to focus back on it...
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one. We're about to reach the top of the last hill of this part. Time to unravel some of the intrigues of the story. Watch out for the downfall, some things might hurt a bit.