PHB 15
Lucas continued to scrutinize one by one the financial data that Deasy had just given him yesterday. Currently, at his home, there’s Felix, his assistant, along with three members of the audit team who are busy helping him. They checked repeatedly while looking for loopholes in the suspected embezzlement of funds committed by some staff members who have been working at Quantum Tech for many years.
Having been left unchecked for years, Lucas just found out that the missing company funds had reached tens of billions of rupiah. No wonder his father’s company suffered losses and almost went under. Lucas also realized that the dirty games within his father’s company were quite well organized.
It took him a long time to investigate. Out of several suspects, only two individuals were proven to have embezzled company funds. Unfortunately, those caught were involved in embezzling relatively small amounts.
That’s why this PR (problem or issue) was so draining for Lucas. He had to go undercover to gather information from lower-level staff who might know about or have received bribes from superiors intentionally misappropriating funds.
“I’ve checked Daniel multiple times, Sir. According to the data, he has never used company funds even once. I couldn’t find anything suspicious,” Felix expressed his opinion, explaining carefully about his findings from what he had been working on all this time.
“You’ve checked everything, right? It has been cross-referenced with the data we obtained before, right?” Lucas asked.
Felix nodded. “I audited and cross-checked everything multiple times. The result is zero. In fact, I found other outcomes that harmed the company as well.”
Lucas was taken aback. He furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Daniel indeed never used company money. However, he abused his position and even received a massive bribe from one of the investors to secure the tender auction held by Quantum Tech for the construction of a mall in the Northern region.”
“Damn!”
Lucas took a deep breath. Leaning back on the sofa’s armrest, he tried to find the most comfortable seating position while contemplating. His head felt overwhelmed, thinking about the next steps he should take to promptly stop the issues and losses that the company had been experiencing recently.
“So, what does Mr. Lucas want to do now? Daniel should still be held accountable, right?” Felix continued the conversation. “Even though he didn’t use company money. But, he was deceitful by accepting a bribe from one of the investors to facilitate the tender auction.”
Lucas nodded. As he is now the leader, he must be decisive and make the necessary decisions.
“Besides Daniel, who else has been proven to be involved?”
“Previously, there was Thomas, the head of Procurement. Argantara, Medina, and now Daniel.”
Lucas nodded while rubbing his chin repeatedly. After a short moment of thought, he gave his response.
“So, what about Daniel? Until this moment, have we found any evidence of him misappropriating or embezzling company funds?”
Felix nodded. Lucas then turned to the two members of the audit team who had been assisting him.
“Have both of you also not found any suspicious data related to Daniel?”
Both members of the Audit team shook their heads. One of them immediately explained to Lucas.
“Mr. Daniel is clean, Sir. His financial data since he joined Quantum Tech until nearly 10 years of service shows no signs of anything suspicious. Even from the wealth data you provided, his income growth each year isn’t significantly substantial. Besides, he comes from an affluent family.”
Lucas nodded. It had been explained in detail, yet for some reason, he still felt unsatisfied. Even when he went undercover as Lucas, a financial staff, he didn’t find any loopholes. Deasy also assured him that her ex-boyfriend was clean. However, Lucas still felt something was bothering him about that particular man.
“But… why do I have this uneasy feeling about him? It’s as if he’s the mastermind behind all this.”
“If you’re still unsure, we can investigate again, Sir,” Felix suggested, and Lucas immediately agreed with a nod. “Perhaps Mr. Daniel has savings in foreign accounts, and that wealth data might not be recorded. Or…”
Felix paused, creating curiosity in Lucas.
“Or what?”
“Or it’s possible that Mr. Daniel doesn’t keep company money in his personal account. He might be laundering money by putting or entrusting the funds into his girlfriend’s, wife’s, sibling’s, or even invested in a business.”Content is © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
Lucas nodded in agreement; what Felix said made sense.
“So, what do you think I should do?”
“My suggestion is to investigate the closest people first, Sir. Start with Ms. Deasy because she had a long relationship with Mr. Daniel. Then proceed to Arindi, who is now his wife. Both of them are Quantum Tech staff, so it should be relatively easy to dig into their financial data.”
Lucas nodded. But shortly after, he let out a long sigh. For some reason, hearing Deasy’s name made him feel uneasy. It’s as if misfortune was lurking around when he got close to that woman.
In the past, when he first joined Quantum Tech, he was genuinely attracted to Deasy. However, after getting to know her personality, madness, and audacity, he couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of her.
“Oh, I really don’t feel like investigating Deasy. It’s too complicated. I don’t know why, but anything related to Deasy always ends up chaotic. Besides, I heard she comes from a wealthy background, right?”
Felix nodded.
“She graduated from a foreign university. Before joining Quantum Tech, she served as the vice CEO of Carribean, a subsidiary of VortexGroup, Sir. Her circle of friends is also impressive. She’s close friends with Veronica, the CEO of VortexGroup, and Sean, the CEO of BlackGold.”
This time, it was Lucas who nodded.
“Despite having influential friends, why does she behave like a clown? She doesn’t carry herself gracefully as a woman.”
Lucas was reminded of an incident two days ago. Deasy unexpectedly and crazily showed him a kiss mark on her chest. She forced Lucas to confess that he had left that mark.
Even though it was indeed him who left the mark, there was no way Lucas would admit it just like that. It could mess up the disguise he had been maintaining all this time.
Because of that incident, he swore to himself. In the future, he would not leave any traces that might make Deasy suspicious.
Hold on!
Lucas, who was lost in thought, suddenly jolted and quickly tried to think. Why did he even think of rekindling a romantic relationship with Deasy later on? Oh, goodness. What kind of thoughts were these?
“Maybe I got contaminated by Mr. Daniel, huh?” Felix chimed in and was met with a stern look from Lucas.
“Hush! Why are you being so cheeky?”
“Sorry, Sir. I guess I caught your mannerisms. Besides, it’s the first time in my life that I’ve encountered someone so daring and crazy after a breakup.”
Realizing there was someone else in the room, Lucas immediately glared at Felix and silently signaled him to stop talking about Deasy.
“Alright then, please investigate Arindi. Let Deasy be my concern.”
Felix seemed to agree. Before leaving Lucas, he gave one more warning.
“Be careful, Sir.” Felix’s assistant’s face looked unusually serious.
“Why should I be careful?”
“I’m afraid that if you get too close to Ms. Deasy, you might end up genuinely falling for her. Especially since you’ve already—”
“Enough… enough…” Lucas interrupted quickly. He knew what Felix was about to say. “Don’t exaggerate, will you?”
Felix burst into laughter. But shortly after he left, Lucas couldn’t help but think about it as well. He imagined what it would be like if he actually fell for someone as strange as Deasy.
***