Chapter 15

"More champagne, Mr Mason," the stewardess asked and Paul nodded. The plane was two-thirds of the way over the Atlantic and he had more than enough money in his secret bank accounts to fund the life he wanted once he touched down in the Caribbean.

Paul stretched out and made a theatrical groaning sound as he pushed his arms up in front of him. The rotund man looked at his watch, "Joe" would be getting into the office and he felt a pang of guilt: he had known Joseph and his family for years but he had always wanted a place in the Caribbean – an immoral bachelor pad – and now he had one, as well as hundreds of thousands of pounds in an offshore account.

He had what he wanted and it was Joseph's fault anyway; he should never have been so trusting in business, didn't he know everyone was in it for themselves? Business was ruthless, no room for sentiment and Paul had used his position to get rich, something any half-decent businessman would have done.

Sarah called out across the executive office. "Joe, it's the bank on the phone. They need to talk to Paul or you urgently."

Joseph grunted. "Where is Paul?"

Sarah shrugged. "There's nothing in the diary."

"Oh pass them through," Joseph muttered and picked up his phone when it rang as Sarah transferred the call. "Joseph Wilson," he answered confidently and then went white.

Sarah watched concerned as Joseph argued about "there being a mistake." There was no way that the company had borrowed hundreds of thousands of pounds, or that their working capital had been exhausted, or that DirectDebits were being returned and certainly the automated payments for the wages due today should not have been returned unpaid: the company had loads of money, Paul and their accountants always assured him that they had were well financed.

"There must have been some fraud then," Joseph told the lady on the end of the phone and strode over to Paul's desk wrenching it open. He searched for the ledger that his Financial Director kept and picked up the huge book, striding back towards his desk.

"What's up?" Sarah asked and Joseph ignored her, his eyes drawn towards a letter in the book on the most recent page addressed to him. Joseph groaned, this was not going to be good news, and he wrenched open the envelope.

"Dear Joseph, by now you will know my secret in that I have emptied the company bank accounts and fled the country. I'm sorry, but I couldn't face working for the rest of my life in this shitty town. All I can say is that I am a long way away from you, and I know you will wonder how I can have done this, but I know you are fucking Sarah behind Charlotte's back. I am no less of a cheating cunt than you. The staff wages are in my bottom drawer, good luck telling them they are all out of work. Paul. P.S. Sorry it had to end like this."

"The fucking bastard," Joseph cried out and Sarah looked at him. Joseph picked up the phone and told her that he would ring her back later, and that he needed to speak to his co-director.

"What's up?" Sarah asked concerned as Joseph threw the ledger showing that the company had over £300,000 in credit across the room.

Joseph pulled open the bottom drawer, breaking the lock on the flimsy cabinet, and took out a tray of envelopes each one filled with notes and looked at Sarah. "Paul's fucked us," he said without emotion and sat down at the desk rubbing his forehead. "Fucked us good time."

"Fucked us? What does that mean, Joseph?"

Joseph rubbed his eye and looked out of the window. "It means he has emptied our bank accounts and left the country. He has ruined everything."

He rubbed his hair and stood up as Sarah shrieked, his mind was still trying to work out just how Paul could have done such a thing. "Oh my God Joe, what does this mean?" He leant over to kiss her on the lips and then taking the tray of envelopes strode into the main office, he had to tell the staff something.

Joseph explained what he knew and handed out the envelopes, each one with the employee's name written in Paul's lazy handwriting, and they stared ashen-faced at the co-owner. Some were tearful, others angry, but as Joseph explained, he did not know what was happening until an hour ago and had no idea if he could save the company or not.

Joseph was popular in the office, he was rightly believed and even the angry employees directed their vitriol towards the absent director not Joseph. "Go home," he told them. "And take tomorrow off. I'll know on Monday," he promised and watched as all but two of his employees left the office.

"I'll be awhile," he told Matthew as he watched him count through his bundle of notes.

"I know," Matthew replied mournfully and stared at the envelope. "But I thought you might want some help."

Joseph snorted. "I don't know where to start," he muttered and looked at Sarah hesitating in the doorway. "Go home," he told him. "And update your CV, there is nothing you can do here."

Matthew nodded and Joseph watched him pick up his things and leave the office. "And don't tell Charlotte, please."

"No I won't," Matthew promised and wandered out of the building. His phone rang the moment he stepped into the sunlight, him idly answering it before checking who it was.

"Matthew, it's Kieran from High Energy Games Ltd."

Matthew was snapped out of his daydream and shook his head. "Oh sorry, yes, hi."

"Right, I'm ringing to offer you the post. We were very impressed with you and think you are right for us. We'd like to offer you £28,750 with an uplift of five percent if you pass probation."

Matthew gave a sharp intake of breath and smiled at his phone. "Yeah, yes, I'd love to take it. Yeah, that's brilliant."

There was sniff down the end of the phone. "Umm, right I'll stick the contract in the post. Obviously, we would need to discuss start date."

Matthew sighed. "Ahh right, this isn't easy, but my existing employer may just have collapsed, ummm, there's been some fraud at the director level, so that might be real soon if you want."

"Wow," Kieran replied in shock. "I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, umm, as soon as references come back we can talk. I'll put a reference request in the post."

Matthew looked back at his employer and turned around, he needed to speak to Joseph about the job. If Expressive Games Ltd was about to collapse, he needed to make sure his reference requests would be responded to and pushed open the double doors at the bottom of the office block.

He heard the sounds the moment he opened the door to Expressive Games. A panting, a furious squealing. What was happening? What was going on?

He quietly edged along the corridor and peered through the window unto the executive office, and gasped in shock, Joseph was having sex with Sarah on his desk, and he immediately dodged out of sight.

Did Charlotte know? Should he tell her? He looked back, took out his phone, and surreptitiously snapped a photograph of the two adults screwing on the desk, it might just be needed if Joseph found out about Katherine and his behaviour at the Christmas Party; it was a good insurance.

Matthew quietly walked out of his employer and picked up his phone, texting Joseph, "I have a new job. Just need references. Please ring when free. Matt."

He scowled at the building thinking of Joseph, he had always been a bit of a father figure to him, someone who he had looked up to. It was natural, Joseph was successful and had a loving family and Matthew was just starting out in the world, but he was cheating on his wife, on Charlotte. His perfect family life was a mirage and he found it faintly depressing.

He sighed and walked around to his bank to pay in some of his money, he would use a thousand pounds of it to give to Katherine, just as he had promised himself, which would pay for quite a few baby things. Matthew had resigned himself to using some of his savings not to get onto the property ladder as originally intended but to ensure that his child had a proper start in life.