Page 50 of Badass Alien Boss
“For a six-month term? That’s not unreasonable at all. Sounds like a bargain.”
“Not the whole period—per month.”
He shook his head. “Per month? That can’t be right. I don’t remember the specific terms of the GAL Friday contract, but I wouldn’t have hired anybody at that rate—Idon’t draw 40K per month. The company can’t afford to pay that.”
“No, it can’t—but Michaela and GAL Friday aren’t receiving that much. GAL Friday’s fee is 13,000 credits. Their take is 3K, Michaela receives 10K—so where is the other 27,000 per month going?”
“Phuk!” Korsan fell into his chair and looked up with shadowed eyes. “I swear on our parents’ ashes—” He ran hishand over his jaw. “I will get to the bottom of this. I will have a complete audit conducted of the finances and investigate the staff because obviously someone on the inside is involved.”
“I brought anomalies to your attention before, and you brushed them aside.”
“I’m taking it seriously now. I’ll get the auditor on this immediately.”
A huge weight fell from his shoulders.He’s not behind this.
“It might be better if you brought in an outsider, a forensic accountant,” he advised. “I’m not accusing him, but how do you know that your auditor is not involved?”
“I can’t believe he’d do anything like that. He’s been with me since I started the company. The only person I trust more is you, but I can see your point.”
“I’d be happy to assist whoever you hire,” he offered.
“I appreciate that, but given what you discovered at Starlight, I’d like you to visit all SIH’s properties—incognito—as well as the other subsidiary sites and check them out for anomalies. The sooner you can leave, the better, so you can forward any discrepancies to the forensic accountant. I’ll get one on board ASAP, and I’ll hire an investigator to probe deeper into the backgrounds of the staff.”
“Michaela can do that. That’s her expertise.”
Korsan shook his head. “You still need her. The people who attacked you still haven’t been apprehended. How is the investigation coming along, by the way?”
“Michaela got some leads, but she’s still working on it.”
“All the more reason not to add more to her plate. I’d like her to accompany you to the subsidiary sites. Her expertise can best be used there.”
“Okay. We’ll leave after she sees a doctor.”
“A doctor? What’s wrong?”
“She had a life-threatening allergic reaction on Elyxis 4.”
“Is she all right?”
“Fine now. Thankfully the Starlight had a doctor on staff. Dr. Adanna ruled out the food, but we have to follow up.”
Last night, they’d heated up frozen dinners at his apartment. Exhausted after the flight and the stress of the break-in, they’d crashed, both of them falling asleep almost instantly. On the positive side, there’d been no middle-of-the-night allergy attacks. They’d grabbed breakfast buns from a street vendor cart, and she’d eaten that with no problem.
“For sure. Right away. It’s even more important now since you’ll both be traveling off planet.”
He’d accused him of terrible things, and Korsan was being so reasonable and open, guilt smote him. “I’m sorry for—”
“Hey. We’re good.” His brother came around the desk and hugged him. “You shocked me, but we’re good.”
“I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions—”
“Remember when we were kids, and I got you to eat dirt by telling you it would make you invisible?” He laughed. “I pretended I couldn’t see you. I kept bumping into you. You believed me.”
“You got into big trouble with Father.”
“You can consider us even now.” Korsan slapped him on the back.
Chapter Eighteen
