Staying strong through vulnerable times 3

After the meal, Nesli went back with the bottle of soda. It was now left with Nicole and Leo in the apartment.

Nicole was in the hall while Leo was in the kitchen washing the dishes that they used for the memorial.

After sitting for a while, she stood up and started looking around the hall. she saw a picture of Leo and Lizzy inside a room that was slightly opened and was tempted to go in but just when she got to the door, Leo called her and she turned back.

''What are you doing there?''

''Oh, nothing'' Nicole went back to the hall and saw that he had placed a plate of cut fruits on the table.

''Sit down and eat some fruits''

''It's late, I should get going now'' Nicole looked at the time.

''I thought that you were going to wait till Lizzy comes back. didn't you say she went to take a look at Ray's house? You should wait for her to come back first'' Leo sat down across her.

After thinking about it for a while, Nicole sat back and started eating the fruits but the hall suddenly turned silent with none talking to the other.

''What do you think would have happened if I you had drunk that soda?'' Leo asked and Nicole coughed. Her face reddened with embarrassment. ''You seem to have the memory of a goldfish. Didn't we decide not to drink anything today?''

''I just forgot for a moment''

''You should be careful in the future. I know you have a good alcohol tolerance level but if you get drugged, there is no out for you''

''Whoa, stop talking about it''

Just then, Lizzy and Candy rushed into the hall panting for breath. Nicole stood up when she saw them.

''Lizzy, Candy. You are finally here?''

''En, how was it over here? Did you prevent Leo from drinking anything?'' Lizzy asked as she looked at Leo who had turned towards their direction even though he couldn't see them.

''It should be that he stopped me from drinking anything. Ray seemed to have stopped trying to drug Leo and turned to me instead, but nothing happened. We are fine''

''Sit down, we found something'' Candy said and they went over to sit at the sofa. Leo could only watch Nicole because he couldn't see the people she was talking to.

''They found something, Leo'' Nicole said to Leo before turning to Lizzy. The latter nodded at Candy.

Candy placed her hand on the table and lifted them again and a stack of papers appeared on the table.

''How did you get these papers?'' Nicole asked them.

''These aren't the real papers. We couldn't take them so I just made a water copy of them. You have to look at them fast before they disappear'' Candy explained. She could have easily stolen them had her powers not been grounded. She could only make these water copies for them to look at but even with the water copy, it had a time limit.

''Leo, do you have a printer in the house?'' Nicole suddenly had an idea. They could make copies of the water prints before it disappeared.

''Yes, I have a printer in my study''

''Let's go and make copies of these. They will disappear after a time period''

''I will get on it right away'' Leo took the stack of papers and went into the study leaving Nicole with the two ghosts.

''Those papers had my signature on them. when Leo brings the copies, I will have a look at them. I'm sure we can find something from them''

''Those two are shameless. They started eating themselves as soon as they arrived at Priscy's apartment'' Candy shrugged.

''Those two are sleeping with each other?'' Nicole looked at them and they nodded their heads. ''Since when did you know about this?''

''Recently. The day we found out what they were planning to do with Leo. But, it seemed those two have been having casual sex most of the time''

''That is so gross'' Nicole frowned.

''What is gross?'' Leo came out with the photocopied papers in his hands and the water prints. ''I made several copies and a backup''

''That's a relief. Lizzy, have a look at the papers'' Nicole took some of the papers and gave to Lizzy.

When Leo saw the papers been flipped back and forth, he looked at the direction and asked, ''is Lizzy doing well?''

''Just ask her yourself, she is in front of you'' Nicole replied.

''I'm fine, Leo'' Lizzy chuckled.

''She is healthier than both of us. Don't worry'' Nicole said to him.

''Here, these papers. I remember, I was auditing the financial accounts of Leo's company. Look at these…'' Lizzy and Nicole started looking at the papers. Because they were both accounting majors, analysing the papers were easy for them.

Leo didn't know what to do, so he simply refilled Nicole's glass of juice each time he saw it empty. He also started reading the papers that Nicole had put red circles on and compared them. Even though he wasn't an accounting major, he still knew accounting and could still tell that there was something wrong with his company.

After long hours of analysing the financial statements, Nicole and Lizzy finally found the hidden problems in the papers. Nicole gathered the papers and yawned tiredly. Lizzy and Candy were equally exhausted, so the fell on the sofa, leaning against each other as they slept.

Nicole turned to Leo and chuckled when she saw how focused he was on reading the papers.

''Nicole, tell me the truth. What did you and Lizzy find out?'' he asked her.

''Your company might go bankrupt, Leo. Have your seen these papers…'' she straightened the papers on the table and started pointing out the errors in the statements to him, ''Lizzy found out that the investment monies that you received were used to purchase new laptops for the workers but the receipt of those laptops are missing''

''Priscy is the one in charge of purchases and I am in charge of game developing. Since the company started, she has always been the one taking care of damages and refunds''

''Does she inform you on purchases made? Leo, I know you grew up with them but, this is business. You can't simply trust her that much and allow her to do whatever she wants. A lot of the purchases that she made that are on this papers can't be traced because there is no receipt. She simply cued the amounts into the company's financial accounts page. With this, you can't find fault with anything she does'' Nicole brushed her hair backwards as she looked at Leo who seemed shocked by the information he just received.

''I only inform her when there is something that needs to be bought and she does it, but I never ask her for evidence or receipts of purchase''

''Leo, you are about to lose your company. These documents show that a lot of money has been moving from the company's account to another account, but this account is a foreign account and there is little information on it here. if we can find receipts or bank drafts of the transaction, we can fill a case with the police but we have little evidence and everything done is legal, at least from the information on the paper. We can't trace any mishaps to Priscy. If we find out where the money is going to, then we can find out what exactly the money is been used for. If we don't find this out, you will be in huge debt and might even go to jail for embezzling company funds. Priscy and Ray are stealing from you but we don't know how they are doing it and where the money is going to. Leo, honestly, I am quite disappointed in you. You went through so much to get investment for your game which is still in its developing stage and now all the money is going somewhere we can't even trace. You blindly trusted the wrong people''

Leo sighed and felt that he had been too naïve. He trusted the wrong people. A lot of emotions filled him up and he was confused. If anyone had told him that the people to betray him were Priscy and Ray, he could have sworn that the person was a liar, but it seemed that he was the one following them blindly.

''Leo'' Nicole was shocked to see tears formed in his eyes. This was the first time she was seeing a vulnerable side of him. She didn't know how to react to it. She moved over to his side and hugged him. ''It's normal to trust people. They are people you grew up with, so there was no way you couldn't trust them, right?''

''Nicole, I failed Lizzy'' Leo said trying to fight back the tears in his eyes. His heart felt heavy and his mind was messed up.

''No, actually, it's not too late to start over again. we learn from our mistakes, right? You were able to find out about their plans before it became late. I will also help you in whichever way I can. I promise you that we will be able to get the company back to its feet again. We just need to be cautious from no onwards''