Chapter 7 - Vanessa’s True Colors
By Monday afternoon, the news of Daniel’s termination had swept through the office like wildfire. True to form, the moment Daniel packed his personal belongings into a cardboard box and walked out to the parking lot, Vanessa was waiting by her car—not to comfort him, but to protect herself.
"Daniel," she called out sharply as he approached his car with his box of desk trinkets. "HR just called me in. They’re launching an internal audit of our department's expense reports."
Daniel stopped, staring at her in disbelief. "What? Why?"
"Because your name is attached to every single client dinner and travel requisition we submitted over the last six months!" Vanessa crossed her arms, her tone defensive and entirely devoid of warmth. "They're auditing every receipt. Look, Daniel, whatever we had going on... it's done. I can't have my career ruined because you decided to play family man and corporate embezzler at the same time."
Daniel stared at the woman he had risked his marriage, his home, and his children for. "Vanessa... I did all of this for us. I left my family for you."
"Well, that was your first mistake, wasn't it?" she sneered, climbing into her car, locking the doors, and speeding out of the parking lot without a single backward glance.
Left standing alone in the cold asphalt parking lot with a cardboard box of office supplies, Daniel finally broke down. He pulled out his phone, his hands shaking uncontrollably, and dialed my number.
It rang twice before going straight to voicemail.
May you like
Your call has been forwarded to an automated voice messaging system...
He hung up, looked at his empty hands, and realized for the very first time just how much he had lost.
