Genius at Heart

Beau:

After debating with herself the entire weekend, her answer was no. N.O. No. Nay. Negative.

There were a million reasons why she shouldn't do it. The most obvious one was, she would be exposed. Her identity has been kept a secret since she was a child. Yes, her colleagues from college might know her as a nerdy girl who studied hard and ended up graduating at the of the class. However, that Daniel guy has no idea of her genius. He never knew that everything was a child's play for her. A means to an end.

She was not worried about her egotistical former classmate. What worried her were her shady clients. From cartels and mafias to gangsters and yakuza organizations. She handled them all.

There was no way for them to go to a legit accounting firm and their laundering technique will never be on par with hers. Plus, they had a shitload of money that drew attention to all kinds of thieves and law enforcement. Even in their respective organizations, there were certain things that they shouldn't trust just anyone. Money was one of them.

She had lost count of the number of times she had thefts exposed and hidden the truths from the authorities. What she read in newspapers and social media the next day still haunted her.

They have never met her. Never heard her voice. She was plainly known as the accountant. Passed around by word of mouth by the leaders. They knew her as the only man for the job. Her gender has never been asked nor her name. With untraceable IP, payments through cash and transferred to prepaid cards, she was invisible. A ghost. Only called upon when needed.

And she will be fucking exposed if she went through with this.

-Remember what you promised Lily. You never go back on your promise.-

Oh, shit! That was the most important reason she had to do this. She needed to try for her sake. Just this once.

Live a normal life and all the bullshit that comes with it.

***

She will do it. Everything will be taken care of in a day or two, maybe even less.

Since she lived an hour from the city, she was out of her driveway promptly at 7 am. Like any normal girl, she drives-thru McDonald's for a sandwich and ice-cold soda. Knowing she will arrive an hour early for her appointment, she dallied. Being punctual has nothing to do with it, self-preservation was.

The weighing of pros and cons will be evaluated. Exit second. Observing people coming in and out of the building will be last.

-Damn. She could never be normal.-

These traits were too ingrained in her personality. An instinct to survive. To shield her from people who might do her harm.

How she wishes she could go back to that night, where she was an ordinary woman taken by pleasure. To forget the real her and bask at that moment.

She squirmed in the car seat at the memories. With her big brain, she could conjure vivid images. Colliding with what happened in reality and her future fantasies. Always the same man.

Dominic.

Her hoarse voice screaming his name numerous times will be remembered for the rest of her life.

Ok. Enough. That was history. He was long gone by now.

She drove around the financial district several times to pass the time. Reconnoitring. Observing.

Satisfied, she parked her Honda a kilometer away from the imposing building of DV Corporation.

The skyscraper with high ceilings made her tilt her head back for a moment, distracting her. Shaking her head, she squinted her eyes at the corporate ants. Most people that were milling about were in blacks and grays and there across the street was Starbucks. The works. This really made her want to puke.

-Suck it up, Beau.-

Her steps brought her directly to a bimbo at the front desk.

"Hi. Beau Anderson. I have an appointment at 9 am." Christ! Why does she have to wear a lot of makeup? In her thick glasses, she narrowed her eyes. The girl before her has no perforation. How does she sweat? "Ms. Anderson?" Her bee-stung lips looked painful. Beau blinked. The receptionist's sweetly irritated voice registered. Ouch! She forced a smile.

"Yes?" She squared her shoulders. Being forced to be an overly confident thing was killing her. How she yearned they could just send the data to her so she could work from home in her tank top and panties with a big jar of Nutella. "Here's your executive pass. Last floor of the building. Elevators down the hall to your right. Sandrina Petriva will tell you what to do." All delivered in a monotonous tone. Wow. Girly couldn't be more welcoming. The cake-face lady returned to what she was doing. Beau would bet her best cup of China the girl was only browsing Facebook. Like she gave a shit! More reasons for her to hate the corporate world. Muttering a dull thank you, she followed the instructions. The floor she found herself on was quite familiar. Too familiar. It kinda resembled the hotel...

Nope, not going there. She will not be thinking of THAT man while she was at work.

Business was business and should never be associated with pleasure.

Sandrina turned out to be a vast improvement from the rude lady at the front desk. Her adorable Russian accent made Beau smile.

-Seemed to be meeting a lot of them these days.-

"So, here's your office, young lady. My son Alec has chosen a comfortable space for you to work." She had a grown-up son? But she looked to be in her late twenties. Beau told her so. Making Sandrina beam at her.

In awe, the accountant began to explore her new space. Jesus! Her temporary office was wonderful. The glass-paned walls give her a fantastic view of the Golden Gate. And fucking elegant to boot.

"This is beautiful Ms. Petriva, " grinning in delight from ear to ear, she faced the boss's secretary. "Can I request a few things, please?"

"Certainly. Anything to help you, dear. My son would be most happy to do so. I will make sure of it." Sandrina's eyes were twinkling. Smiling too broadly. Uh oh. Alarm bells were ringing. Not interested in hooking up with dearest son. Matchmaking alert! Alert! Alert!

"I...uh...I will need whiteboards and several boxes of pens. And I will need all the books from 2008 to the present. If I could have them today?" Beau answered and inwardly cringed at her request. Most accountants would do it all on a computer. Not her. All the secretary did was incline her head and smile.

With her hot coffee in one hand, she strolled to her desk. Nice. Pure mahogany. Must be imported. Perfect cozy leather chair. Her back and ass were rejoicing. Oh! And there's a Mac on her desk. It was locked though. But not for long. -Ok. Here we go.-

She began to type a series of numbers.

-I am looking for a particular sequence. There it is!-

Firewall breached. Easy as pie. Software security was weak. Creating her secret wall, IP changed, testing its strength. She waited for a few seconds. And 5 4 3 2 1. Voila! She was in.

Damn! She was good. It was secure enough to store information from the company's database.

"I see you've made yourself at home, dear." Beau was startled. Didn't hear the secretary come back in. "But I think we are having issues with the internet though. IT. has been trying to fix it since early this morning."

Hmmm. Hers was working fine. Odd. Must be malware issues. "Do you want me to take a look at your PC? We still have 5 minutes before 9 am."

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That was the least Beau could do. Sandrina has been kind to her.

"Oh, thank you. At my age, I really don't know much about computers. I'll escort you to the bosses' office after." Agreeing right away, she twined their hands, leading her out of the room.

The place was really huge. Beau could get lost on the floor alone. Could. But that never happened to her before. Wide-eyed, gazing around, she blinked. The foreboding jitters in the pit of her stomach were odd. She was suddenly nervous. And it had something to do about the place.

The concept of the interior design of the executive floor was very similar to the last hotel she had been to. She was very distracted during that time, but she had seen enough to memorize the details.

Dominic.

She frowned. Why think of him? Will she ever forget him? Probably not. He had ruined her for another man. If anyone else will come along, she will always compare the guy to him. Without a doubt, every man will fall short. Sandrina's conversation washes over her, while she listened with half an ear, she made a mental note to memorize each fire exit she noticed. Like a map, she had drawn every nook and cranny of the Executive floor in her head. She could hear voices a few feet from them. They were about to turn a corner to where the PA's desk was located. Most likely, within the reach of Mr. Vasiliy's office.

"Why are they here?" Sandrina murmured beside her.

Beau glanced at her companion, wondering what she meant or who. She didn't have to wonder for long.

The first man her eyes spotted was Mr. Blondy. Tall, lean with lithe grace, standing at attention, his eyes pinned to the floozy shamelessly leaning on a desk with legs suggestively parted. Her well-manicured hand on the lapel of the man with dark hair that had his back presented to her.

He said something to the woman in Russian, which Beau understood perfectly. Something about him having fucked the woman before, once a long time ago but never again. She rolled her eyes internally, feeling a bit of pity for the desperate woman. The man was a typical manwhore who uses and discards women like worn socks.

The cadence of his voice shortly registered to her. She stared hard and studied him again. His broad back and shoulders seemed so familiar. Faintly, she heard Sandrina speaking in the same language. Surprisingly, the lady's voice was harsh. Admonishing the visitor's flaunting charms.

Beau heard the man agreed. Her throat tightened. It couldn't be. Remembering clearly like it was just yesterday, the hot and gravelly voice giving her unbelievable pleasure from his dirty words while he was fucking her.

Unable to stop the shock coursing through her body, Beau gasped aloud, followed by a crisp, "Shit!"

That brought all their eyes to her, draining the blood from her face, wishing the floor would open and swallow her whole.

"Detka?" Came the incredulous heavily accented voice.

She was fucked!