Chapter 16

Selia switched off her office lamp, closed the door to her office. Steven hadn’t responded to her email so she decided it would be better to just go and see him in person. As she walked down the central corridor which ran between the offices, each flanked by a secretary’s work station she saw a light from his room. Good, she though. He’s still there.

As she approached Stevens’s office she could here his voice faintly against the overhead air conditioning unit. Then she heard another voice respond which made her stop. She recognised the voice. Peter Flint was the most senior partner in the group. He was almost as bad tempered and rude as Steven could be. Selia decided it would be best to leave when something made her stop. The conversation was not a normal one. They were arguing which was not the typical thing you hear in a place like this where everyone tended to go desperately out of their way to be polite. Everyone except for Steven and Peter, she thought, but even then it was usually them being rude to someone and them smiling and nodding subserviently.

Selia knew it was none of her business but instead of walking away she stood quietly within the dark security of the hallway. She would be able to hear anyone coming, and if either Steven or Peter happened to come out of the office she could say she had only just arrived. Peter knew all about Steven and Selia. He had caught them in the middle of a rather hurried kiss one night when they both thought everyone else had goon home and his only advice to the pair had been that they ought to be a little more careful.

‘Enough is enough’ Peter said, raising his voice. We've got to start paying some of it back. Someone's going to find out.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Steven replied with a similar level aggression. There were few people who dared speak to him this way and he didn’t like it when they did. ‘Where the hell am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?’ he continued. ‘And I don’t see where this sudden urgency comes from. So long as you keep your bloody head there's no reason anyone should find out. Everything can keep going down as fees and I've got Selia working on a new fund at the moment. Anyway the market is bound to recover.’

They have taken the money and tied it up as a property investment fund and sold the risk on. There has been some event which has dragged all the markets down meaning their fund has lost money and they have used client money to finance the majority of the fund.

You don’t know that.

‘No I don’t but what I do know is that the central bank isn’t going to let us slide into recession kicking and screaming so we need to hold tight. If you fucking well panic Peter then there really are going to be problems. I have got Selia working on a commodities fund which should help to spread the risk.

On hearing her name Selia involuntarily knelt down behind the nearest work station deciding it would probably not be a good thing to be discovered.

‘That’s another thing I don’t like’, Peter said, his voice calmer now. You've been spending a lot of time with her lately. How do you know she’s not going to figure out what’s going on.’

‘You can relax there. She’s newly qualified so she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know and even if she did get suspicious she’s too ambitious to do anything about it. Besides, she’s the one drafting all the documents. If she says anything I can tell her that she’s as caught up in this as we are and if she says anything that it will spell the end to a very short legal career.

Selia felt herself shaking. She had no idea what Steven was talking about and she was caught between listening intently to what was being said and trying to understand what it meant and how she was involved. She thought about the work she had been involved in over the past six months and couldn’t see where any irregularities were. As Steven had explained to her when she had qualified and joined the group, the main activity the group was involved in was establishing and running an investment fund which invested in property in emerging markets. Her thoughts were interrupted by Peter’s voice.

‘Well you'd better bloody well be careful. Stop thinking with your dick and start thinking of how the hell we can return some of that money. We both know the kind of mess you got yourself into with, what was her name?’

Belinda, Steven thought. The name distracting him from the urge he had to smash Peter’s head into the desk in front of him. Belinda had been his first affair and he still thought about her. She had been beautiful but it was her confidence that had sucked him in more than anything. She had pursued him. He remembered the first night so clearly. He had been working late and Belinda, his trainee at the time, had popped her head around the door and said she was going out to get something to eat and would he like anything. A moment later she had returned saying that she would be in the office for most of the night and would he like to join her to eat for half an hour or so. He had grabbed his coat as quickly as he could without looking as keen as he felt and followed her into the lift. Inside she stood unnecessarily close to him considering they were the only ones in the lift, her hips resting against the side of the lift. They hadn’t said anything as the lift descended the building. They had both felt each others bodied touching and neither had moved until the doors opened. On the ground floor they signed out together, Steven careful to adjust his time for the ‘records’ and followed her round the corner to the City Deli, a horrid little place which Steven ordinarily wouldn't have eaten in but which stayed open twenty four hours a day mainly to serve the construction workers who worked through the night. Sitting in a corner booth at the back of the restaurant Belinda had immediately slipped her hand under the table and ran it along the inside of Steven's thigh all the while chatting normally about work and life and gazing innocently at the menu. That night he had called Clare to let her know that he would be in the office until at least three and that he would stay in the flat. An hour later he left the office with Belinda and not long after that they were in bed together. Things had gone well with Belinda until he decided that he should end things before they were found out. In fact he didn't want to end things with Belinda at all. She was fantastic and made Steven feel young again and had he not been spotted by one of Clare's friends he would have gladly continued. In the end he decided it was safer to call it off and let things blow over with Clare. Perhaps they could pick up where they left off somewhere down the line. He wanted Belinda but at this stage in his career he needed a Clare, not a Belinda. When he told Belinda it was all over she was calm. She didn't get hysterical as he feared she might but rather she had given him a very straight forward ultimatum. She could either spread the word in the office and call Clare to confirm what she already suspected to be the case or, he could deposit ten thousand pounds into her account and she would leave as they were. He had paid. He hadn't had much choice. Fortunately he kept an account which Clare wasn't aware of so he paid her out of this. But from then on he had learned a lesson. In future he would make sure he had some bargaining power in these situations.

’Like I said’ Steven said dragging himself back into the conversation. ‘Selia won’t say a word. And if she decides to I have taken out insurance. She’s as connected to this as you and I are.

Selia froze. Now she was scared. How was she implicated and what the hell was he talking about with insurance. She moved a little closer to the work station in front of her in case Peter or Steven suddenly emerged from the office. Now would not be a good time to be discovered. ‘You’d you better bloody well be right, Peter said, and I’ll say again this has got to stop. Someone is going to start asking questions soon. We’re talking about a lot of money here Steven.’
‘Like I said, everything’s under control. They'll never trace the money to us. We just need a few more weeks and everything will be sorted.

‘You'd better bloody hope so Peter said slamming the door behind him and racing into the hallway. Selia held her breath. For a moment she didn’t dare move. A minute later the light above her disappeared and Steven’s door closed. Selia closed her eyes and waited as the sound of his footsteps disappeared down the hall.