Chapter 4
I walked into the building at six forty-five with a coffee in my hand for myself, and a coffee and muffin for Aiden.
I was trying to be in earlier than he wanted me to be.
I wanted to show that, even if he was going to be a complete arsehole to me, I was going to rise above it and be the consummate professional at my job.
I was ten minutes early when I arrived at my desk.
Aiden was already in his office. I settled myself, took my coat off, grabbed my iPad, and knocked on his door.
I paused and waited for him to acknowledge me.
When he did, I entered with a smile and handed over his coffee and muffin.
I lifted the tablet and started to chime off his appointments for the day. When I looked up, he was staring at me.
“Did I get something wrong?”
He coughed. “No. No, carry on.” He got up with his coffee and walked over to the window, staring out onto the city street below as I continued.
“You have a meeting with the manager of the thirty-seven houses you have in Dunstable at three p.m. and HR have forwarded his contract and highlighted the paragraphs that pertain to the responsibility he has for the maintenance of the properties, and the sections on how any breaches of this are dealt with.”
“Thanks for that one. There should also be information coming in today from an independent housing inspector for those. Look out for an email from Johnathan Sparrow; he has your email address and mine. I will need the photos he sends over printed out, and I will also need you and someone from HR to sit in on the meeting.”
“I’ll see to it,” I told him, and then carried on with the rest of the diary information on the day ahead. When I was done, I waited for any further input. “Will there be anything else, Mr Munroe?”
“Uh, no, thanks, Mr Baxter. That will be everything.”
I thought about it for a second. “Mr Munroe, if it’s all the same to you, I would prefer it if you called me by my first name. Ellis is fine by me.” I waited for him to acknowledge what I had said.
“Thank you, Ellis . That will be all.”
I turned and walked out of the office. He was still distant and a bit of a tool, but the sound of my name from his lips sounded so damn good.
* * *
That afternoon, Jim Harvey, manager for Dunstable, arrived for his appointment with Aiden.
Valerie from HR was already waiting for him, and so was Aiden.
The man was late, and he was late on a day when things were not going to go his way anyway.
I had printed off the information from the independent house inspector, and I had called him to make sure he was available should he be needed for a conference call.
I knocked on the door to Aiden’s office and opened it, putting my head around the door. “Mr Munroe, Jim Harvey has arrived for you.” I could see by his glare that he was not amused with him being late. Poor Jim.
“Conference room three, please, Ellis.”
Did he just say please?
I nodded and smiled to Jim and Valerie, gathering up all the paperwork I needed as I did. “If you would like to follow me, please. Mr Munroe will be with us shortly.” I led the way down the corridor and into the conference room as requested.
Minutes later, Aiden Munroe strode into the room like a king. Unforgiving and unyielding. He didn’t even look in Jim’s direction. Valerie took out her notepad and started taking notes.
“Mr Harvey, how long is it that you’ve worked for the company now? Six years, isn’t it?”
Jim nodded and agreed, throwing in a ‘yes, sir’ for good measure.
Aiden nodded at me, and I handed him the first bundle of information he needed; the contract of employment for all of Munroe Holdings’ property managers.
He picked it up and flicked to the relevant section.
“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, Mr Harvey, but we pay you to look after our properties in the Dunstable area, and being paid to look after them means that they are maintained to the standard that Munroe Holdings expects, would that be correct? ”
Again, Aiden nodded at me, and I handed him the photos that had come through from Johnathan Sparrow. “Then perhaps you would like to explain these to me?”
Jim faltered.
“These don’t look all that well maintained, Mr Harvey.
In fact, I would go as far as saying that these don’t look maintained at all.
” Aiden outstretched his hand and I handed him the statements of Jim Harvey’s company credit card.
“According to your company credit card, you have been purchasing the items needed for each house as and when needed. I can see a payment here for an American-style fridge freezer. I can also see a payment here for a nicely kitted out laptop. And here, well, this is a payment to the Holiday Inn Express in Dunstable. Am I to believe that we have started to kit out our houses with American fridge freezers, that there was something wrong with your company laptop that you couldn’t tell us about, and that we are now putting our tenants up in hotels while we carry out maintenance for them? ”
Now he looked at Jim, and the man was as white as a sheet.
He opened and closed his mouth, but the words betrayed him and wouldn’t form.
“Now, I’ll tell you how this looks to me, Mr Harvey.
It looks like you haven’t been doing your job.
Not only have you not been doing your job, but you have also been stealing from the company.
I bet if we were to pay a visit to your house, we would find that you have an American fridge freezer with this exact serial number standing in your kitchen.
I think you know what this means, Mr Harvey. ”
Suddenly, Jim Harvey found his voice. “B-b-but Mr Munroe, Sir, I can explain… You see… I just… I mean, I…”
Aiden held up his hand in front of the man’s face and Jim stopped talking. “I thought you might be able to explain, Mr Harvey.” Aiden nodded again at me, and I pressed the call button on the conference room’s call pod. The house inspector answered, and I introduced the situation to him.
“Hi, John. I was just wondering if you could give me the run down on the Dunstable properties?” Aiden leaned over the table to let his voice carry to the call pod. He was powerful, he was gorgeous, and he was about to make me distracted if I wasn’t careful.
The inspector rhymed off everything he had found at the properties.
He had spoken to the tenants, and he had inspected each of the houses.
Even the very basic problems hadn’t been taken care of.
One family had been without heating for almost a year.
He said it was a simple enough issue to sort out, the house simply needed a new boiler, and as per the Munroe Holdings’ policy, that particular job should have been sorted within fourteen days.
He said that approximately ninety percent of the houses were going to need extensive work to have them back up to the Munroe standard.
He was thanked for his time and he disconnected the call.
Aiden looked at Jim.
Jim looked at the floor. He knew what was coming.
“Right, well, it’s very clear to me what has happened here, and it’s very clear to me what needs to happen now. Valerie, can you confirm HR’s standpoint on this issue?”
Valerie set down her pen, picked up Jim’s contract, and read out the relevant section.
“ As property manager, the first party agrees to uphold the standards as set out in the Munroe Holdings’ handbook.
The undersigned agrees that any failure to do so will be treated as gross misconduct and will result in instant dismissal from Munroe Holdings’ employ. ”
Aiden nodded. “And about the company credit card, if you please?”
Valerie flicked to another section and continued to read.
“ All purchases made on the company credit card must be for the sole purpose of the business. Any purchases found to be for personal benefit or use will be deemed as theft, and as such, will be treated as gross misconduct and will result in instant dismissal from Munroe Holdings. Further to this, the company reserves the right to reclaim the monies fraudulently used and may also report said fraud and theft to the relevant authorities. ” She paused there, set down the contract, and picked up her pen again.
Shit was about to hit the fan, and all I could think about was how magnificent Aiden looked. There was something so incredibly sexy about a man with all that power.
“Now, had it been that you had been just stealing, or that you had been just neglecting your duties, I might have been a little more sympathetic. You did both, and you did it with a flaunting disregard for Munroe Holdings’ property and reputation.
You treated our properties like a slum landlord would, and you treated our tenants with the same disdain.
You stole from Munroe Holdings for your own gain.
” A small knock at the door briefly interrupted Aiden.
He crooked his finger to the person on the other side of the glass door for them to come in.
“Mr Harvey, these policemen are here from the Met, and they would like to discuss with you several breaches in building regulations, and the missing four thousand twenty-nine pounds and forty-seven pence from your company credit card. Your employment with Munroe Holdings is terminated immediately, and one of our security team will call to your home address tomorrow to take back your company phone, laptop, and credit card. Or, if you have them with you now, you may surrender them before the police escort you from the building.”
Jim fumbled with the bag beside him and pulled out his laptop, phone, and his credit card. He set them all out on the table before him.
“Valerie, if you would like to have Mr Harvey sign off on the return of those items and escort him with the police down to the lobby, please?”
She nodded and got up from her seat, heading out the door with Jim Harvey in tow and two policemen in plain clothes following behind.
“Jesus,” I mumbled when the door closed. I felt Aiden’s eyes on me.
“Problem?”
“No. I just, I’m just astounded that he would treat an employer like that.”
Aiden nodded. “It’s rare, thank God, but it does happen. Unfortunately, it needed to be dealt with, and in such an extreme case, there is no option for any kind of leniency.”
“You wouldn’t have contacted the police?”
Aiden shook his head. “That is a mess I can do without. If it hadn’t been as severe, we usually just let them go and take whatever it was from their last wage or take them to small claims court and sort out a payment plan for it.
But that…” He shook his head. “…was a blatant disregard for everything my family built up and stands for.”
I nodded. He respected his family. He respected their wishes through generations of the business he was now the head of.
I couldn’t help but admire that. I was warming to Aiden a lot.
Beneath his brash, even cold business exterior was a good-looking and almost sweet family man.
It was just a damn shame he wasn’t gay. That didn’t stop my mind wandering when I looked at him though.