The Cars Were Always Mine

At the company celebration dinner, everyone was drinking themselves stupid with joy, because we'd just closed a big project and every single employee had walked away with a fat cash bonus.

That was when the intern assistant suddenly pulled a stack of photos out of her bag and threw them down in front of me.

In the photos, I was driving one of the cars registered under the company's name, taking a friend of mine to the hospital to have her baby.

"What's this supposed to mean?"

I looked up at the intern assistant, Lucinda Winfield.

She jabbed a finger at the photos. "Silvia Henson, you've been using company cars for yourself. Abusing company resources. This is the proof!"

Watching Lucinda's face, all lit up with outrage, I couldn't help but blink. "And then what?"

"I'm filing a joint report with all the staff. We're reporting you to the boss for using company property for personal gain."

With that, Lucinda dug a joint complaint letter out of her bag. I gave it a glance. Name after name after name, crammed across the page.

Calmly, I looked around at the rest of them.

"So all of you think I've been helping myself to company resources?"

Some of them pretended to be drunk, some just dropped their heads. Not one of them dared to meet my eyes.

Suddenly I laughed.

These were the same people who used to complain day in and day out that the office was too far, that the daily commute was bleeding them dry. That was the only reason I'd bought those few cars and hired drivers to shuttle them to and from work, free of charge.

And now here they were, biting the hand that fed them, treating my goodwill like garbage.

...

"Silvia Henson, we're reporting you."

"Do us a favor and take this seriously."

"What are you laughing at?"

Lucinda's brows drew together, her eyes flashing with anger she didn't bother to hide.

"The cars were bought by the company, to shuttle employees to and from work."

"They are not your personal property."

"And yet you drove a company car to take a friend to the hospital."

"Do you think your family owns this company?"

She paused.

It looked like Lucinda wanted to break me in one clean blow.

She rapped hard on the table.

Her voice had gone ice-cold. "Do you have any idea how expensive gas is right now?"

"You spend all day driving the company car around wherever you please."

"And in the end you expect the company to foot the bill for your selfishness."

"There's something else. In the two months I've been here, I've noticed a very serious problem."

"Exactly which department do you even belong to?"

"You never clock in on time."

"And you're always leaving early."

"Do you really think of this company as your own home?"

Facing this long list of crimes Lucinda had laid at my feet.

I didn't explain.

Instead I turned to look at the one person who hadn't said a word this whole time, my boyfriend and boss, Jacob Simmons.

"Do you think I've been taking advantage of the company too?"

Jacob cleared his throat softly.

"Silvia, I think Lucinda has a point."

"The cars are the company's, after all."

"It doesn't look good, you keeping them for yourself all the time."

I'd thought my boyfriend would stand by me, no matter what.

Right up until I heard those words come out of his mouth.

I stared at him in disbelief.

And that was when.

Lucinda only grew smugger. "Hear that? Even the boss is unhappy with you now."

"If you know what's good for you, you'll hand over the car keys yourself."

"Pay back the gas money and the car depreciation."

"And then resign, on your own."

I turned to Lucinda with a cold smile.

"And if I refuse?"

Lucinda let out a scornful snort through her nose.

Her fingertips came down hard on the table again.

"Silvia Henson, do you think I'm joking with you?"

"If you refuse."

"I'm calling the police right now!"

When Lucinda said she'd call the police, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Fine. Call them."

"If the officers show up and actually haul me away."

"Then I'll hand it to you."

I looked at the young, ravenous little intern in front of me the way you'd look at an idiot.

I'd started noticing things a while back.

Jacob and her, trading looks across the office.

At the time I told myself I was seeing things.

Or that it was just two people making ordinary eye contact.

That I shouldn't doubt my own boyfriend.

But now, looking at it.

It seemed the worst thing was happening.

"Heh."

"You think I don't dare?"

Lucinda actually pulled out her phone, ready to call.

Jacob saw it and quickly stopped her. "Lucinda, this is an internal company matter. Don't blow it up."

"Boss, with someone this shameless, you have to come down hard."

"Otherwise she won't learn, and she'll just keep pushing."

Jacob pressed her hand down. "There'll be another way."

Just then.

The veteran employees chimed in one after another to talk her out of it.

"No need to call the police."

"We can talk this out."

"Right, just have Silvia turn over the car keys and that's enough."

"Blowing this up would hurt the company's reputation."

Seeing that no one backed calling the police.

Lucinda could only turn to Jacob. "Boss, since nobody agrees on the police, then have her quit on her own."

Jacob thought that was a fine idea.

So he turned to look at me. "Silvia, what do you think?"

"You want me to quit?"

I asked Jacob.

He gave a small nod.

It felt like someone had drawn a knife across my heart, a spasm of pain running through it, but on the surface I stayed calm. "You're serious?"

"Silvia, it's not good to make a big thing of this."

"Besides, just think of it as a break, a little time off."

Lucinda cut in suddenly. "Boss, no need to be polite with someone like her."

"When it's time to be decisive, you can't go soft."

Jacob was like a man possessed.

He told me at once, hard and flat.

"Don't come in to the company tomorrow."

I pulled back my disappointed gaze.

Swept it once over the room.

I rose slowly and dropped the car keys.

"I hope you won't regret this."

With that, I turned and walked out.

Lucinda sneered and curled her lip. "Tch, who are you trying to scare?"

"Company resources are for everyone to use."

"What gives you the right to hog them?"

"From now on, any car under the company's name is free for anyone who wants it, just a simple request."

Applause broke out across the private room.

All of it praising Lucinda.

Little did they know.

They were about to pay the price for their own stupidity.

Jacob didn't get home until the middle of the night.

He'd had a lot to drink, unsteady enough that his walk swayed.

Then he stepped inside and saw me sitting in the living room, still awake.

He gave a little jolt.

A third of the drunkenness cleared out of him in an instant.

"Silvia, why are you still up?"

I looked at him with a cold smile.

"You think I'm in any mood to sleep?"

At that, Jacob came straight over and sat down beside me.

He put his arm around me and asked in a gentle voice, "Are you upset about tonight?"

"What do you think?"

"Lucinda's young. She doesn't know any better."

"Oh."

I answered flatly. "She's young and doesn't know any better, so I deserve to be humiliated?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, my girl has a kind heart, and she's beautiful and gracious."

"There's no need to get into it with an intern."

His words only stoked the fire in me.

"To go along with her."

"You'd rather let your own girlfriend be humiliated in front of everyone, take all that grief?"

"Who exactly is your girlfriend?"

Jacob pulled me in tighter.

"You, of course."

"Heh..."

I let out a cold laugh. "You want her to replace me, don't you?"

"There is absolutely nothing like that going on."

"Don't overthink it."

"I'm overthinking it?"

My eyes were fixed on Jacob's neck.

He'd deliberately pulled his collar up to cover it.

But I could still just make out a lipstick mark he hadn't wiped off clean.

"Jacob, you're the boss of a company now."

"You haven't learned how to run a business."

"But you've gotten pretty polished at trading favors under the table, haven't you."

Jacob looked confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I lifted his hand off me and stood. "I may not measure up to those young things, but don't you forget."

"I bought those cars. I never abused company resources."

Seeing that I was angry, Jacob still wanted to smooth it over.

I went straight to the bedroom.

And locked the door behind me.

The next morning.

I woke to the frantic buzzing of messages.

I opened my phone and looked.

Turned out the company work chat had blown up.

Ten minutes to clock-in.

But today the company drivers hadn't pulled up outside their doors on time to take them to work like usual.

"Where are the drivers, old Zach and old Walt?"

"Why didn't the company cars come pick us up today?"

"I've been standing outside my door waiting twenty minutes."

"Where'd the cars go?"

"We're going to be late. Somebody tag Assistant Winfield, quick."

Dozens of them tagged Lucinda at once, and she replied, "Hold on, don't panic. I can't reach the drivers, I'll handle it as fast as I can."

"Why can't you reach them?"

"We're about to be late here."

"Assistant Winfield, you're the one who said joining the report against Miss Henson would get everyone a car to use, but now we don't even have a car to get us to work."

"Right, and who's covering the pay we lose for being late?"

"Hold on, hold on, I'm on it."

"Just stay calm."

Right now, Lucinda was going out of her mind.

Last night she'd already messaged all the company drivers.

From now on, the fleet under the company's name was hers to manage.

Including the drivers.

She'd assumed the drivers would keep shuttling employees to and from work on schedule, the way they always had.

But when she woke up this morning, she found out otherwise.

The messages she'd sent.

Not one reply!

And the drivers had vanished as if the earth had swallowed them.

No answers to texts, no answers to calls.

And so it went.

The entire staff showed up late.

Some lived too far out, missed their trains, and just called in sick.

Which was when the strangest thing happened.

For an entire morning.

The office held only the boss and his secretary.

Not a single employee in sight.

The work they'd planned to finish, the negotiation times set with clients.

All scrapped because the staff came in late.

By afternoon.

The employees trickled in one by one.

But having been stood up, those clients pulled out of their deals.

Furious, Jacob docked the bonuses he'd set aside for them to finish the project.

Seeing the anger and resentment aimed straight at her in everyone's eyes.

Lucinda rushed to explain: "It's not my fault."

"Somebody sabotaged this."

"Otherwise there's no way every driver disappears at the exact same time."

And just then.

I strolled in with a coffee in hand, taking my time.

The moment Lucinda saw me.

She jabbed a finger at me, furious: "It's her. It has to be her. She used to manage the company fleet, and she's the one who hired all those drivers."

"She can't stand that the company decided to push her out."

"So she made the drivers disappear on purpose."

"She's the reason you were all late."

"And the reason you lost your bonuses."

"She's the one behind all of it!"

Lucinda's little movepinning it on someone elseworked fast.

The employees, stung by their losses, glared at me with pure fury.

Some demanded to know why I'd done it.

Some called me petty.

One even lost it completely and hurled a pen off the desk at me.

"My mother's waiting on that bonus for her surgery."

"And now the bonus is gone."

The pen struck my forehead, and blood ran down my cheek.

Jacob, my boyfriend, watched it happen with his own eyes.

And said nothing, did nothing.

He even blamed me: "You let your temper get the better of you."

"The whole staff was late today."

"A few deals we could have closed."

"All blown."

I didn't bother with any of them. I only gave Jacob a cold look.

Then I took out my phone and snapped a photo of myself to keep as evidence.

"You're the one who caused everyone these losses."

"Their losses."

"You should be the one to cover them!"

Lucinda said coldly.

"Heh..."

I gave a cold little laugh, let my eyes sweep over them all, and asked: "I bought the cars. I hired the drivers. Their wages, the gas for the carsall of it came out of my own pocket."

"I gave you free rides to work, and you wanted to throw me out."

"I let all the drivers go. What exactly is wrong with that?"