Guns and Royalties

Beau

She’d spent the whole weekend wrestling with her decision, but in the end, her answer was no.

No. Nada. Not happening.

There were countless reasons why she shouldn’t do it.

The most glaring one was that she’d be exposed. She’d kept her identity under wraps since she was a kid.

Sure, her coworkers knew her as the geeky girl who always had her nose in a book.

But that guy Daniel had no clue about her brilliance. He didn’t know that for her, everything was just a stepping stone to something bigger.

She wasn’t worried about her arrogant ex-classmate.

What worried her were her shady clients. From cartels and mafias to gangsters and yakuza.

They couldn’t exactly go to a legitimate accounting firm, and their money laundering skills were subpar at best.

Plus, they had a ton of money that attracted all sorts of thieves and law enforcement.

Even within their own organizations, there were things they couldn’t trust just anyone with. Money was one of them.

She’d lost track of how many times she’d uncovered thefts and kept the truth from the authorities. The stories she read in the newspapers and on social media the next day still gave her chills.

They’d never met her. Never heard her voice. They only knew her as “the accountant.”

Her name was passed around by the leaders.

They thought of her as the only person for the job. They’d never asked about her gender or her real name.

But one day they all would. If they hadn’t already—they were just biding their time until she slipped up.

She took every precaution. With an untraceable IP and payments made in cash and transferred to prepaid cards, she was invisible. A ghost.

Only called upon when needed.

And she’d be exposed if she went through with this.

Remember your promise to Lily. You never break your promises.

Oh, crap.

That was the most compelling reason she had to do this. She had to try for her sister's sake.

Just this once. Live a normal life and deal with all the crap that comes with it.

***

She was going to do it.

Everything will be sorted out in a day or two.

She was out of her driveway promptly at seven in the morning. Like any regular girl, she swung by the McDonald’s drive-thru for a sandwich and an ice-cold mocha.

Being on time wasn’t the point—it was about self-preservation.

Weighing the pros and cons.

Leaving second. Watching people enter and exit the building last.

Damn. She could never be normal.

These habits were too deeply ingrained in her—an instinct to survive, to protect herself from potential threats.

How she wished she could go back to that night when she was just an ordinary woman lost in pleasure.

To forget her true self and lose herself in the moment.

She squirmed in her car seat, remembering. With her sharp mind, she could recall every detail.

Blending what had actually happened with her future fantasies.

Always the same man.

Dominic.

Okay, enough.

That was in the past. He was long gone by now.

She drove around the financial district a few times to kill time.

Scouting. Observing.

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

The skyscraper with its high ceilings made her tilt her head back for a moment, distracting her.

Shaking her head, she squinted at the corporate drones. Most people milling about were dressed in blacks and grays, and there across the street was a Starbucks.

The whole package. It made her want to hurl.

Suck it up, Beau.

She walked straight up to a bimbo at the front desk.

“Hi. Beau Anderson. I have a nine o’clock appointment.”

She squinted through her thick glasses. The girl in front of her didn’t have a single pore.

How does she sweat?

“Ms. Anderson?”

And her plumped-up lips looked painful.

Beau blinked; the receptionist's sweetly irritated voice registered. Ouch! She forced a smile.

“Yes?”

She squared her shoulders. Having to act overly confident was draining her.

How she wished they could just send the data to her so she could work from home in her tank top and panties with a jar of Nutella.

“Here’s your executive pass. Last floor. Elevators down the hall to your right. Sandrina Petriva will tell you what to do.”

All delivered in a monotone. The girl couldn’t have been more welcoming.

The heavily made-up lady returned to what she was doing. Beau would bet her favorite teacup that the girl was just scrolling through Facebook.

Like she cared! Just another reason for her to despise the corporate world.

Muttering a half-hearted thank-you, she followed the instructions.

The floor she found herself on was eerily familiar.

Too familiar.

It kind of resembled…the hotel...

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

Business is business and should never be mixed 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.

Seems like I’m meeting a lot of them lately.

“So here’s your office. My son Alec has chosen a comfortable space for you to work.”

She had a grown-up son? But she looked like she was in her late twenties. Beau told her so, making Sandrina beam.

In awe, the accountant began to explore her new space.

Jesus! Her temporary office was amazing. The glass-paned walls offered a fantastic view.

“This is beautiful, Ms. Petriva.”

Grinning from ear to ear, she turned to the boss’s secretary.

“Can I request a few things, please?”

“Certainly, dear. My son would be most happy. I will make sure of it.”

Sandrina’s eyes were twinkling. She was smiling a little too broadly.

Uh-oh. Alarm bells were ringing. ~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 cringed at her own request. Most accountants would do it all on a computer.

“No problem, dear. I will contact the department. By the way, Mr. Vasiliy will meet you before you start work. He should be ready at any moment. Make yourself comfortable. There’s coffee and donuts.”

Sandrina gestured towards a small kitchenette tucked away in the corner. It was equipped with a mini-fridge, microwave, coffee maker, and a box of Beau’s favorite donuts.

She made sure to express her gratitude to her gracious new friend before Sandrina excused herself for a few minutes. Beau then helped herself to a cup of coffee.

There were aspects of this situation that she found appealing. Sandrina was warm and welcoming. It had been a while since Beau had engaged in a casual conversation with a woman who was so effortlessly charming.

She was also quite fond of her new workspace. And she had a hunch that their internet servers were top-notch.

She made a mental note to check on it later.

Later arrived sooner than expected.

With a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, she sauntered over to her desk. It was a beautiful piece of mahogany furniture. Likely imported.

The chair was a comfortable leather piece. Her back and ass were already celebrating.

And there was a Mac on her desk. It was locked. But not for long.

Alright. Let’s do this.

She began to type a series of numbers.

I need to find a specific sequence. There it is!

She had breached the firewall. Piece of cake.

The software security was weak. She set up her secret wall, changed the IP, and tested its strength. She waited for a few seconds.

And 5...4...3...2...1...

Voilà She was in.

She was good at this. It was secure enough to store information from the company’s database.

“I see you’ve made yourself at home, dear.”

Beau jumped. She hadn’t heard the secretary return.

“But I think we’re having some issues with the internet. IT has been trying to fix it since early this morning.”

Hmmm. Her internet was working just fine. Strange. Must be a malware issue.

“Do you want me to take a look at your PC?”

It was the least Beau could do. Sandrina had been nothing but kind to her.

“Oh, thank you. At my age, I really don’t know much about computers. I’ll escort you to the boss’s office after.”

Without hesitation, she agreed, intertwining their hands and leading her out of the room.

The place was enormous. Beau could easily get lost on this floor alone. But that had never happened to her before.

She looked around in awe, blinking. A sudden wave of nervousness washed over her.

And it had everything to do with the place.

The interior design of the executive floor was eerily similar to the last hotel she had stayed at.

She had been quite distracted during that time, but she had seen enough to memorize the details.

Dominic.

She frowned. Why was she thinking of him?

He had ruined her for any other man. If anyone else came along, she would inevitably compare him to Dominic.

Sandrina’s conversation washed 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.

Most likely, within 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 landed on was Mr. Blondie.

Tall, lean, with an effortless grace, standing at attention, his eyes fixed on the girl leaning on a desk with her legs suggestively parted.

Her perfectly manicured hand on the lapel of the man with dark hair who had his back to her.

He said something to the woman in Russian, which Beau understood. Something about how he had fucked the woman before, once a long time ago, but never again.

She rolled her eyes internally, feeling sorry for the woman. He was a typical womanizer who used and discarded women like old socks.

The rhythm of his voice registered in her mind. 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, reprimanding the visitor’s display.

Beau heard the man agree. Her throat tightened.

It couldn’t be.

Remembering clearly like it was yesterday, the hot and gravelly voice that had given her such incredible pleasure…

Unable to stop the shock coursing through her body, Beau gasped aloud, followed by a sharp, “Shit!”

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

“Detka?”

That incredulous, heavily accented voice.

She was fucked!