Chapter 8

"Good morning," Catherine greeted all her co-workers.

Some people turned to greet her, but some did not respond to her greeting and instead looked at her sarcastically. Catherine didn't want to care, at least she had tried to be nice as a co-worker. Catherine also bought them coffee, as a sign of introduction. She also brought Emily's homemade cookies for everyone to eat, she hoped her work here would go well even though she knew there were some people who didn't like her much.

Catherine was very active at work, she always tried to help anyone who needed her help and completed her own work quickly and accurately. It was soon payroll day, tax payments and the calculation of company profits so some of the finance staff were busier than usual.

"Catherine, can you help me for a moment?" Adelle asked.

"What do I have to do?"

"Please copy this financial report and then sign it in this section, I have to go to the tax office now."

"Alright." Catherine happily accepted the data.

Catherine copied the data carefully, but in the middle of copying the data she found something that she thought was very odd. There were some data that did not match, as well as additional expenses that seemed to be added twice from the original expenses. Catherine hesitated to continue this data, she was afraid that someone had played with the company's financial data without anyone's knowledge.

"Jane, I have a few questions for you. Do you think this copy of the data matches the original data?" Catherine asked the co-worker next to her.

"Who did you get the data from?"

"From Adelle, she gave it to me to copy and sign because she had to go to the tax office. But I feel something is wrong with this report," Catherine replied matter-of-factly.

"Then just finish it and don't ask too many questions! Adelle has been working here since the company was first established, so she can't be up to no good!" Jane snapped, then resumed her work as she grumbled.

Catherine looked down in shame at being yelled at by Jane in front of so many people, but she was forced to work on the data even though she was sure something was wrong. Once completed and signed off by her, she submitted the data to Riel for approval.

In the quiet of the office, when everyone was busy with their own work. Suddenly the atmosphere was suddenly excited with the news of the arrival of a special guest who would become the biggest investor for the Rosewood company, they talked about young master Bellucci and only Catherine did not know who he was. They are even busy preparing many things to welcome the arrival of the special guest, from preparing the menu for the lunch banquet to buying expensive champagne.

When it was almost noon, several people were assigned to welcome young master Bellucci in the office lobby. Catherine, who didn't know anything, preferred to stay out of the way and drink milk in the pantry by herself. Everyone was talking about how handsome young master Bellucci was, but Catherine had no interest in joining the conversation or knowing anything about him.

Catherine returned to her desk after things had settled down, only to be hit over the head with several sheets of paper by Riel. Riel looked visibly angry, his fat face even turning red like a tomato because he was too upset.

"Come into my office now!" he ordered.

Everyone looked at Catherine with question marks, because they had never seen Riel that angry before. Catherine walked past everyone while looking down in shame, Riel deliberately made the glass of his room look transparent so that everyone could see what and who was in there. When she reached the doorway, Catherine was stunned while looking straight into Riel's room. Her hand movement stopped at the door handle of the room, she stared at the person inside in disbelief.

"What are you doing! Come in quickly!" Riel commanded to her surprise.

Catherine gasped and immediately went inside, her eyes never leaving the man in front of her. Riel threw the data sheet that Catherine had given him earlier, Catherine who did not know what she had done wrong picked up the data sheet and grasped it with trembling hands.

"You've only been working here for one day, but how dare you try to embezzle company money!" Riel snapped loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Sorry Mr. Riel, I was just doing what Adelle told me to do and-"

"Don't try to be evasive Catherine! I hate it when someone does something wrong and blames it on someone else! Adelle has been working here for a very long time so she wouldn't do this to my company!" Riel interrupted Catherine's alibi.

Catherine looked down with tears welling up in her eyes, while the man in front of her just smiled slightly as if he was really enjoying when Catherine was humiliated and slandered like this. Catherine denied all the accusations that Riel made against her, but unfortunately there was no evidence that could show her innocence. As for Adelle, she denied that she had provided the wrong data because she already felt that she had provided files that matched the previous data.

"Well, it looks like this company has problems that make me hesitate to become an investor. New employees dare to embezzle money, so what about the old employees?" Sebastian said, causing Riel to panic.

"No young master, so far my company has been fine. Well, I'll fire Catherine if you have a problem with her being here."

Catherine's shoulders drooped when Riel said he would fire her, she had just made a lot of plans but everything fell apart suddenly because of a slander. Catherine stared at the man next to Riel, the man seemed to smile contentedly at her destruction and even casually drank Champagne as if celebrating a victory.

It turned out that not only did he fire her, Riel also even made Catherine blacklisted from many big companies because of this case. With her blacklisted from many companies, it became increasingly difficult for Catherine to find work. Catherine packed up all her belongings with tears streaming down her face, her mouth always saying the word I'm innocent while looking at everyone. Bitter sneers continued to sound from everyone's mouths for Catherine, making her no longer have the courage to look at them.

"Miss Catherine Foster," Sebastian called out just before Catherine stepped out of the Rosewood company.

Catherine turned to him, "Who are you exactly? Andrew or young master Bellucci?"

"Does it matter to you?" Sebastian asked back. "How does it feel to be embarrassed in front of a lot of people, Cathy? Is it fun for you?"

"Shut your mouth Andrew or Sebastian or whoever you are!"

"Where is your beloved Prince William? Ah, I forgot, he's in prison now, and poor." Sebastian laughed out loud.

"Hey Cathy, I have a very rich friend. Don't you want to try sleeping with him? Who knows you can get another rich man after sleeping with him," Sebastian continued to insult Catherine by half shouting, until his words attracted people's attention.

Catherine was reluctant to talk to him again, she left without paying any attention to Sebastian's insulting words. What was on her mind now was how she returned home with this bad news, imagining how sad Emily would be when their plans were ruined, also thinking about where she would work after this after her good name was damaged. Catherine sat on the sidewalk in despair, it felt like she couldn't go on with her life after so much trouble.

"I'm sorry my little baby, looks like I have to abort you."