Framed By A New Intern

For the past year, I had been the easiest finance manager this company had ever seen. I never made anyone jump through hoops for their expense reimbursements.

But right after I signed off on the paperwork for our new intern, Mindy, she flashed me a sickeningly sweet smile.

Tell me, Melissa, are you this generous when signing off on your own expenses?

Seeing my expression darken, she dramatically covered her mouth and gasped.

"Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry! I just lack a filter sometimes."

"I am definitely not saying you are secretly embezzling company funds. I just noticed you are carrying another brand new designer bag, and I got a little curious."

The surrounding cubicles fell dead silent. Whispers began to ripple through the office.

Given her age and inexperience, I decided to let it slide.

I never expected that the very next morning, the HR department would issue a company-wide email accusing me of compliance violations and completely stripping my quarterly bonus.

I marched straight into the HR manager's office to demand an explanation, but Davis just sighed and told me to swallow my pride.

"Mindy is the young boss's girlfriend."

"Right before Jay left for his business trip to South Africa, he explicitly told us to make sure nobody steps on her toes. Just let it go, Melissa."

I stood there, absolutely stunned.

The young boss? His girlfriend?

Well played, Jay. You have really grown some spine while I wasn't looking.

Just wait until I tell your mother about this. You are so incredibly dead.

Stepping out of the manager's office, my first instinct was to call Jay.

Unsurprisingly, the cell reception out in the remote South African mining district was absolute garbage. The call went straight to a dead tone.

I aggressively typed out a single text.

[You have a girlfriend?]

Silence. The message vanished into the void.

My face was a mask of cold indifference as I walked back to my desk. The moment I sat down, the hushed gossip of my coworkers drifted over.

"No wonder she is always so lenient with our reimbursements. She is just using it to cover up her own massive theft."

"Exactly. Look at the stuff she uses every day. It is all high-end luxury."

"On her salary? Nobody buys the idea that her hands are clean."

"She always plays the nice, accommodating coworker. Who knew she was so rotten behind the scenes?"

Listening to their venom, a hot spike of anger flared in my chest.

Whenever these people needed me to expedite their sketchy receipts, they practically kissed the ground I walked on. Now, they were the first ones to plunge a knife into my back.

I shot a freezing glare across the room. The gossiping colleagues panicked and immediately glued their eyes to their monitors.

I did not say a word. I just coldly booted up my computer to process the morning reports.

A moment later, Mindy strolled over to my cubicle, holding a fresh iced latte and wearing a beaming, triumphant smile.

She pressed her palms together pleadingly and stuck her tongue out in a playful, innocent gesture.

"I am so sorry, Melissa. Did I make things difficult for you this morning?"

"You know me, I am just a little too brutally honest sometimes."

"I know you have a good heart, but we really cannot be breaking corporate policy with company money, right?"

Reaping the benefits and still playing the victim? Did she really think I was some soft target she could walk all over?

I let out a dry, mocking laugh and leaned back in my ergonomic chair.

"And exactly how did I violate corporate policy?"

"Just because you opened your mouth and decided I did?"

Mindy froze for a second. Her gaze deliberately drifted to the handbag resting on my filing cabinet, her tone dripping with implication.

"Now, do not get defensive, Melissa."

"That bag is Louis Vuitton, right? Even if it is last season's style, that is easily three or four grand."

She intentionally raised her voice, ensuring every single person in the department could hear her.

"I have been eyeing that exact one, but I just cannot bring myself to spend that kind of money. Not like you, of course. You just casually sling it over your shoulder."

"I am just so... envious."

She dragged out the last word, the insinuation heavy and obvious.

Hearing this, the stares from my coworkers grew even more condescending.

An out-of-season designer bag was her grand evidence of my corruption?

I refused to indulge her delusions. I tossed my pen onto the desk and locked eyes with her.

"It is my own money. I will buy whatever the hell I want."

"Besides, you are an intern making minimum wage. Even if you wanted to spend the money, you do not have it."

"If you cannot afford the lifestyle, stop staring at people who can. What exactly are you so bitter about?"

Mindy clearly did not expect me to bite back so viciously.

Her perfectly contoured face turned a violent shade of red. She gritted her teeth, and as if on command, the tears welled up in her eyes.

"Melissa, I... I did not mean it like that..."

She buried her face in her hands and sprinted off, her theatrical sobs echoing down the corridor.

"Melissa, the poor girl was just making an observation. Did you really need to go off on her like that?"

A coworker in the adjacent cubicle shot me a judgmental glare, acting as if I was the one bullying a defenseless child.

The entire situation left a sour, suffocating feeling in my chest.

If it were not for that idiot Jay, would I really be sitting here taking this garbage?

My Aunt Victoria had been terrified that Jay was too young and reckless to manage the family enterprise. She practically begged me, his older cousin, to come in undercover and keep an eye on him for two years. Once he matured, she would feel comfortable handing the reins over to him completely.

I figured it would be good practice before taking over my own parents' corporate empire, so I agreed.

Naturally, Jay was kept completely in the dark about my true identity here. To the high and mighty young boss, I was just a nameless cog in the finance department.

This situation was right on the edge. Was it worth dragging my aunt into this mess?

While I was debating my next move, Brenda, a senior accountant who sat nearby, knocked on my partition. She looked anxious.

"Melissa, Manager Davis wants to see you in his office."

I pushed open the heavy glass door.

Mindy was curled up on the leather sofa, sobbing relentlessly. Her eyes were puffy and red like irritated walnuts.

Davis was sitting right beside her, offering gentle words of comfort.

The second he saw me step inside, the sympathetic warmth on his face evaporated. He glared at me with absolute fury, looking like he wanted to swallow me whole.

"Melissa! You finally decided to show up?"

"You are a senior employee, yet you publicly humiliate a new intern?"

I raised an eyebrow, casting a dismissive glance at Mindy, who was still whimpering into a tissue.

"Oh? How exactly did I humiliate her?"

"I simply stated a financial fact. She genuinely cannot afford it."

"You..."

Davis choked on his words, completely stumped by my bluntness.

Seeing him falter, Mindy forced her crying to stop, letting out a series of pathetic, calculated hiccups.

"Mr. Davis, please do not blame Melissa. This is all my fault. I just talk too much..."

"I just wanted to kindly remind her to be more careful with her expense reports so she would not make any more mistakes."

"I never expected she would react so aggressively..."

"What mistakes?"

I cut straight through her nauseating, manipulative performance.

"Mindy, since we are sitting right in front of the manager, why don't you clearly explain exactly what is wrong with my work?"

"Enough! Keep your mouth shut!"

Davis waved his hand dismissively, his patience clearly exhausted. He had bought Mindy's narrative hook, line, and sinker.

"I already know exactly what you have been doing behind my back!"

"Do not think for a second that your little 'nice girl' routine fooled me, Melissa. I know about your dirty little side hustle."

"Over the past year, how much company money have you funneled into your own pockets by manipulating the reimbursement system? Do you even know?"

"I thought you were just a pushover, signing off on bad receipts out of pity, so I turned a blind eye. I never imagined you had the audacity to pocket the funds yourself!"

I almost burst out laughing.

Could this guy be any more of a hypocrite?

Did he really think I did not know the real reason he was targeting me?

Just two months ago, I rejected his personal expense report, and he had been holding a grudge ever since. The man tried to expense a client dinner where he ordered three imported lobsters and two king crabs. I was surprised he did not eat himself into a coma.

"So, what is your grand plan for dealing with me?"

I crossed my arms, looking at him with absolute boredom.

Davis let out a cold sneer, clearly mistaking my calmness for fear.

"It is very simple. I will not make this harder than it needs to be."

"You will return every single cent you stole from this company. I want it paid back in full."

"Then, you will write a three-thousand-word apology letter, post it in the company-wide chat, and publicly beg for forgiveness."

"Do that, and we can sweep this under the rug."

Pay him back? An apology letter?

I physically could not hold it in anymore. I laughed out loud.

"Davis, is there something clinically wrong with your brain?"

"If this was a legitimate work issue, I would cooperate. But you want me to play along just so the young boss can impress his little girlfriend?"

"Do not forget, Jay does not own this entire company yet."

This corporation was built from the ground up by Jay's mother. My Aunt Victoria was still the majority shareholder. She was merely testing the waters to see if her son was ready for power.

Hearing my words, Mindy's face drained of color. She blurted out, "This company will belong to Jay sooner or later! What are you so arrogant about!"

The moment the words left her mouth, she realized she had slipped up. She quickly clamped a hand over her lips.

I rolled my eyes, turned on my heel, and walked out.

"Melissa, stop right there!"

"What kind of attitude is that?!"

Davis roared at my back.

I paused, glancing over my shoulder with a sharp smile.

"I have never taken a single dime from this company, and I will absolutely not write a single word of apology."

With that, I slammed the glass door shut behind me.

After dealing with that circus, the anger simmering in my chest was reaching a boiling point.

The only reason I had not called my aunt yet was out of mercy for Jay. He might be an idiot, but he was still family. And while Aunt Victoria only had one son, she had enough money and time to easily find another heir if he proved totally useless.

Looking at my phone and seeing zero new messages, I could not resist sending Jay a venomous text.

[Does your mother know you are treating her company like your personal playground?]

Still no reply.

Absolutely pathetic. A total slave to his hormones.

When I got home that evening, my parents immediately noticed my dark mood. They hovered around me, brimming with concern.

"Sweetheart, are you burning out? Are you feeling sick?" my dad asked.

"Why don't you take a few days off and rest?"

I kept the truth to myself, mostly because I knew how my mother would react.

My mom adored me more than anything in the world. And my Aunt Victoria, despite being a ruthless CEO, was absolutely terrified of her older sister.

If my mom found out about this and accidentally let it slip to Victoria, Jay would likely be beaten within an inch of his life.

The next morning, the moment I stepped into the office lobby, the atmosphere felt incredibly toxic.

Everyone was staring at me with a bizarre, morbid curiosity.

I was confused, but the elevator arrived, so I brushed it off.

Inside the elevator, I ran into Brenda from the sales department. Brenda and I had always been on great terms. She was a single mother struggling to raise three kids, so whenever she submitted her expenses, as long as they were within company bounds, I approved them instantly to get her the cash faster.

I even passed my corporate holiday bonuses and gift baskets directly to her. There were times when she had to work late, and I drove across town to pick her kids up from daycare.

"Melissa, you were way too reckless yesterday," Brenda said, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Davis was absolutely raging after you left."

"Honestly, what were you thinking? Everyone knows Mindy is Jay's girl. Why would you go to war with her?"

"Thank god the young boss is out of the country, otherwise..."

I did not offer a real response, just giving a vague nod to be polite.

Right at that moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

It was a notification from the corporate group chat.

I glanced at the screen, and my blood ran cold.

[Following an internal management review, it has been determined that Finance Manager Melissa has severely violated corporate reimbursement policies and exhibited egregious insubordination. Effective immediately, she is suspended without pay pending further investigation.]

[Her duties will be assumed by Mindy.]

Brenda had clearly read the notification on her own phone. She shot me a nervous glance, then leaned in close, lowering her voice. Her eyes were searching mine, heavy with suspicion.

"Melissa, just between you and me... you didn't actually skim off the top, did you?"

I stared at Brenda, utterly blindsided.

She was doubting me?

After everything I had done for her, after treating her like a genuine friend, her first instinct was to assume I was a thief?

Seeing the sudden, icy drop in my expression, Brenda seemed to realize she had crossed a line. She avoided my gaze and forced an awkward, hollow laugh.

"Oh, come on, I am just messing around! Of course I believe you!"

"I bet Davis and Mindy just teamed up to frame you!"

I did not say another word. The last lingering trace of warmth in my heart completely froze over.

I didn't even look at her when I stepped out of the elevator.

When I finally reached my cubicle, I realized it had already been occupied.

All of my personal belongingsmy framed photos, my favorite mug, my expensive stationaryhad been carelessly tossed into a beat-up cardboard box like absolute garbage.

Mindy was sitting in my ergonomic chair. Seeing me approach, she flashed a playful wink and a victor's smile.

"Oh, Melissa, I am so sorry. Mr. Davis practically forced me to take your desk. My hands were tied."

She casually twirled a silver USB drive between her manicured fingers, her tone dripping with entitlement.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Davis also said you need to hand over every single reimbursement voucher you have processed since you were hired."

"We need to run a complete forensic audit to figure out exactly how much money you stole from us."

"Let me give you a piece of advice, Melissa. If you do not want this to get ugly, and if you do not want the company to press criminal charges, you should really just wire the money back."

I took a deep, steadying breath, picked up my cardboard box, and turned around to leave.

I was not going to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.

Press criminal charges?

She should probably call Jay in South Africa and ask him if he has the guts to press charges against his own cousin.

After stashing my belongings in my trunk, my frustration was hitting a fever pitch. I walked back toward the breakroom, needing a black coffee to clear my head.

Before I even pushed the door open, I heard Brenda's voice mixing with a few other familiar coworkers.

These were people I ate lunch with. People I thought I knew.

"Man, do you think Melissa is actually going to jail for this?"

"Probably. Honestly, you cross the future CEO's girlfriend, you get what is coming to you."

"Serves her right! She always walked around here acting so superior, like she owned the place."

"Acting all sweet and generous... she just loved the power trip. She loved watching us beg her to approve our receipts."

Brenda's voice cut through the chatter, thick with a sickening layer of schadenfreude.

"Tell me about it. I have been sick of her for months."

"I used to think she was just sleeping with some rich old guy to afford all that jewelry and designer clothes."

"Now we know the truth. She is just a dirty thief."

When the wall falls, everyone rushes in to kick the bricks.

I dropped my hand from the door handle.

Every single person in that room had submitted questionable expenses at some point. Padding taxi receipts, booking more expensive hotels on work trips, claiming unapproved overtime.

Which one of them hadn't benefited from my willingness to fight management for their perks?

And this was my reward.

My heart felt like a stone dropping into a freezing ocean.