Glitter and Gold

Ariana nodded, and offered Stanley one last smile before she turned to get down to business, picking up a box and sitting at the desk with it. Delicately she plucked her glasses out of her handbag along with a notebook and pencil and began to get to work sifting through the many business logs, tax books and contracts that filled the boxes.

After what felt like hours of work, Ari sighed. This was all very interesting but she had barely gotten through one month of 2007.

@ A Drop On the Window

Stanley smiled softly and left the conference room, heading to his office. He sat down and began going through his normal work routine.

The team of lawyer's kept going through boxes, taking notes of strange transactions or correspondances. One of the team moved over to Ariana, and showed her some transactions, "see here, how there is a transaction to another business of Mr Penbrooke's in Paris," he asked her. He then explained, "The issue is that account, is from a bank in the Cayman's, which is a red flag," he said.

@ Aoibhe

Ari looked at the sheet of paper that was placed before her and nodded slowly as she looked through the figures. The club often got a lot of re-routed and strange bank transactions so it wasn't something she was unused to seeing. "Umm sorry who do you say the CFO is again?" She asked softly as she looked over the numbers. "you see... That account in the Caymans, it's registered to a man, and was set up roughly 11 years ago" she added, biting on her lip, pointing to the last three digits on the account number. "It's a little trick on tax accounts like this... The always end in an odd number for men, even for women... And accounts with the prefix 303 had to be set up between 2007-2008" she added with a slight nod.

@ A Drop On the Window

The lawyer nodded, "The CFO, was a friend of Mr Penbrooke's, and you are onto something there," he admitted. He smiled weakly, "the key though is figure out where the money was being taken from, and how often it went into a strange account, then we have a chance of proving it," he said softly.

He looked at Ariana, she really was attractive, "So I hear you are still studying?" he asked softly.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana nodded as the lawyer told her what else they needed to figure out and turned her attention back to the stack of files, glancing up once more as he continued to talk. "oh, yeah I am. I'm in my third of commercial law so just one more year to go!" She said with a little laugh, her cheeks flushing slightly as she felt his eyes looking her over.

@ A Drop On the Window

The lawyer nodded, "well good for you, landing this internship will help you massively, once you finish," he told her. He shifted back to the other side of the room, and began checking through the files again.

Stanley was busy making a phone call, apparently some money had disappeared from another of his businesses. nce he'd hung up he made his way towards the conference room slowly, and quiet annoyed.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana offered him a polite smile and nodded before she turned back to the paperwork sighing as she looked over them, pinching the bridge of her nose slightly. All of the figures were just beginning to blend in to one at this point. She sighed softly, pulling out the next statement and beginning to scan it. She glanced up when the door opened again, stretching out her back and blinking for a minute as she watched Stan.

"Is everything okay Mr.Penbrooke?" She asked gently, taking off her glasses.

@ A Drop On the Window

Stanley looked up when he heard her. Her voice always seemed to settle him slightly. He looked across the team of lawyers, "are no, things aren't okay actually," he said lightly. He sighed softly, "so my manager in Italy, called apparently they are having some money issues as well," he said. He looked pretty mad, "So I have him gathering files from back as far as he can get," he said lightly.

One of the lawyer's looked up, "okay, so you want us to look over them too?" he asked. Stanley nodded, "thought it might be able help you figure everything out," he said lightly. "I was thinking of borrowing your intern on friday, to help me pick up the files," he suggested.

@ Aoibhe

Ari sighed gently, running her hands through her hair at the thought of there being even more files. Before she could let Stanley see her she put a soft smile on her face, not wanting him to stress any more than he was. "That might help us figure it out a little quicker" she offered kindly.

She nodded as he brought up borrowing her "that's fine by me if it's alright with everybody else" she agreed, her cheeks flushing softly hoping she hadn't made it sound like she thought her role more important than it was.

@ A Drop On the Window

The lawyer's sighed, "yeah she's right, some more info would help us narrow everything down," one of them said. "Plus it'll open up more options for you sir, being registered in Italy, you could go after your embezzler using their laws if you wanted, we'll have to figure it out," he added.

Stanley smiled when Ariana said she'd be happy to help. He looked at the rest of the lawyer's who all nodded. "Okay, pack a bag for friday and don't forget your passport, we'll leave from the office," he told her lightly.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana blinked hard for a minute, before her mind snapped to. "Wait I'm sorrry I got a bit lost for a minute... You need me to go to Italy?" She asked, standing up quickly, her cheeks reddening as she realised how frantic she seemed. She cleared her throat softly and quickly composed herself before sitting back down.

"Perhaps I could stop by your office to Iron out the details before I leave this evening?" She asked, biting on her lip gently. She could feel her palms itching nervously as she felt the others eyes on her.

@ A Drop On the Window

Stanley nodded lightly, "ah yeah, It would be helpful," he said softly. He smiled weakly at the rest of the team, "Sure, come by before you leave this afternoon, and we can discuss it," he said lightly. He shifted towards the door, before leaving the conference room.

One of the lawyer's moved over to her, "Thanks for offering to go, all of us have to stick around incase a client needs us," he said lightly. "Plus who knows, maybe he'll want to stick around there for an extra day," he added.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana watched as he left, moving to bury her head back in the work when the lawer approached her. She gave a weak laugh. "Yeah of course...better make sure my passport is in date before I make any promises" she said, pulling her hair behind her ear as she looked up at the man.

Ari knew she would love to see Italy, her dream was always to finish school and move to Europe, it's why she studied so many European law modules. As much as she wanted to go she didn't know if she could afford, let alone find a sitter to look after Sophia- she had never left her little girl alone for that long before.

@ A Drop On the Window

Stanley headed back to his office, and got back to work. He settled in, waiting for Ariana to call into his office, in the next few hours.

One of the older lawyer's nodded, "well, if it up to date it'll be worth it," he said lightly. He smiled weakly, "just try to keep everything professional if you go," he said.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana's back straightened as she raised her head to stare at the man, her mouth growing small as she cleared her throat. "Excuse me?" She asked loudly crossing her arms across her chest as she watched the man.

@ A Drop On the Window

The lawyer looked at her, "I was just giving you a heads up, sometimes when clients are oversea's with counsel, they don't always act properly," he said softly. He looked clearly embarrassed that she'd taken it the wrong way.

@ Aoibhe

Ariana could feel her face burning slightly, as she glanced down at the desk. "Oh.. uh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so defensive" she said quietly, giving the man an apologetic look. She felt bad that he was only trying to give her a heads up, not accusing her of anything. She sat for a moment feeling foolish before excusing herself from the room.

She took a breather and grabbed a coffee before going back to finish her work, and later that evening dropped in to Stanley's office. She knocked on the door and propped it open a couple inches to see if he was free. "Uh Me.Penbrooke are you free to speak?" She asked as she opened the door.

@ A Drop On the Window

The Lawyer nodded, "It's okay, I understand," he said softly. After the day was over the lawyers congratulated her on her work so far.

Stanley looked up from his desk, "Uh Ariana right?" he said lightly, "sure I'm free, come in," he said softly pointing at the chair across from him. Once she'd come into his office he smild at her, "So how was your first day? he asked

@ Aoibhe

Ari nodded and shut the door firmly behind her, sitting down across from him. "I think it went well! They seemed pretty happy with what I'd done anyway, unless they were just taking pity on me" she said with a soft laugh, deciding not to bring up her outburst, seeing as it could get the other lawyer in trouble too.

"It a lot of stuff to get through, but I think we can figure it out for your sake" she told him

@ A Drop On the Window

Stanley smiled, "well I am glad, they seemed to like you," he said. He shifted in his chair, "Well I am glad, I am sick of my companies failing, it'll be good to figure out who's doing it," he said.

He looked at her gently, "So what's did you need to know about friday?" he asked her.

@ Aoibhe