Spoiled by the Silver Fox

"So we're just gonna pin it on some scapegoat? Someone takes the fall, and he's off the hook?" Martin scoffed.

"Uh... I don't get it; I'm just a finance assistant..."

"Keep an eye on this; I'm going down to check it out!"

"What? Martin, you're coming down yourself?"

Not only did Martin get personally involved, he strutted down to the eighteenth floor, where the finance department was, with four assistants from the thirty-fifth floor. When he arrived, it was already a madhouse.

A few supported Marilyn but were pathetically outnumbered, just two women and one man.

The majority were backing Nina; after all, she was the deputy director of finance, and her rank alone was enough to keep people in line.

And then there were those in the middle, all huddling behind the finance department head, who was a middle-aged man.

"I don't really care who's responsible for this screw-up, but someone's gotta take the rap today, or it's gonna come up in tomorrow's meeting, and none of us will have a good time! Year-end's coming up; who here still wants their bonus?"

"Boss! I told you this newbie's incompetent, and always sucking up to people in the office! Now look at the data she screwed up. She's biting back at me, claiming it was all me! When did it become the deputy director's job to handle this data?"

Marilyn frowned, "I may be new, but I've got seven or eight years of relevant experience, always triple-checking the data input, and never had any errors! And, this data wasn't even my work... You think you can push me around because I'm new? Out of all the finance staff, no one checks anything and just says it's my fault? Is that fair?"

"I know exactly who I assigned tasks to; it's clear as day that you're the one who messed up; why won't you admit it!"

Marilyn sneered, "Where's the proof? What if you're trying to smear me because you don't like me?

Am I supposed to get kicked out of the company just 'cause you said so?"

"Why would smear you? The proof's right here; I've already had the surveillance footage checked... I did hand you a stack of documents to input data a few days ago

"But not this set of documents!"

IMS

"The one I gave you was this one, Marilyn. Are you still denying it? Boss, I'm leaving this to you; I've explained everything. This has nothing to do with me; it's all

Marilyn's fault; she's draggingel

whole department down! Please see through her lies."

Though not high-ranking, the two colleagues standing with Marilyn were veterans of the company.

After hesitating, one of them stepped forward to speak up for Marilyn.

"Boss, we trust Marilyn; we've all

seen her financial capability. Andre

we've also heard that she had good reputation at her previous company."

"Yeah, boss, you can't just take Nina's word for it and assume Marilyn's in the wrong."

The boss looked troubled; he asked, "What do you think we should do?"

"Uh... that..."Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

"Or maybe, Marilyn, you could take a leave of absence and wait for further decisions at home."