Page 5 of The Billionaire's Vow

Nervous now, Giselle stepped forward, heading toward his desk with measured determination as she opened a file folder.She forced herself to focus—on the numbers, on the facts.Noton the way his sharp, assessing gaze tracked her every movement.

She laid out the reports, smoothing the top sheet with steady fingers."I've been assigned to track the shipments coming in and reconcile the costs, ensuring the receipts match up with the product loads," she explained, opening the first file.

She pointed to a structured column of numbers."This is the list of products allocated for the luxury merchandise markets."Then, she gestured to a second column."These are the retail locations that were supposed to receive those products."

Feeling his attention still on her, she glanced up briefly to ensure he was following along.

Only to notice, he wasn’t looking at the numbers.

He was looking ather.

Her stomach dipped, heat crawling up her neck as she quickly dropped her gaze back to the files.

Awkwardly, she cleared her throat and pressed on."This column shows the number of products that actually arrived at each location.There are only two or three items missing per container, so it might not seem like a big deal, right?"

She risked another glance at him—and blinked.

He’d moved closer.

Close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body, close enough that the scent of clean cedar and something darker, muskier—something undeniably masculine—curled around her, making concentrationverydifficult.

Giselle took a discreet step back, carefully keeping a respectable distance.Do not touch him.Do not touch him.She had no idea where the thought came from, but she wasn’t about to test what would happen if she did.

Focus.

“So yeah," she continued, voice a little tighter, "it’s just one or two items at a time, but over the past few months, it’s added up.”

His expression darkened."How much?"

“I don’t know the total yet.”She flipped to another page, organizing her thoughts.“I went back through the accounts for the past year.It looks like the thefts started approximately five months ago.”

"How did you discover this?"His voice was low.Rough.

She tensed at the touch of anger she heard there, but something in his tone—some controlled restraint—told her it wasn’t directed at her.

"My boss asked me to brief you on the quarterly variances today because he had to be out of the office," she explained."I started working here about ten months ago, and my main role is to review invoices for incoming shipments.So although I report to my boss on variance analysis, reporting to the chief…uh…you,” she stumbled, looking up at him, then back down at the report, “was a step beyond my usual analysis.”She hesitated again, then forced herself to continue.“Anyway, I looked into the details, knowing that I needed to understand what was happening before presenting any numbers.”

She took a deep breath before continuing."I noticed the totals coming off the ships didn’t match the expected amounts more than once, so I started digging deeper into the loss reports.Every store tracks damaged or missing merchandise in separate accounts, which is standard—there’s always some loss during transit.”

He continued to watch her, but his eyes were sharp, moving over the numbers, then back to her.

"But these numbers—" she tapped the page, her voice becoming more confident, "—they don’t match up.At first, the shortages were sporadic.But over the past three months, the losses have become consistent."

Dimitri’s jaw ticked as his eyes flicked over the numbers.“Someone has grown brazen,” he muttered.

She nodded, closing the top file and tapping it against the table to neaten the pages."I’ve only had time to look into the luxury stores," she admitted."You own a huge number of locations all over the world and at varying price levels, so I haven't had a chance to audit everything yet."

His gaze snapped back to her his eyes hard and angry.“Estimate the total loss for me, based on what you know right now.”

Giselle inhaled, calculating quickly.

She exhaled sharply and straightened her shoulders.“Just from the luxury stores, about five hundred thousand dollars in losses.”

Dimitri’s expression didn’t change at first.But something flickered in his sharp eyes, something calculating and cold.The kind of reaction that made her wary, her muscles tensing as if she’d just stepped into dangerous territory.

His fingers, which had been resting loosely on the desk’s polished surface, curled slightly.A small movement.Controlled.But his presence changed—his stillness became somethingharder.

“Who have you told?”His voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking the steel beneath it.