All Chapters of Ex-Boss Wants My Gear? Enjoy the Audit: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Bill's POVI looked straight into the eyes of my boss, Karen Halfpenny, making sure she wasn't joking."Ms. Halfpenny, are you mistaken? When I first joined the company, you told me to treat the company like my home. I wasn't used to the company's camera equipment, so I spent my own money buying my own gear. It has nothing to do with the company at all."Karen looked as if she'd heard a hilarious joke."Exactly. The company is your home, and the things inside that home belong to the household. You can't just pack them up and take them with you, can you?"She leaned back in her chair."Bill, you've been here a long time. You should understand the concept of parting on good terms."I didn't respond. Instead, I pulled my phone from my pocket."Ms. Halfpenny, maybe you should take a look at these."I turned the screen toward her and swiped through image after image. They were all screenshots of my purchase history.Karen's expression changed.She tapped her fingers gently on the

Chapter 2

Bill's POV"But I'm still taking my equipment with me," I cut Karen off.Then I turned, opened the office door, and walked out.Behind me came the sound of her slamming her hand hard on the desk."Just you try!"Fine. I would. I wasn't going to leave a single thing of mine behind.…The moment I walked out of Karen's office, I clearly noticed a difference in the way my colleagues looked at me. Before, they'd at least nod or say hello, but now, they went out of their way to avoid me.I crouched down next to my desk and continued packing my equipment into boxes when I noticed movement near the break room.Three colleagues were gathered around Reed. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but phrases such as "company property", "taking advantage", and "shameless" drifted over every so often.He was likely doing this on purpose. His voice was just loud enough for everyone nearby to hear, but not so loud that I'd have an excuse to confront him directly. It was a level of malice th

Chapter 3

Bill's POVThe entire office fell dead silent as everyone watched.Reed leaned back in his chair, a smug smirk plastered on his face."Ms. Halfpenny," I said. "Reed went through my boxes, and I was recording to preserve evidence. Is there a problem with that?""Preserve evidence?"Karen let out a cold laugh. "Do you still think you're an employee here? You're someone who's leaving. What right do you have to film here inside the office? Reed is just protecting company assets! Why were you recording? Were you trying to steal company secrets?""I was—""Enough!" she snapped, taking a step forward."Let me tell you something, Bill Kramer," she started, emphasizing every word. "You've been with this company for three years, which means the company spent three years training you. Now that you think you're all that and want to leave, that's fine.""But not only do you not know how to be grateful, but you also want to take the company's property on your way out? Search your own consci

Chapter 4

Bill's POVI shook with pure rage.Fine. If that was how they wanted to play it, then I'd just have to play along.I whipped out my phone and dialed 911. "Hello? I'd like to report a crime."…The police soon arrived."Who called the police?" Officer McKellan, the older officer, asked as he surveyed the scene.I raised my hand and stepped forward."I did. Officer, I work for this company, and today is my last day. I was packing up my personal belongings, but the company has forcibly seized my private property worth 100,000 dollars."Officer McKellan ordered Karen to retrieve the boxes."Officer, he's lying!" Reed exclaimed, rushing forward."Those items clearly belong to the company. He's trying to take advantage of us. Now that he's leaving, he wants to take the company's equipment along with him. Our CEO, Ms. Halfpenny, is kind enough not to argue with him, and this is how he repays her—by turning around and accusing us!"Officer McKellan looked at Reed. "You said the equ

Chapter 5

Bill's POVThe next morning, I was awoken by the glare of the sun.The curtains hadn't been drawn tight. A beam of light squeezed through the gap, landing right on my eyelids.I rolled over, pulled the blanket over my head, and groggily fumbled for my phone to check it.No missed calls. No messages. The world was remarkably quiet.It had been a long time since I last slept until I woke up naturally.During my three years at that company, my mornings started with a 6:00 am alarm, followed by an hour-long commute on the subway, just to be able to clock in before 8:00 am.Even on the weekends, Karen would tag everyone in the group chat and assign all kinds of urgent tasks.But not anymore.I placed my phone face down next to my pillow, turned over, and went right back to sleep.At that moment, I had no idea that my former company was already in complete chaos.…Third-Person POVKaren was in an excellent mood that morning.After dealing with Bill the day before, she'd sat in

Chapter 6

Third-Person POV"Who reported us?" Karen asked, squeezing the words through clenched teeth. "Was it Bill Kramer?"Melissa didn't answer her question. She merely pulled a document out of her briefcase."Ms. Halfpenny, are the pieces of equipment listed on this form company property?"A look of sudden realization washed over Karen's face, and she snorted coldly."Go tell Bill to stop obsessing over this gear! They belong to the company!"Melissa nodded. "From 2023 through 2026, your company received a batch of photography equipment with a total value of approximately 100,000 dollars as fixed assets. These assets weren't recorded in the company's accounting books, and the company failed to declare or pay the required corporate income taxes. Is that information accurate?"Karen's face stiffened for a split second before she waved her hand. "No, that's not accurate. Those pieces of equipment are one of our employees' personal property. They have nothing to do with the company's fina

Chapter 7

Bill's POVAt 2:00 pm that afternoon, my phone started vibrating nonstop.Text messages, messaging apps, and even social media accounts I hadn't used in ages were all blowing up.I swiped across the screen to take a look.Recruiter A: "Bill, did you piss off your boss, Ms. Halfpenny? She just posted a message in one of the industry group chats calling you out by name, saying you stole company property, filed a malicious report against them, and have serious character issues. I grabbed a screenshot. You should take a look."Recruiter B: "What's going on? Karen Halfpenny posted a blacklist notice about you in at least five industry group chats. I had three clients who were really interested in hiring you, but now they're all having second thoughts."Recruiter C: "Do you need help clearing things up? I can forward your side of the story to a few of the groups."I tapped on the screenshot sent by Recruiter A, containing a message Karen had sent to one of the industry group chats."

Chapter 8

Bill's POVI stared at the text message, completely frozen for a good five seconds.Extortion? When had I ever demanded money or property from Karen? The equipment was mine, and I was simply trying to get back what already belonged to me.I'd reported her for tax evasion because she'd insisted the equipment belonged to the company. Those were two entirely separate matters. At no point did I use the report as leverage to get my gear back.But Karen had forcibly linked the two issues together, twisting them into a criminal charge of using the threat of reporting them to extort its assets.If the police formally took up the report, the entire situation would shift from a tax investigation to a criminal case. Even if I were ultimately cleared, the sheer process of being summoned, investigated, or even placed under pretrial restrictions would be more than enough to get me permanently blacklisted by the entire industry.Who would dare hire someone who'd been investigated by the police?

Chapter 9

Bill's POVAs the IRS looked into the camera equipment, one thing led to another, and before long, they were combing through the company's financial books from top to bottom.While compiling the company's assets, Karen had lumped all kinds of unrelated items together, which immediately caught the agents' attention. They soon uncovered multiple instances of tax evasion and fraud.The back taxes and late-payment penalties were 465,000 dollars, plus a fine of 530,000 dollars, which came out to a total of 995,000 dollars. Between the taxes owed, penalties, and fines, the nearly one million dollars the company was required to pay was effectively a death sentence.Once it was officially established that my camera equipment wasn't company property, I was allowed to retrieve it. The company was also ordered to release my final paycheck.News of the IRS investigation spread fast.The blacklist Karen had posted in all those industry group chats had now turned into a boomerang, smacking her

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