Eruption - Chapter 27 #3
"James' broker's name is Bill O'Neill. I'm sure you have been added to that account as well. You have ten minutes, Penny."
My hands started shaking again. I looked over my shoulder. How did she know everything I was doing?
"Miss Taylor, if you'd like to call James to discuss..."
"No, that's okay. Do you have Bill O'Neill's phone number so I can call him real quick?"
"Of course." Ed stared at his computer for a second and then typed a number into his desk phone and handed it to me.
"Hey, Ed!" Bill O'Neill said when he picked up the phone. "Did you catch the game..."
"Hi, Bill. This is actually Penny Taylor, James Hunter's fiancée."
"Oh, hi, Miss Taylor. I've heard so much about you. Did you catch the Mets game last night?"
"No. Actually, I'm kind of in a rush, Bill. I need to liquidate some of my stocks."
Bill cleared his throat. "Let me get James on the other line."
"No! I mean, he wanted me to handle it." I dropped my voice slightly. "I need to transfer 20 million dollars for an investment opportunity that he doesn't want to miss out on."
"Great, great. What company is James investing in now?"
Um... "Uber." It was the first thing that popped into my head.
"I thought he already invested in that?"
"Well, just, more, you know. When he sees a good investment he likes to go hard.
" Go hard? I was so bad at lying. I could feel Ed staring at me.
I had told him I needed to do this before the wedding.
Investing in Uber had nothing to do with that.
My stories were already losing substance.
"So, if I sell some stocks, will we be able to get enough money in my bank account? "
"Sure. But the trading floor closes in just a few minutes..."
"Then we better hurry this along."
Bill cleared his throat. "What were you interested in selling?"
"Apple." Again, I just said the first thing that popped into my head.
"Are you sure? It's on an up and..."
"I'm sure."
"I'd really feel more comfortable if I got James in on this call. I know that he likes Apple and..."
"I'm marrying him on Saturday. If you don't assist me with this, the first thing I'll do as his wife is convince him to get a new stock broker."
"Right. Very well. Sorry, Miss Taylor." There was a pause on his end. "What else would you like to sell? That was only two million."
Two million in one stock? "How about GM?" I said. I didn't know enough about stocks to be having this conversation.
"He doesn't have any investments in GM."
Crap. "Right, I forgot. How about Google then?"
"Okay. That's another 10 million."
"Great. What are some of the highest yielding stocks?"
"He's made a ton of money in oil."
Oil? James was very environmentally conscious. Why did he have oil stocks? "Sell all of those." Maybe he'd thank me later for that one.
"I only need to sell a few of them to get you the money you need. Do you have a preference?"
"No, just do it." I looked down at my phone. I only had 3 minutes left. Ed was already packing up his briefcase for the day. Shit!
"Okay, it'll take a few minutes for the funds to appear in your account."
I wasn't sure if that would cut it, but there was nothing else I could do. "Thank you for all your help, Bill. I'll make sure to let James know how accommodating you were."
"Very well. And congratulation on your upcoming nuptials."
"Thanks." I hung up the phone before I said anything else stupid. "Ed, can we set up the transfer now?"
He looked down at his watch. "The bank closes in a few minutes and it usually takes some time for the funds to appear..."
"Bill said it would just be a few minutes. I have the account number I need the money in right here." I pulled out my phone.
Ed looked even more uncomfortable than he had a minute ago as he sat down. "That's not the account number for Uber."
I laughed nervously. "No, it's not. I just needed Bill to sell the stocks for me. He was more likely to do it if he thought we were investing in something else profitable."
"I see." Ed tapped a few keys on his computer. "So, whose account is this?" He wasn't making eye contact with me.
"A last minute wedding venue expense."
"For 20 million dollars?"
"You know James. He's extravagant. Has the money transferred yet?"
"It'll be another minute. Just let me fill in the information for the transfer."
I looked down at my phone again. One minute.
"Here we are," Ed said. "Would you like me to print out a copy of your transaction or send an email copy to you?"
"A print out please." I didn't want him to accidentally send a copy to James. I needed to tell him about this without him finding out first. I knew how bad it looked.
A printer hummed to life in the corner. Ed stood up and grabbed the small slip that had printed out. "20 million to the account number you had listed." He handed me the slip of paper.
Hopefully we had gotten it done just in time.
"Thank you so much, Ed." I stood up and grabbed the sheet of paper.
My mother and Melissa were probably wondering where I was.
But something made me stop before I walked out of the office.
James added me to all his accounts and to his will a few years ago.
But he had never told me. Why hadn't he told me?
I turned around. "Who else is in the will? "
"Excuse me?" Ed had shut off his computer and snapped his briefcase closed.
"In James' will. Who else is a beneficiary?"
"Just you, Miss Taylor."
Just me? I swallowed hard. He couldn't leave me with all his money. "But if something happened to both of us..."
"There is a contingency where all the money goes to a dozen or so charities in the case of an untimely death to both parties. And the businesses would be left to his brother and sister."
I didn't know what to say. James had left all his money to me even before we got married. He was even leaving me responsible for running his businesses. He trusted me. More than anyone else in the world. What had I just done?