I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button to close the doors. “No, Ian. I need you to drive me to the bank.”
“Okay, which bank?”
Shit. I knew James had set me up with my own account when we moved to New York despite my protests. I had never accessed it before. Every now and then I used the credit card he gave me to buy expensive dresses for functions I went to with him. But I had no idea how much was in the account. Hopefully it would be enough. What bank was it? “Just the normal one.”
“United Bank? The one that James uses?”
“Yes.” I tried to hide my sigh of relief. “Yup, the normal one.”
Ian laughed. “You got it.”
I hung up the phone when he came into view. He was parked right outside the office building and the door was already open for me. “How long will it take to get there?”
“It’s just down the street.”
“Thank God.”
He gave me a funny look, but closed the door.
As soon as the car was moving, I felt even more nervous. Was I doing the right thing? James wouldn’t want those photos all over the internet. I didn’t have a choice. We pulled up outside of a building that said United Bank. “Thanks, Ian,” I said and got out the second the car stopped. I ran up the steps and into the bank. It was insanely fancy inside. It looked more like a hotel than a bank. There was no line, so I walked directly up to the teller. “Hi, I need to transfer some money.”
She stared at me for a second. “Yes, Miss…”
“Taylor. Penny Taylor. I have an account here, but I don’t know the account number off the top of my head.” Or at all. I hope this is the right bank. I had a couple thousand dollars in my own bank account. That wasn’t going to appease Isabella.
“Okay, hold on one second. Penny Taylor…” She stared at her computer screen as she spoke. “And you’re looking to transfer money?”
“Yes, just to a different account.”
“How much are you looking to transfer?”
“20 million.” I had lowered my voice slightly. She was going to think I was crazy.
The woman’s fingers stopped and she looked up at me. “Let me just get a manager for you to sit down with. Excuse me.”
“I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
“Okay, Miss Taylor. Just let me go get him.” She disappeared through a door.
I pulled out my phone. I only had twelve minutes. It felt like I was having a heart attack. I put my hand on my chest.
“The manager will be right out,” the teller said as she came back up to the counter. “If you don’t mind taking a seat.” She gestured toward a group of plush chairs. This was taking too long. I sat down and tapped my foot nervously. A few minutes later a man emerged from the back.
“Hello, Miss Taylor. You must be James’ fiancee.” He put his hand out toward me. “I’m Ed and I’ll be helping you out today.”
I immediately stood up and shook his hand. “Yes, hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m kind of in a rush. I need to get this done before the wedding.”
“Of course. Right this way.” He took me to his office and sat down behind his desk. “So, James added you to several of his bank accounts when he updated his will a couple of years ago, in addition to the one that is just under your name.”
“Mhm.” I sat down across from him. I had no idea that James had done that. He trusted me with his money. And I was here giving it away to Isabella. My stomach seemed to flip over. Was I doing the right thing?
“And you understand that all of your joint assets are not liquid. You don’t have 20 million dollars sitting in the bank. A lot of your money is currently tied up in investments. Properties, stocks…”
“Yes, of course.” I hadn’t even thought about that. No one had 20 million dollars just sitting in the bank. That wasn’t financially responsible. “Is there any way to liquidate some of those assets?”
Ed scratched the back of his neck. He was starting to look uncomfortable. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
No. “Yes.”
“James’ portfolio is very diverse, but if you’re looking for liquid assets immediately, the best way is probably through stocks. I’d advise you to call James’ broker to get his take on what stocks are best to sell at the moment. How about you come back tomorrow? The stock market closes in several minutes as well as this bank and…”
“Could you just do it for me? Just take your best guess on which to sell?”
“Miss Taylor, I’m not a financial advisor. I’m just the manager of the bank. And I don’t have access to your stocks.”
My phone buzzed and I looked down at the text that had just come through:
“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 fiancee.”
“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.”