Liars Like Us

35

He grabs my wrist and doesn’t let go of it until I’m standing behind the counter in the front of the shop with the contract in front of me and a pen in my hand.

Thirteen

W

ith Callum, William, and a beaming Andrew standing on the other side of the counter, I gaze down at the contract, hesitating.

A man walks through the door. Before he can say a word, Callum crosses to him, shoves him back out, slams the door in his face, and locks it.

“Hey! That was a customer!”

“Not anymore. Sign the f*****g paperwork.”

Exasperated, I look at William. “I need to add a few things to this.”

William opens his mouth to answer, but Callum snaps, “You’ll get your money. Just sign it.”

Undeterred, I say, “I can see living with you is going to be a laugh a minute. What about the job for my friend’s husband?”

Callum glares at me from across the shop. His jaw clenched, he says, “It’s in.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Look on the last page.”

I flip to the last page. Sure enough, he’s already updated the contract to include a job for Ryan, his salary to be double that of his last position.

When the hell did that happen? On the drive over?

Before I can ask, Callum snaps, “Satisfied?”

Looking at his glower, I say, “I know you’re desperate to secure that fat inheritance of yours, but why are you so angsty all of a sudden? And by the way, don’t we need a marriage license for this thing to be legal?”

“I already got the license! Everything’s handled! All you have to do is sign!”

I sigh and look at William again. Since Callum’s throwing a temper tantrum, I need to deal with an adult.

“What about the escrow account? I’d like to have some proof this money I’m signing my life away for actually exists.”

William nods in approval. “Of course. Let me pull it up.”

From the briefcase on the counter he produced the new contract from, he withdraws a laptop. After clicking around on it for a moment, he turns it to face me.

The screen shows a brokerage account with a balance of ten million dollars.

When I glance up at him, lips pursed, Callum says tersely, “William, transfer another ten to the account.”

I have to give the attorney credit. If I were in his shoes, I’d either laugh or cry at my client’s whimsical approach to money. Throw ten million here, toss another ten million there, no big whoop. But William simply nods and does as he’s instructed, turning the computer toward him again and clicking around efficiently.

“Complete, sir.”

“Show her.”

William turns the screen to face me. I look at it for a moment, then say, “But how do I know this is even for me?”

Callum closes his eyes and stands with his face turned toward the ceiling, eyes closed, breathing deeply with his hands clenched to fists by his side.

William says gently, “At the top right side of the screen, you’ll notice the account says FBO Emery Eastwood.”

“So it does. What does FBO mean?”

“For benefit of. The account is being managed in a custodial capacity only until you sign the contract. Then the funds transfer to an irrevocable trust, of which you are the sole beneficiary.”

Just to make sure I’m understanding correctly, I press him. “Meaning once I have the money, he can never take it back?”

Callum thunders, “For f**k’s sake, woman! Sign the contract!”

William and I grimace at each other. Andrew is beginning to look pale.

Leaning closer to William, I whisper, “Could you cross out the dollar amount on this line here and write the new one in? Just so we’re all on the same page about everything.”

“Very good,” he whispers back. He takes the pen from me and scribbles the number twenty over the ten he scratched out.

“And where are the trust documents? Don’t I need to sign those?”

In the background, Callum groans. William grimaces again. Andrew looks as if he’s about to make the sign of the cross over his chest and start tossing around holy water.

Apparently, these two have never seen their boss lose his temper before.

Or maybe they have, and that’s what they’re really afraid of.

Sweat beading his forehead, William whispers, “No, but I have a copy of that for you here.”

He withdraws a thick sheaf of papers bound with a blue cover from his briefcase and hands it to me. I flip open the cover, review the first few pages, then glance at Callum standing in obvious agony near the door.

Without saying anything, I tap a finger on the part of the page where it describes the trust’s assets. William sees where I’m indicating and nods. He scratches out the ten, writes in twenty, then initials above his change.

I have no idea if that’s legally binding or not, but as it appears Callum is about to explode with impatience, it will have to do. If I push him too far, he might change his mind and call off the whole thing.

Plus, if we wind up in court, I’ve got Andrew as a witness. I doubt a chaplain could lie under oath, what with him being a personal assistant to God.

I close the trust binder, inhale a deep breath, and say a silent prayer. “All right. I’m ready.”

Callum stalks over to me, rips the velvet box out of his pocket, pulls the diamond out of it, and tosses the box over his shoulder. Grabbing my left hand, he jams the ring onto my ring finger.