The Boss's Wife Pt. 05

"Well, I am glad she is okay," I said.

A few minutes later, they left my office, and I went back to work. I worked most of the rest of the day. I was even working a bit over to catch up. Juliet went home on time. I had a few more things I wanted to wrap up before I left. I found myself yawning and trying hard to look at the screen.

"Stop it," I said, shaking my head. "At this point, you are doing more harm than good."

I turned off my computer, making sure to leave a note on my desk to recheck some of my work with fresh eyes, just in case I messed something up.

The offices were dark as I walked out into the hallway. Only the light from the front desk illuminated the halls. I got into the elevator and went down to the basement.

When I got to my car, a person was leaning against another vehicle. I recognized them right away. "Hi Steven," I said as I got close.

"Congrats," Steven said as he looked at me. He walked over towards my car. "Donald is impressed."

I smiled as I knew it was Donald that stopped the second attempt, as Chairman his vote counted higher than all of them.

While I was intimidated by Donald, I knew that he was a fair man. Everything he did was by the books. I am sure had doubts about me and my ideas, now with today's events, those doubts were sure to disappear.

"And you're not?" I said as I stared back at him.

"Someone is helping you," Steve nodded. "I am sure of it. It's not Tim he couldn't pull half of what you are doing out of thin air, but someone is whispering in your ear, showing you the way."

"Or," I said with a smile. "I looked at all of you while I was carrying the mail around, watching how everyone conducted business and taking mental notes."

Steve smiled and nodded. "Have a good night. I will be watching."

"Don't watch too hard," I replied. I waited until he left then got in my car.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Morning," I said as I got into the elevator.

Jack didn't answer this time. "The silent treatment," I smiled. "That's new, even for you."

"Shut it," Jack replied.

"There you go," I smiled.

The door opened, and I let him do his usual angry walk out of the elevator. "Hey Ladies," I said as I signed in after him.

"You have a visitor," one of the ladies said. I had tried to remember their names, but I always got them mixed up.

"Thank you," I said as I walked to the visitor's area.

"Are you Derek?" a lady asked.

"Yes," I replied, shaking the ladies hand.

"I am Shirley," she introduced herself. "I am Mr. Lanston's aide."

"Ah," I nodded. "Come with me to my office. We can talk privately there."

Shirley followed me to my office. She walked slowly and with a slight limp. I guessed she was in her later years.

"Shirley," Juliet said, walking over to the lady and helping her onto the couch.

"Thank you," Shirley said as she sat down.

"Anything to drink?" I asked as I walked over to the bar.

"Water will be fine," Shirley said as she settled down.

I poured her a glass of cold water with ice and handed it to her. "How can we help?" I asked as I sat in the chair across from her.

"Mr. Lanston, as you know, is not a well man. I have been his secretary and his aide since we opened the first office so many years ago," Shirley said with a smile. "Not once have I left his side, I have seen him go through three marriages, bankruptcy and now four heart attacks."

Shirley whole body trembled as she talked.

"We are sorry," Juliet said as she moved closer.

"Those jackals that call themselves his friends and lawyers are the worst, they are like circling vultures they are," Shirley said, shaking her small, frail fists. "If I had a power of attorney, I would fire the lot of them."

I couldn't help but smile. Even in her late years, she was still a firecracker. I would have hated to be on the wrong side of her when she was young.

"I am sorry we can't help you with them," I said."We can only handle his finances."

"That's why I came," Shirley said as she opened her purse, she handed Juliet a piece of paper. It was a napkin. Juliet looked over it and then handed it over to me.

I read it. It was written in pen. I held it firmly then reread it. It was giving me the power to take over all of his finances.

"Can you do it?" Shirley asked.

"I wish I could," I said, trying to find anything that would make this stand in court. It was written in pen on a napkin. The words were crooked at best, and at worst the spelling was way off. Mr. Lanston might have been doped on pain medication when he wrote this note, which meant his lawyers would tear me apart if I tried to take over his financial affairs.

"What about this?" Shirley asked.

She handed me her phone. I pressed play and saw Mr. Lanston sitting upright in his chair.

"Shirley, must have handed you the paper by now and I am sure you have told her that it would not be enough," Lanston said as he coughed and wheezed. "I am off the medication for just over seven hours now, and I can say with a clear mind that I want Derek Youngblood of Freitz Accounting to handle all of my financial affairs from this day forward."

I stopped it as the nurse next to Mr. Lanston helped him lie back down.

"Is that enough?" Shirley asked.

I looked at the video and the paper. "I think so," I replied. "I will have to find something with his handwriting, but I am sure we have copies around here with that, so that's easy to do."

"I can go back to the hospital and check with Mr. Lanston and the nurse, videotape both of them saying that he was of clear mind when that was taken," Juliet said.

"The doctor was the one holding the phone," Shirley said.

"Even better," I nodded if all of them can go on video and write down what he said that is more than enough proof." I smiled.

"And the vultures?" Shirley asked.

"I can have the company lawyers take over immediately after all the papers are signed, by you," I smiled.

"Me?" Shirley asked.

"Of course," Juliet smiled.

"You are his legal aide now," I smiled. "The moment you handed me the papers and the video you represented him."

The smile on the old ladies face lit up my office. "I will fire the lot of them."

Juliet helped her to the door.

"I will head down to the hospital. I hope they haven't drugged him yet," Juliet said.

"I will call Jeff down at legal and make sure all of this is above ground before we get our hopes up," I nodded.

Mr. Wanston had been the virtual pony that every partner wanted to land. He had money vested in the company, but it was only a fraction of his net worth. If I landed him and all of his finances I would be over Nigel and Samuel in combined net worth. Mr. Wantson had made his money in real estate. Not the local kind but in vast land amounts. He had represented many people that had acres of land all around the country. He had also bought property in the city before it was the high rises and apartment buildings. His money was just old money. It was ancient. His father had made money in alcohol.

I knew I was counting my chickens before they were hatched, but I couldn't help myself. I knew I should feel guilty for making a profit and thinking of my success over a man's eventful death, but I didn't. This was a cutthroat world. Dog eat dog as the saying went. If I didn't do it one of the other partners would and now that blood was in the water, all of them were thinking the same thing. How could they land all of his assets?

Besides as nice as Shirley had made him out to be, it was all a lie. Wanston was a piece of work. When he did sell the lands, he sold it to businesses. He didn't care what they would put on the property or what it would do to the people around it.

The apartment buildings he ran were shit holes. He gave control to a rental company that didn't fix any of the problems the residents complained about; a fire destroyed one of his properties. When he was sued for the damage and loss of life, he blamed one of his rental companies. Someone took the fall. He paid a fraction of what he made from the insurance back to the families that lost their homes and took off. So if anyone thought I was going to bat an eye or shed a tear over his demise, they were sadly mistaken.

Our company represented pharmaceutical companies that sold life-saving drugs to people that desperately needed it at nearly triple the amount it cost to make it, and sometimes it was more than that. We weren't the ones that made the laws. We profited from them, but also we charged them nearly double for every dollar they invested with us.

"It will stand," Jeff said as he looked over everything. Juliet had sent me a video of the doctor confirming that he was of sound mind and that he was present when the original video was made. She had also got a signature from Lanston on official papers. I could nearly dance on the ceiling. I had landed the silver butterfly as it was called in our company.

I raced into the elevator and headed for Samuel's office. As I entered, I saw Nigel and Donald sitting there. I slammed everything I had on the table in front of them, printed and recorded.

The three of them looked it all over. "No way," Donald said repetitively.

I wanted to shout my favorite saying, but I refrained from shouting it. 'Show me the money, bitches!' I cried internally.

Again and again, they looked things over as well as looking at the video over and over. Juliet walked in a few moments later. She must have sped all the way here and ran up the stairs. She was breathing heavy. She handed me the rest of the documents which I then handed over to them.

Samuel had his head in his hand as he read the new papers. "He did it."

Nigel shook his head. "I've been trying to get that cranky bastard for nearly twelve years."

"Three days," I said. "I told you I wouldn't let you down."

Donald stood up. He shook my hand. "I will let the rest of the board know."

'Fuck yeah!' I screamed inside my head.

"Get all of this down to Jeff immediately, I want this in the books by the end of the day," Nigel said as he got everything together.

"Yes, sir," I smiled as I gathered it all up.

When we got out of the room, I looked over at Juliet. "How handsy did he get this time?"

"Let's just say that old man is going out with a big smile on his face," Juliet said.

"You didn't," I stopped and looked at her.

"Hell, no!" Juliet shook her head. "But he got a good view of the girls before the medication made him pass out."

"Lucky bastard," I laughed. "I have to make one stop. You get the accounts ready."

"On it," Juliet said.

I didn't even knock on Jack's door, pushing the door open I slammed everything on his desk and stood back. The look on his face made everything he had put me through worth every second of it. There was visible steam coming off the top of his head.

I stopped and gathered everything back up. "What did you call me at the party?"

He looked up at me. There was seething anger on his face. "Better get your game up old man, I haven't even started yet."

I walked out of his office with a smile. What I had told Steven was the truth: I had no one whispering in my ear. I had no secret weapon. There was no one giving me the secrets to the business. I learned one thing and one thing only from working the mail room. Treat people with kindness, and they will give you the world. I treated Trevor the way no one else treated him, with respect not for his money, or his accounts, he had built his company from the ground up, he loved his son, but he loved his business more.

Wanston knew he was a dirty old man. He knew he had cheated people. On his death bed, all he wanted was a cute woman to show him affection and a kind face. I sent Juliet there knowing that she was the face he wanted to see, did I know he would put his hands on her. I would be lying if I said no, I didn't. I also knew that Shirley would be there to see the man she secretly loved for all those years smile and be happy. Happiness she couldn't give him. I knew she would talk to him, and eventually, the two would come to me. My success had nothing to do with secrets. It was about watching people, just like I did when I walked through these halls with the mail. What was that saying 'watch out for the quiet ones, they usually know more than they let on.'

I felt my phone chirp in my pocket. It was a text.

'We need to talk soon, Tim,'

My heart raced. I gritted my teeth. "Steven."