"Wow," Chase said as he stared at the page over her shoulder.
He didn't look like a movie star in Emma's eyes anymore. Now, he was just a dumbass that she was stuck with for the next thirty days.
Chase leaned back, looking a little scared of the face Emma was giving him, and turned to Charles. "So this is no big deal then. Emma and I, we can... go buy a car together! Maybe a Ferrari or something. Problem solved!"
"No," Charles replied sternly. "The purpose of this stipulation was that Emma would have a meaningful experience with you and enjoy living her life by spending the money. Shopping at the motor mall is not a meaningful experience."
"Says who?" Emma asked incredulously. "Who is the referee in all of this?"
"I am," Charles said. "I discussed this with Dorothy a few years ago, and she made her rules clear."
"Wait, so you talked to my grandmother about this stupid challenge, you agreed to the rules she made for it, but you didn't think to mention that this was going to cost me one hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars?"
"She specifically said at the very beginning of our conversation that she did not want to know how much money was in the account."
She clasped her hands together in front of her face and had to take a deep breath to get control of her emotions. When she finally opened her eyes, three men were staring back at her with concern. Good. They deserved to be concerned.This was a concerning situation. These three assholes were responsible for going along with her grandmother's stupid idea, which is how they were all stuck in a conference room with her now.
"Alright, fine." She put her hands on top of the financial pages sitting in front of her and pulled them closer. "What do I have to do now?"
George gave her a tight smile. "I know this is very unusual for you. It's very unusual for all of us. But this is what your grandmother wanted."
"And yet you never thought to talk her out of it," Emma replied bitterly.
"I only do what my clients want."
"That's bullshit." Chase turned and gave Emma a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I don't mean to disparage Nana that way—"
"She wasn't your Nana," Emma said through gritted teeth.
"I don't mean to disparage Dorothy, but this plan is crazy. And you two." He turned and pointed directly at the two men on the other side of the table. "You two went along with this knowing how much was in the account."
"We did what our client asked us to do," George said. "And to be fair, I didn't know how much was in the account. That was all on Charles and whatever agreement he had with Dorothy."
Chase slouched back in his chair. "Whatever."
"Now, as I was saying, there is a plan in place for how you should spend the money in order to get your inheritance."
Charles pulled out a credit card from the envelope in front of him and handed it to Emma. He explained that it worked just like any other credit card. All she had to do was charge something to it, and it would show up on the account, which was being monitored by Charles.
"You guys really thought this out," Chase said sarcastically.
"It's our job," George said.
Chase huffed. "I've seen bankrupt actors with less restrictions over their money than this."
"This is what Dorothy wanted," Charles replied.
"You mentioned that already," Emma said.
Her dour attitude didn't make an impression on Charles, who continued to plow through the instructions. They were all typed out on some page in front of him, and he told Emma that he would give the printout to her as well. That was good considering she was sure she wouldn't remember much of this once she walked out the door of the law firm.
Then George pressed a button on the phone and a buzzing sound came through the speaker.
"Yes?"
"Rebecca, can you come in and make copies of some documents for me?"
"Sure thing!"
