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“A late rally?” Jude wondered out loud.
“Back above where we started!” I breathed. “How long until the market closes?”
“Seven minutes,” Owen replied.
The next seven minutes were the most stressful of my life. Even though all we were doing was watching numbers fluctuate, it felt like the most important thing in the world. The difference between success and failure.
Once it broke above twelve dollars, there was a big jump forward.
$12.21
$12.39
$12.43
$12.51
$12.55
$12.63
“Come on,” I said, practically hopping from foot to foot. Everyone in the office had left their cubicles and desks, and were gathering around the room to watch. The second floor balcony was crowded with people craning to get a view. A nervous buzz came over the room.
$12.69
$12.74
$12.81
$12.86
“Do it, goddamnit,” Owen whispered. “You know where you need to finish at. Fuckingdo it.”
I reached out and held his hand. Behind me, Furio put a hand on my shoulder. Jude gave me a hopeful smile before returning to staring at the screen.
When we reached the last ten seconds before the market closed, everyone started counting down. “Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven…” It was like New Year’s Eve, but with higher stakes. The noises rose in volume and tremor, all the nervousness from the day boiling over in the final seconds.
“Two… one…”
I held my breath as the stock ticker clicked one more time, changed from green to black, then went still.
ACS: $13.04 (+8.66%)
The entire room was silent for a moment. Then Melinda squealed with happiness, and all the ACS employees broke out in a roar of victory. I barely remember what happened; Owen was hugging me, then Furio was kissing me on the lips, and Jude was cradling my face in his and telling me that I was right, I was right all along, and they would never doubt me again.
*
Owen hosted a party at his condo that evening to celebrate. Originally, only the top thirty or forty ACS managers were invited, but in the merriment after the stock market closed Owen walked around the office, hugging people and inviting them along. By eight o’clock that night, his condo was crammed with over a hundred people wearing cryptocurrency-themed party hats and smiling from ear to ear.
The stock finishing above thirteen dollars was an arbitrary achievement. In terms of total money, there wasn’t much difference between that and twelve dollars and ninety-nine cents. But it was a tremendous moral victory, reinforcing that we had done the right thing after all.
The awkward nerd inside me surrendered to the mood of the party. I took Jello shots with Nancy and Dave, and then danced with both Wills. Melinda was drunk within the hour, and she made out with her fiancé Jimmy and told him that she wanted to have all of his babies, and that they should start immediately in Owen’s bathroom.
Furio turned down the music and stood up on the couch, calling for quiet. “I will let you all get back to the celebration soon,” he promised, “but first I wanted to thank some people. Owen, for hosting this party. Jude, for coming up with the core code for the platform that is at the heart of everything we do. But most of all, I want to thank Amber Moltisanti.”
I felt my cheeks redden as everyone turned to look at me.
“Nearly a year ago, I negotiated a deal that would facilitate the sale of ACS to Alphabet, the parent company of Google. It would have made all of us quite rich—myself included! But Amber told us that we were aiming too low. She helped us see thetruepotential in the company. She convinced us to vote no.
