approve her comment.
“I don’t want you to risk losing again,” Jennifer said. She wasn’t going to apologize for doing her due diligence.
Victoria raised a hand in the air and pursed her lips. “That’s totally fine,” she said. “I’m used to dealing with skeptical clients and I completely understand your concerns.” She paused and produced a manila folder from a drawer that she handed to Bruce.
“This is the résumé and the track record of our best trader, Mr. Fancelli,” Victoria said. “I’m going to give him your account. This is the safest thing I can do. Trust me, he’s a superstar. We’ve paid a lot to get him but he’s worth every penny we’ve invested in him.”
Jennifer glanced at the document and saw columns after columns of numbers, most of them highlighted in green - green for profits. Bruce shuffled all the different pages and nodded with an expression of satisfaction on his face.
“I feel safe to have him as my trader,” he said. “He has an excellent track record and the past is a good indicator of future performances. This is our man.”
“Can we meet him?” Jennifer said, still cautious.
“Absolutely,” Victoria said. She picked up her telephone, dialed a number and asked the trader to join her in her office.
Less than a minute later, a tall, Italian-looking man entered the room with a swagger that Jennifer had never seen before. If Victoria was confident, this man was ten times more confident than her. Jennifer quickly glanced at him: his nose was the most striking feature of his face, along with beautiful lips. But his nose was incredible. It was perfect, almost too good to be real.
Mr. Fancelli was younger than Bruce but his navy blue suit was at least as expensive - if not more. He greeted them with a vigorous hand shake and stood next to Victoria, hands in his pockets with a perfect white smile. Jennifer looked at them with a certain admiration: how come these people looked so beautiful and so successful?
“How is it going so far?” Vicky asked the trader.
“Plus twenty-one percent overall,” he replied casually. “I can’t stay too long. I have a few positions opened.”
“No problem,” she said. “I want you to meet Bruce Wilson and Jennifer Stuart. Mr. Wilson has been involved in a bad partnership and needs to recover quickly.”
“I heard about it,” Fancelli said. “Sakamura, right?”
“Right,” Bruce said.
Bruce and Mr. Fancelli introduced themselves and exchanged their name cards. They spent a few minutes chatting and getting acquainted when a loud roar from outside the office made Jennifer jump in her chair. The traders were shouting outside.
“Looks like I have to go. Money’s calling,” Fancelli said, grinning. He shook Bruce and Jennifer’s hands before leaving. “It was a pleasure meeting you. We should hang out sometime.”
“Definitely,” Bruce said.
The trader ran out of the office and Victoria looked at him with a certain satisfaction on her face. She was proud of him, Jennifer could tell.
“He’s on a trade for a client,” Victoria explained. “He’s up eight millions of dollars for the day.”
“Seems like it can go very fast,” Bruce said, looking for confirmation.
“To be honest, this client has a bigger account than yours so we can’t promise you the same results. But I just wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect with Mr. Fancelli,” Victoria said.
Bruce turned to face Jennifer. “Honey, what do you think? Do you feel more comfortable?”
“He looks very sure of himself and confident. Apparently, he’s also competent so I guess it’s worth trying,” Jennifer said.
“He’s the best,” Victoria insisted. “Mr. Wilson, your decision?”
Bruce kept silent for a moment and looked at Jennifer. She couldn’t really say if it was a good idea or not, but they had to try something. Bruce needed more capital and a good trader could help him get what he wanted. At least, Jennifer felt
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