Page 111 of The Cinderella Secret
“Aiden has that effect on people,” said Evan. “However, I believe this is about to be a crime scene. Perhaps you and I should go back down to the first floor. I think we could possibly find a decent conference room, potentially with coffee and chairs that don’t date from the nineties.”
Ella wanted to take a moment and congratulate Evan on managing to sound like a gracious host in the least civilized situation she could think of, but Bai’s eyes were fixed on her face. She knew that her joking recap hadn’t done her uncle justice. He needed to know. He deserved the truth.
“Ella… That man killed Bo?”
“Yes,” said Ella, deciding to state matters as clearly as possible. “He and Dad were selling Department of Defense secrets to the Chinese, and when Dad tried to quit, Charlie MacKentier had him killed.”
“I thought it was Randall,” said Bo, blinking. “I, wait, Department of Defense? No. It was… Bo said it was just private sector insider knowledge. He never said…” Bai looked at all of them again, chagrin and horror filling his face. “Bo said he would make Zhao Industries happen. It wasn’t supposed to be at any cost.”
A lump formed in Ella’s throat, and she found she was blinking back tears. She didn’t know what to say. She had wanted to find out who killed her father, not hurt her uncle. But the pain in Bai’s face was clear. Aiden put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him. He smelled of soap and sandalwood, and she felt a wave of relief knowing that he would never let her go again.
38
Jackson – Granger
Jackson watched as his cousins trooped into the house. Aiden, particularly, was beaming, but even Evan looked happy. Theo opened the door for them, and Aiden began to divest himself of his outerwear, still talking a mile a minute to Evan, working through the possible options for the DevEntier board. Jackson saw Nika waiting for them in the hall and she gave him an inquiring look. He gave her a smile and a nod. She looked relieved, but not as much as he might have thought.
“Nika,” bellowed Aiden, handing over his coat to Theo.
“I’m right here,” said Dominique, coming forward. “You don’t need to yell.”
“Truly,” said Eleanor coming out of the office and scrutinizing the trio. “I assume whatever it was the three of you were up to has gone well?”
“Went perfectly!” Aiden exclaimed.
“That may be stretching it,” said Evan.
“Perfectly!” reiterated Aiden, wrapping an arm around both Evan and Jackson and forcibly hugging them. Dominique laughed at them. “We are well on the way to resolving issues with the Zhao. I got to punch Charlie in the face and—and!—I found out that Jackson offers college advice to police officer’s daughters.”
“Yes, Ms. Nowitsky,” said Eleanor. “She’s doing very well at Brown.”
“Oh,” said Aiden, looking disappointed to have his news flop. “Well, I told her father that she should apply for a summer internship with you over the summer.”
“Oh, good,” said Eleanor. “She seems quite bright.”
“Can we go back to the part where you punched Charlie in the face?” asked Dominique.
“Yes,” agreed Eleanor. “Why did you punch Charlie in the face? I don’t object, necessarily. One usually does want to punch him in the face, but itisfrowned upon.”
“Turns out,” said Evan, handing over his coat to Theo in turn, “that Charlie and Bo Zhao used to sell DoD secrets from Randall’s projects to the Chinese. Bo was leveraging DevEntier contacts and the cash he was making with Charlie to found Zhao Industries. Only when he tried to quit, Charlie had him killed.”
“Good grief,” said Eleanor, looking shocked for once. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Well, we’ve got him admitting to it on tape,” said Aiden smugly. “Thanks to Jackson and Ella.”
“Do we have to mention that?” asked Jackson. He hated the idea of wearing a wire. He’d always sworn he’d never snitch and while getting Charlie MacKentier to admit the truth wasn’t snitching—particularly since he and MacKentier had never been remotely close to allies—wearing a wire was still one of the things stand-up guys didn’t do. When he’d joined the Deveraux family, he’d fully intended on leaving the criminal life behind, but he occasionally still found himself bumping into these remaining vestiges.
“Losing street cred?” asked Dominique, her eyes twinkling.
“Yes,” he agreed, and she smiled sympathetically.
“Don’t care,” crowed Aiden. “We got him and he’s going away for the rest of his life.”
Eleanor made a tsk noise. “I shall have to have a word with Buffy.”
“Buffy?” asked Dominique with a frown. “Sanders or Sorrento?”
“Sanders. She’s friends with Charlie’s current wife, who is in Aspen at the moment,” said Eleanor. “Someone should warn her.”
