Page 117 of The Cinderella Secret
Eleanor looked skeptical. “Vengeance takes a bit of effort.”
“Yes, but sometimes I believe it to be worthwhile.”
“Granger for instance?” suggested Eleanor. “You seemed to have some specific ideas.”
“Well, I have, actually,” said Dominique. “Of course, what I really would like is for Granger to go to jail. But it is looking less and less like that will happen. It’s very upsetting. So I was thinking that the next best thing would be to ruin him. Just find a way to make him poor and take away everything that he likes about life. I haven’t made any efforts until now though. And I’m pretty sure I can get him blackballed from certain events and restaurants, but I think in order to bust open his piggy bank, I’d have to know a great deal about his finances.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said Eleanor. “I’ve already done the research. I’ll have a word with Evan.”
Dominique looked at Eleanor in surprise. “You’ve thought about this already.”
“Of course,” said Eleanor. “We can’t have anyone trying to hurt the family. It really will not be tolerated. The problem is, of course, that what I will ask Evan to do may not be precisely legal, and you have just announced that the very lovely, but morally upright, U.S. Marshal Maxwell Ames will be living with you.”
“Ah,” said Dominique.
“Yes,” said Eleanor. “And while, of course, I respect law enforcement and adore Max, he is a bit of risk factor. If this is the kind of thing you’re uncomfortable with, I think we need to discuss it now.”
Dominique knew she had a split second to make a decision. From her grandmother’s point of view, there was only one right answer. And if she wanted her grandmother’s confidence, then Dominique had better say the right thing.
“No, Grandma,” said Dominique sitting up straighter in her chair. “I’m not uncomfortable with it. This is a family issue. There’s no reason to discuss it with Max.”
Of course, what Eleanor didn’t realize was that Dominique could stand up to Max about zero percent. If he asked, she would tell him the truth. She was just going to have to make sure he didn’t ask.
“Good,” said Eleanor, smiling.
“Is this why you have been concerned about Max moving in with me?”
“Co-habitation produces a great deal of proximity to information that you may not want shared,” said Eleanor in a beautiful blend of jargon and message. Dominique felt like she should be taking notes.
“He leaves his cases at the office, and I leave all of the Deveraux business here,” said Dominique. “It is why I use my old bedroom as a spare office.”
A smile flickered over Eleanor’s face. “Jackson said I was wrong. I really ought to listen to him.”
“I recommend it,” said Dominique. “He’s very smart.”
“You’re all so young,” said Eleanor plaintively. “I dislike taking advice from people your age.”
“You’ll have to get used to it eventually,” said Dominique. “We know how to change the passwords on everything.”
“You really aren’t Genevieve.” Eleanor said with a soft little laugh. “That’s probably for the best.” The phone on the desk rang and Eleanor stood up. “Thank you for coming today, Nika. It was so good to catch up.”
Dominique knew when she was being dismissed and stood up herself.
“Yes,” said Dominique thoughtfully. “It was nice to see you too.”
Evan Deveraux
Evan stopped the dolly at the door of the storage unit. He could do this. He’d gone in with Jackson, and he hadn’t freaked out. Dr. Nicholas was right—he was strong enough to face some of the things he’d been avoiding. The DevEntier issue had gone well. Having Aiden pummel Charlie MacKentier had been satisfying on a level that probably meant that Evan was a bad human being. But it was like having all the old memories get slam-dunked into the conference room table. And, well, if enjoying that meant he was a bad human being, then so be it. Jackson said it just meant that hewasa human being. And Jackson was right about a lot of things, so maybe it was fine.
Evan opened the door and drove the dolly with the cartons through and into the unit. He ignored his childhood bed, which was separated into pieces and tied into a flat package that leaned against the wall. He hesitated at the vintage brass cigarette holder shaped like a globe that used to sit on the coffee table. He remembered flipping the lid on and off a million times and being in charge of restocking the cigarettes. He pushed the boxes back toward the shelves. He wasn’t sure he had Jackson’s climbing ability, but he thought if he just shoved them somewhere onto the shelf it would be good enough.
He grabbed the first box and stepped on a piece of wicker to lever himself up. Box one: away. Box two went the same way. Box three was almost on the shelf when the piece of furniture he was standing on gave way. He dropped abruptly and the box came crashing down on him in a flurry of papers. He lay on the floor, blinking at the now paper-obscured vision of the ceiling. He should have known better than to think this would all go according to plan. If it involved his dad or uncle, it was pretty much guaranteed to suck. With a sigh he sat up, shedding papers. He plucked one out of his hair and reached for the box. The papers were all a mixed bag. The back half of the box hadn’t had anything DevEntier related. He hadn’t bothered to look through most of it once they found the email and information on Frixion. The headings on the papers flipped through his view.
Solar Market Segment Analysis
GDR Independent Lab: Autopsy Report
Historic Rates of Return on Technology Stocks
