Page 12 of The Cinderella Secret
“What?” said Jackson. “She’s right. She sits on two different committees that have increased security threats from foreign powers. I’m sure Russia would like to have some dirt on all of us that could be used as leverage against Grandma.”
“Well, you might warn a fellow,” said Aiden, looking affronted. “I say all sorts of crap here.”
Jackson chuckled. “I got your back. Here is probably the safest placetosay crap.”
“Oh, well, then,” said Aiden. “Rubber baby buggy bumpers and nertz to Russia.”
Dominique giggled into her wine and, if anything, Eleanor looked more annoyed.
“Regardless,” said Eleanor sternly, “insider trading is still rather a bad idea and I’m surprised that you have not reminded Evan of that, Aiden.”
“I’m his lawyer, Grandma,” said Aiden. “It’s confidential. And actually, I’m kind of hoping he’s serious about it because the future of DevEntier might depend on it.”
“What are you talking about?” demanded Eleanor.
“Bai Zhao is buying up stock,” said Evan, sorting the papers on the games table into piles. “We think he might be trying to leverage his way onto the board of DevEntier.”
“Bai Zhao… didn’t he die ages ago?” Eleanor was frowning.
“You’re thinking of Bo Zhao,” said Evan. “Bai is his brother. He’s the head of Zhao Industries.”
“Ah, yes,” said Eleanor, glancing up at the portrait of her husband on the wall. “Hmm. That would not be ideal.”
“No, it damn well wouldn’t,” said Aiden. “It would throw off the entire balance of power at DevEntier. And he would probably force a board turn-over and put in a more pliable board to do… whatever it is he wants to do. And since Jackson and Evan are the least involved, they’re the obvious targets to flip.”
“Do I care about being flipped?” asked Jackson.
“Yes!” said Evan and Aiden at the same time.
“It’s a hostile take-over,” said Aiden, which clarified things by only a tiny measure for Jackson.
“Just asking,” he said. Jackson sometimes had a hard time telling which things were truly important and which were just things that rich people cared about. He glanced at Dominique and she gave him a nod. Three out of three meant he actually needed to care. “OK,” said Jackson. “So, who is this guy and what does he want?”
Aiden and Evan looked at each other. “Um,” said Aiden, scratching his head.
“He wants to take over DevEntier, right?” Jackson tried again and they nodded. “OK. But why?”
“His brother Bo worked with Randall,” said Evan. “But he died in some sort of mugging before our parents did.”
“That’s right,” said Eleanor going to the bar and pouring her own glass of wine. “He was married to that horrible woman.”
Evan shrugged as if to say he had no idea, but that all things were possible.
“Since Bo’s death, Bai Zhao has built Zhao Industries into one of the leaders in solar power manufacturing,” said Aiden.
“OK,” said Jackson, nodding. “But who is Bai? Where does he live? Does he have other family? What’s his angle? Why is he interested in DevEntier? So what if his brother used to work there. That’s pretty ancient to hold a grudge. There has to be something else.”
Aiden and Evan looked at each other again. “I have no idea,” said Evan.
“DevEntier has a number of patents pending on solar innovations that would be valuable to Zhao Industries,” said Aiden. “But DevEntier is playing most of those pretty close to the vest, so I’m not sure how he would know about them. And as for Bai himself… Last I heard, Bai was in Germany. I think? He’s a Chinese national, though I don’t think he lives there much. But that’s just the impression I have from some of his lawyers.”
“You said he didn’t like us,” said Evan.
“I said his lawyers were not thrilled with the name Deveraux,” said Aiden. “I actually don’t have any evidence of how Bai Zhao feels. And, for all I know, this isn’t coming from Bai. Maybe it’s just someone in Zhao Industries with a bug up their ass.”
“No,” said Evan, shaking his head. “I can get that far. Some of the accounts buying stock are directly tied to Bai Zhao.”
“All right,” said Jackson. “What I’m hearing is that we need a complete profile and background on this guy. Give me a few days. I’ll see what I can do.”
