Page 21 of The Cinderella Secret
Bai grinned. “He’s still pissed about the Cormoran deal.”
“Yes,” said Ella.
“It’s not my fault he underestimated you,” said Bai, looking entirely pleased with Matsuda’s anger.
The conference room door opened, and the secretary bowed in Aiden Deveraux, followed by Jerome Strand.
“Thank you,” Aiden said, smiling at the secretary, who blushed and smiled back.
Prince Charming was everything that the society pages said he was. He stood at probably just six feet, with hair the color of brightly polished brass, and shoulders that proclaimed a substantial work-out regimen. Aiden Deveraux was utterly stunning. Ella blinked. Pictures had not at all captured his radiating attractiveness. Now she wished she’d gone with frothy and feminine.
“Hello, everyone,” said Aiden, beaming. “It’s so nice of you all to be here today.”
As if he had called the meeting. His ego was so staggering that she was speechless.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said sweetly. He beamed around the table, turning the laser beam of his blue eyes on each of them. Ella found herself not only speechless, but holding her breath as he turned to her, eyeing her with more than a spark of curiosity.
“No, scratch that,” he said turning away from her. “I’m not sorry. I’m never on time. You probably ought to get used to it. Is this for me?” He gestured to the chair at the opposite end of the table from Bai and sat down without waiting for an answer. Jerome stood behind him but didn’t sit down.
Ella took a deep breath, preparing to regain control of the meeting and her emotions. Whatever momentary and ridiculous flutter of attraction she felt for this egotistical asshat was clearly merely a product of his physical beauty.
“So,” he said, looking down the table. “Let’s see you must be…Li, Chen and… Chang?” He pointed to each of the lawyers in turn and Ella watched their eyes widen in shock. “And you,” he focused on Ella and smiled. It was a good smile. She was willing to bet he had girls falling over themselves with that smile. Ella steeled herself to look unimpressed. “Must be Ella Zhao.”
She felt Bai stiffen as Aiden ignored him entirely. The insult was carelessly delivered, but she doubted it was an accident.
“Mr. Deveraux,” said Ella coolly. “I take it you are here to respond on behalf of your cousins?”
“I am,” he said, nodding. “And the response is… no.”
“I don’t believe the question was yes or no,” said Ella. “The question was:whenwill you be handing over the stocks that were promised to Bo Zhao?”
“That decades old email you provided was cute. It really gave me a chuckle. But considering that Bo Zhao was never more than a contract employee of DevEntier, and that email is vague at best, the answer is: no. We will not be giving the Zhao any shares or financial compensation at this time or in the future.”
Ella frowned at Aiden. She wasn’t sure where to start with the entire truck-load of bullshit that he had just shoveled at her. She had expected push-back. She hadn’t expected complete repudiation. The idea that Bo hadn’t been employed by DevEntier was ludicrous. She remembered his business cards sitting on the shelf in his office at home. They had all read: DevEntier, Bo Zhao. He’d made them put his name in Chinese too.
“Bo worked for DevEntier,” said Bai. “He worked for Randall.”
“Lots of people worked at DevEntier with Randall,” said Aiden with a shrug. “That doesn’t entitle them to stock.”
“It was promised,” barked Bai, slamming his hand down on the table. Tic, Tac, and Toe jumped at the noise.
“Even if it was promised tohim, a story we strongly take issue with, that entitlesyouto exactly nothing,” said Aiden.
Bai opened his mouth to respond and Ella stepped on his foot. “And that is a position thatwestrongly take issue with,” replied Ella.
Aiden grinned at her and she got the feeling that it wasn’t in any way forced. “We thought that you might.”
Her uncle’s lawyers were quaking in their loafers and Aiden Deveraux was enjoying himself.
“Are you saying that you do not intend to negotiate?” she asked, keeping her tone coolly disinterested. Showing that she was the least bit impressed would undercut everything she was trying to do.
“We have no intention whatsoever, Ms. Zhao. This visit is simply a courtesy to respond to your letter in person.” He leaned back in his chair, a cocky smirk on his face, as if daring her to come at him.
“Hm,” said Ella, tilting her head slightly and giving him a soft smile. “And did you make this decision?” she asked.
“Excuse me?” his eyes narrowed, and Ella let her smile widen. Men hated it when she questioned their decision-making capabilities. Even the most confident could lose control of their tempers and go off script.
“Are you sure you don’t need to run this course of action by someone? I hesitate to suggest that perhaps someone with more experience might be better suited to taking control of the situation.” She turned her smile on Jerome Strand who stared back at her impassively. “But you might not be as familiar with matters as perhaps you should be.”
