Page 22 of The Cinderella Secret
The fact that Jerome didn’t take the bait was what she expected from a lawyer of his experience, but the fact that he didn’t even twitch made her suspect that Aiden’s behavior wasnota surprise to him. Ella began to get a very bad feeling about their background research on Aiden Devereaux.
“Hm,” said Aiden, his smile fading to a patently fake concerned expression. “Well, maybe you’re right. I suppose you’d know better than I would. Maybe itdoeshelp to have your relatives holding your leash while you’re trying to do your job.” He glanced at Bai, then back at Ella. “Not that I mean to imply that anyone is holding your leash. Or that you have a leash. Sorry, don’t pay any attention to me. I always say the wrong thing. Well known fact.” He ended on another dazzling smile.
This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted Bai to attend this meeting. His very presence undercut her authority. And Aiden Deveraux had spotted the weakness easily. Fortunately, it was not the first time someone had made that accusation and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Ella had already put her feelings on that insult aside. She couldn’t even hate him for it—she had started the war after all.
“You are—” Bai’s voice came out in a growl.
Aiden’s words might not have bothered her, but they had angered Bai. Ella put her hand on his shoulder, and he subsided into his chair, but she could feel the angry bunching of his muscles under the suit jacket.
Aiden was watching them closely and she was suddenly aware that she was in the presence of a fighter. Someone cunning and smart who moved quickly and could hit hard. It would have been sexy as hell if she hadn’t been the one on the ropes. But she was. She needed the bell to ring so she could regroup.
“To clarify,” said Ella, “you are rejecting our claim to DevEntier shares?”
“We are,” said Aiden.
“Well, then it would seem, Mr. Deveraux, that we will be seeing each other in court.”
“I look forward to it,” said Aiden, standing up. “Oh, and”—he waved at Strand—“these are for all of you.” Strand placed a stack of envelopes on the table in front of the lawyers and then went to the door. “Have a nice day,” said Aiden with a sunny smile.
Jerome held the door open for him, as if Harvard Law grads always acted the part of a doorman, and Aiden sauntered through it. The door swung shut behind them and Tic tentatively opened the letter on top. “We’ve been served,” said Tic sourly.
“What the hell was that?” demanded Bai, looking up at Ella.
“That was a serious error in our profile on Aiden Deveraux,” she replied.
“I don’t understand why he would bother to show up if he wasn’t planning to negotiate,” said Tac.
“He wanted to see if his background research was accurate,” said Ella. “Which, apparently it was. Or at least, more accurate than ours. He also wanted to let us know what kind of response we would be facing.”
“What kind of response are we facing?” asked Bai.
“The kind Eizo Matsuda predicted,” said Ella. “This is going to be war.”
9
Aiden – Home Again
“How’d it go?” asked Evan as Aiden shrugged out of his coat and handed it to Theo. Jackson was at the far end of the hall on his phone. From the hard set of his mouth, it was probably something security or Grandma related.
“About as expected,” said Aiden. “Bai was surprisingly emotional. Ella was reserved.”
And gorgeous. Abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. Ella Zhao was so hot he felt sunburned just looking at her. She’d been dressed with a man-ish formality that somehow just made her look even more feminine. The contrast between her sharply cut suit jacket and her curves had been sexy as hell. He’d taken one look at her and nearly forgotten what the hell he’d come to say. None of Jackson’s background research had indicated she was a perfect ten. It said she was a holy terror in the courtroom. Being gorgeous hadn’t even made the list, and after meeting her, it really seemed like it rated a mention.
“Grandma,” said Jackson, and his voice had the flat quality that meant he was annoyed. “I think you’re overreacting.”
Evan and Aiden exchanged looks of trepidation. Aiden was never entirely sure how Jackson managed to persuade their grandmother to do, well, anything. He was aware that Jackson’s success rate was far better than his or Evan’s, but that didn’t mean that Jackson batted a thousand.
“She’s an adult,” Jackson continued. “It’s perfectly reasonable.”
“Dominique?” whispered Evan, and Aiden was surprised to see that Evan looked genuinely concerned.
“I don’t know,” Aiden whispered back. He didn’t think Dominique was up to anything that Grandma could be upset over, but lately he hadn’t exactly been as plugged in to life as he should have been. He felt bad about that, but she had Max and Jackson to rely on and every time Aiden had tried to connect, it seemed like he ended up with a black eye or some other noticeable injury and had to cancel.
“We will discuss it when you get home,” said Jackson. “No. We willdiscussit. You’re not going to call her. This is me predicting the future, not Nika making an announcement.”
“Did he just tell Grandma not to do something?” asked Evan, looking thrilled and slightly shocked.
Aiden nodded. “I feel like I need popcorn.” They turned to watch Jackson, who rolled his eyes at them and turned his back.
