Page 39 of The Cinderella Secret
“Kicked a gourd?”
“Precisely.”
“He’ll spray them with the hose if you want him to.”
Jackson laughed. “No, probably not. Whatisthe news by the way?”
“They just indicted Granger! Absolex is placing him on temporary leave, but I called some people and they say they’ll be moving to request that he resign in an emergency board meeting tonight.”
“Ha!”
“Ha?” asked Dominique, still looking out the window by the door.
“They just indicted Granger. Evan says he’ll be fired by the end of the night.”
“Is that Evan? Let me talk to him.”
Jackson handed over the phone with a feeling like he’d pulled a straight flush in poker. He now knew Aiden’s secret, Dominique and Evan were genuinely doing all right with each other, and Granger had just gotten indicted. It was a damn good day.
“Ev, are they going to fire him or make him resign?” Jackson couldn’t hear Evan’s response. “Well, what did the news say? What are they charging him with? Do you think Aiden will let us go to court and gloat?”
Jackson could hear Evan’s laugh, tinny through the speaker. “Put it on speaker,” Jackson said. “I want to hear what they’re charging him with too.”
“—one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.” Evan’s voice picked up as Dominique switched to speaker. “There are a couple of different counts of conspiracy to blah blah—I need Aiden to translate—I think that’s us. Then there’s four other things including securities fraud. Idiot. They’re charging him in federal court, but I can’t tell if that’s good or bad. The news is saying that the defense will most likely try and separate some of the indictments and move them to the state level.”
Their phones vibrated again. “Grandma again?” asked Jackson, looking at Dominique.
“Aiden,” she said holding her phone up.
Seriously. No Comment. Don’t say shit.
“I have half a mind to text him back that I can’t talk because I’m about to go on camera,” said Dominique.
Evan snorted.
“Well, really! Who does he think he’s dealing with? I can sayno commentin three different languages. This family practically comes out of the womb sayingno comment.”
“I’ve only got two languages,” said Jackson sadly. “Unless you count sign language, and Aiden says I shouldn’t use that one.”
Evan laughed. “No, don’t use that one.”
“Well, this is just great,” said Dominique. “I was only popping in to talk to Jackson. Max and I were going out to eat. Now what am I supposed to do?”
“They won’t follow you,” said Evan. “Just have Jackson give a politeno commentand escort you to the car and go out to dinner.”
“You don’t think they’ll pester Max too, do you? He willhatethat.”
“I doubt it,” said Jackson soothingly.
“I can give my ownno comment,” she said, looking at Jackson. “You don’t have to do it. I know you hate being on camera.”
“It’s fine,” said Jackson, taking back his phone. “Ev, are you going to come over for dinner and watch the news with me?”
“It’s not a sporting event,” said Evan drily. “But… I mean, I could. If you wanted.”
“I believe we have just taken possession of a few bottles of the 2015 Antinori Tignanello,” said Theo, walking by with a dustpan and broom.
“Yeah, I can come to dinner,” said Evan, and Dominique silently laughed.
