Page 49 of The Cinderella Secret
“I thought I might attempt it,” he replied.
“Without all parties to witness the communication? Do you really believe that’s a good idea?”
“Believe it or not, I do know a little something about the law,” he said, sounding annoyed.
“Yes,” she said, finally looking up. “That is what I believe. You know alittlesomething about the law.”
His expression froze. “Walked into that one,” he said, and he nodded thoughtfully.
Ella bit her lip and looked away to keep from laughing and was certain that he’d noticed.
“How do you know I wasn’t just going to say good afternoon and hello?” His tone was challenging.
“Were you?” she asked.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Not even close.”
Once again, she found laughter bubbling near the surface, and once again she was certain he’d noticed, because his eyes were dancing in amusement.
“If you must know, I was going to ask how Lilly was.”
Ella was caught off guard. She’d been facing him in court for months. She knew he was brilliant. She knew he was respectful. But his kindness was startling.
“She’s hung over like you wouldn’t believe and grounded and swearing that she’ll never touch alcohol again. And my grandmother is making her write out all one thousand poems of Libái in calligraphy.”
“Ooh, calligraphyandpoetry. Harsh,” said Aiden. “Grandmother punishments are always the worst.”
Ella almost took offense to that and then realized that he was speaking from experience. She wondered what it would have been like to be raised by Eleanor Deveraux. It couldn’t have been easy. Eleanor Deveraux always seemed rigidly perfect in interviews. Maybe she was softer in person.
“I think she feels lucky to be getting away with only one thousand,” said Ella.
“Well, I have—” began Aiden, then the elevator dinged, and they all looked toward the new arrivals.
“Nobody move!” A masked gunman stepped into the lobby. Three more came out after him. They were all dressed in black and carrying large guns. “Hands where I can see them!”
Ella stared at the gunmen in disbelief. This wasn’t a standard bank branch—there were no tellers, no cash on hand. What were these people thinking?
“What the hell?” said Aiden. “They don’t have any cash here.” The thought so perfectly mirrored her own that Ella would have laughed, except that it attracted one of the gunmen’s attention.
“Hands up!” the man yelled again, shoving the gun in Ella’s direction. Ella put her hands up and he snatched her phone out of her hand and threw it on the ground before stomping on it. He shoved Ella in the shoulder, pushing her toward the far wall.
“Hey!” barked Aiden, taking a step forward.
The gunman held up the gun and Aiden halted.
“Against the wall. Everyone against the wall!” yelled the gunman, but his eyes were locked on Aiden, who reluctantly followed orders.
The gunmen herded everyone against the wall, shoving the bank personnel with callous indifference. They heard screams from the inner office as two of the four went into the back. Ella looked at Tic, Tac and Toe. They looked scared shitless. She looked up at Aiden. He looked wary and tense. She frowned as she felt a funny tingle of familiarity in the curve of his nose. He glanced down at her and smiled as if to saycan you believe this shit?She smiled back. No, she couldn’t really believe it, but she liked that Aiden was standing next to her.
“Phones!” the head bank robber was yelling while the third one went down the line with a sack. “Put your phones in the sack.”
They reached Aiden, and he smiled cheerfully. After weeks in court with him, she recognized it as one of his fake smiles. This was the smile he usually reserved for her after she just served him some damaging point.
“I left mine at home,” he said.
“Put it in the sack,” growled the bank robber.
“I can’t,” said Aiden.
