Page 81 of The Cinderella Secret
“I think you know something,” said Ella. “Just tell me.”
“Why? So you can get yourself killed like he did?”
“I have a security guy following me around,” said Ella. “And on the apartment. Right now, sneaking out is even harder than when I lived with you. I’ll be OK. I think Uncle believes that one of the Deveraux brothers killed Dad. What do you think?”
Sabine sighed and Ella could hear the sound of her acrylic nails tapping on a hard surface.
“How big is his cock?”
“What?” asked Ella.
“Questions, remember? Answer my question and I’ll answer yours.”
Ella was silent. This was textbook Sabine—she always used sex as a weapon. How badly did Ella want this?
“Honestly,” said Ella, “it’s really thick. I mean the length seems normal to big-ish, but he is so fucking thick I kind of come a little bit every time he goes into me.”
“Oh,” said Sabine.
“Right,” said Ella. “Now that we’ve established that I’m not fifteen anymore, can you answer the fucking question?”
“I don’t know who killed your father. He was working with someone at DevEntier. I don’t think it was Randall, but I don’t know. I think your father and this other person were selling information. Bo was funneling most of the money to Bai to start Zhao Industries. And when your father said he was thinking about going to work with Bai, I think that person killed him.”
“Who were they selling information to?”
“I don’t know, but I mean, at the time, the Chinese seemed obvious. He did a lot of traveling back and forth and he was born in China. And it could be that the Chinese killed him. I really don’t know. All I know is that Bo said he was planning on exiting DevEntier and the next week he was dead. Then I got a couple of threatening phone calls and the house was trashed. I took the hint. I packed up and I left before something happened to us too.”
Ella leaned her head into hand. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. She’d been avoiding this in her head like a quarantined house. But her mother’s words brought everything back—the sense of fear, the mysterious urgency, Sabine’s face when she had cheerfully announced that they were going to be playing a fun new game of pretend where they had new names.
“Thanks, Mom,” said Ella tiredly. “I really appreciate you answering.”
“Ella… you’re not going to do anything crazy, are you? Like trying to figure out who did it or something? You’ll just get hurt.”
“No, of course not,” said Ella. “I’ve just been digging through some old contracts for Uncle and, what with dating Aiden, some stuff has come up. I needed to know.”
“Oh, OK.” Sabine sounded doubtful. “I know you thought he was a saint or whatever, but nobody’s perfect.”
“That’s true,” agreed Ella. “Anyway, thanks for your time. I’ll let you go.”
“OK,” said Sabine. “Um, you could call again. If you wanted. You don’t have to wait another six years.”
“Yeah, maybe,” said Ella. “Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, baby.”
Ella dropped the phone and found her head dropping down to the top of the desk. Finally, after resting there for more minutes than she cared to count. She picked up her phone again and dialed Aiden.
“Hi,” he said, his voice gravelly with sleep.
“Were you asleep?” she asked guiltily, checking the time. It was barely nine.
“Yeah,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Someone kept me up late last night.”
“Can I keep you up a little late tonight?” she asked. “At least for a couple of hours? If I promise to have you back before midnight?”
“That’s my line for you, but yes. Although, I’m not at home. I crashed out after dinner and Jackson put me to bed at Deveraux House.”
“That’s probably for the best,” she said. “Uncle has someone watching your place, and myLike Aiden Campaignhasn’t made much of a dent yet. I don’t want to get caught.”
