Page 7 of The Cinderella Secret
“No rush,” said Aiden. “I don’t mind going.” Mostly. Going to the board meetings meant dealing with snide comments from Charlie MacKentier Jr. He was a pain, but it wasn’t unmanageable. Aiden usually just gave him his patented dumb-rich-kid stare and a smile before wandering off. “Besides, it’s not like Jackson ever goes.”
A rare smile flashed over Evan’s face. “I’m thinking he would not be comfortable at a board meeting.”
“I’m thinking he would stick gum under the table,” said Aiden.
“I blame that on you. He says you’re the one who made him quit smoking.”
“I didn’t know he’d take up terminal gum chewing!”
Evan laughed at Aiden’s outrage.
“And it is definitely not my fault that he periodically reverts to juvenile delinquency and sticks it under a table,” continued Aiden. “It’s so embarrassing!”
Evan shrugged. “Only if he gets caught. Which he never does. And with his skill set, it could be a lot worse. Besides, we all have our rebellions.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Aiden, adjusting the ceramic Mexican sugar skull paperweight on his desk. “I’m too lazy to have any rebellions. Insurrection takes too much effort.”
“Mm,” said Evan, giving him a skeptical look that made Aiden nervous. The problem with sober Evan was that he could be more observant than Aiden wanted him to be. “Well, Jackson’s gum habit aside, I actually wanted to talk about the DevEntier stock.”
“What about it?” Aiden really didn’t know where this was going.
“Well, between Jackson and me and Charlie MacKentier, we own fifty-one percent of the stock.”
“Controlling interest,” agreed Aiden with a shrug.
“But I keep an eye on the publicly traded stock.”
“Sure,” said Aiden. That didn’t surprise him. Evan, despite drug problems and depression, had always been good at his job and conscientious about looking after the family money. Aiden might go to extra board meetings and clean up messes, but he never had to think about his investment portfolio. Evan took care of it.
“And recently there has been a… disturbing trend. Some of the portfolios I’ve been watching have had some interesting splits and subsequent sales.”
Aiden felt his eyes start to glaze over. It wasn’t that he couldn’t follow Evan through the loops of higher finance if he really put his brain to it, it was just that he never, ever, ever wanted to.
“Do we have to do this?” moaned Aiden. “Can’t you just tell me the end result?”
“Don’t you want to know how I came to my conclusions?” asked Evan, raising an eyebrow.
“No. You say it, I believe it. You got all the numbers and you smushed them together with your brain things and then you found out new things.”
Evan looked like Aiden had lost his mind. “My brain things?“
“Just cut to the chase before my brain melts.”
“Someone is buying up DevEntier stock. A lot of it, and I’m concerned,” said Evan.
“OK,” said Aiden. “Who and why?”
“What do you know about Zhao Industries?” replied Evan.
Aiden made a dissatisfied grunt and ran his hand down his tie, enjoying the sticky smooth feeling of silk. Whatdidhe know about Zhao Industries?
“They’re an energy company founded by Bai Zhao,” said Aiden. “Mostly. They are generally considered one of the solar energy power houses. And they’re poised to be huge. From what I’ve seen, they seem to be trying to put together a complete pipeline for solar power manufacturing. They want to own every stage of the process. Which is smart. It would insulate them from some of the ups and downs of the marketplace, but it’s a global proposition. And as a result, they hire a lot of lawyers. I’ve run into one or two of them in the last few years—they tend to be hyper-competent bastards who specialize in international contract law. And possibly I’m overly reading into things, but I would characterize their attitude toward the Deveraux name as… chilly.”
Evan nodded. “That wouldn’t surprise me. Bai Zhao had a brother who worked at DevEntier with Uncle Randall.”
“Really? But Bai is a Chinese national, so his brother must be as well. DevEntier has defense contracts. Wouldn’t that be a problem?”
“I have no idea,” said Evan with his trademark dismissiveness. “I think Bo Zhao was married to an American. It’s been a long time. I really don’t remember. But what I do remember was that Bo was killed in a mugging shortly before our parents died.”
