Page 98 of The Cinderella Secret
Charlie’s fingers drummed on the desktop.
“I mean,” said Jackson, exhaling, “I haven’t gone through them all yet. Seems like they’re mostly Randall’s files. Lots of stuff about some project called Frixion.”
“I would like those files back,” said Charlie through gritted teeth.
“And I like making people do things they don’t want to do,” said Jackson.
Charlie stared at Jackson as if attempting to gauge his seriousness. Jackson added a smile and let the smoke trickle out through his nose.
“Fine,” said Charlie, standing up. “I’ll arrange a meeting with Ella Zhao, and I will speak with her, but you will be there too. We’re both in, or this doesn’t happen.”
“Fair enough,” said Jackson, stubbing out the cigarette with relief. He stood up to match Charlie’s posture.
“And after it’s done, you will give me all of Randall’s files.”
“Of course, Charlie,” said Jackson with a smile. “It’s not like I actually want the damn things.”
“You’re mistaken about one thing though,” said Charlie as he walked to the office door and opened it.
“What’s that?” asked Jackson, allowing himself to be herded out the door.
“I suspect that you have been a Deveraux your entire life.”
“Could be,” said Jackson with a shrug. “I’ll be in touch.”
“You do that,” said MacKentier, and he swung the door shut behind him.
35
Ella – Aiden’s Office
Ella paced around Aiden’s office suite, waiting for Jackson. Aiden was on the phone in his office, which left her to her own thoughts—something that she was not happy about. Her own thoughts were not productive. After filing the continuance the previous day, she had attempted to suggest to Bai that not only was the case not likely to break their direction, that Aiden might not actually be the devil. That had not gone over well. Unable to explain about the things she had discovered with Aiden without also explaining Aiden, she hadn’t been able to put forth a convincing argument. She wasn’t sure that Aiden’s half-whispered plan after court was the right decision, but it was starting to seem like her only option.
Ella sometimes liked to picture cases like trains—law and logic dictating that events moved along in a straight track toward a fixed destination. It was her job to spot where junction points were so that she could divert the train to the station she selected. She had always been better at predicting where and how to turn the train than others. But in this instance, she felt like not only was she riding a driverless train, but that someone had ripped the brakes off and moved the station.
Aiden was the only one who seemed certain of what to do next, and while she found that almost as sexy as his incredible ass, it was not a feeling that she was used to. Trusting someone else’s judgement before her own was disconcerting at best. She had told her security detail that she was going for a massage and then paid the therapist to smuggle her out the back door. And now she was in Aiden’s office, and what she ought to be thinking about was the plan and the next steps, and instead all she could think about was that Jackson would arrive shortly.
Jackson, who had caught them with apparently hardly an effort at all. Jackson, who had explained to Yang that following Aiden was not an option. Jackson, who Aiden thought was the best cousin ever, who made his family better by simply by existing. Jackson who now knew all of her horrible family secrets, and who might not like her or that she was dating Aiden.
In the time that she had spent strategizing about how to make Bai like Aiden, it hadn’t occurred to her that Aiden’s family might not like her. At this point, that really seemed like a glaring oversight. She fidgeted with the tiny scarecrow bobble-head on the secretary’s desk and the woman looked up at her with an expression that said she was being incredibly patient.
“Would you like a glass of water?” asked the secretary.
“No,” said Ella. “If I drink anymore water, I’m going to spend the next hour running for the bathroom. I might float away. I am totally and completely hydrated.”
“Yes, but all I have for snacks is dark chocolate and that has caffeine.”
Ella looked at the secretary. Leave it to Aiden to have someone smart and also slightly sarcastic.
“I’ll stop touching the scarecrow.”
The woman laughed. “It’s OK. You’re just starting to makemenervous, and I don’t even know what we’re waiting for.”
“We’re waiting for Jackson,” said Ella.
The secretary looked perplexed. “Is he bringing bad news or something?”
“I’ve never met him,” said Ella.
