Page 19 of The Rainbow Recipe
Sick business? Weirdo? Charming. She’d quit responding to bullies in high school. Evie sauntered toward the door wearing an air of disdain.
Lawson caught her arm. Big bad mistake. Evie spaced out to the aura realm. If she did not mistake, the woman appeared motivated by fear. How did one combat that?
Evie yanked her arm free. “I assume hate works well for you? Are you paid by the click? Or the number of trolls you collect? Unfortunately, ghosts can’t buy my services, but anyone of any race or gender can. It’s a far broader customer base than bigots.” While the reporter stuttered for a response, Evie escaped.
She needed time to cool off before she beat up someone. What waswrongwith people? Did Lawson’s fear warp her thinking so badly that she thought she had to tear down everyone else to lift herself up? Evie winced. That meant the columnist would be attacking Evie instead of Pris next. Oh well.
To improve her humor, she aimed in the direction of Jax’s office on the next block. Not wanting to walk in on a client, she texted him as she walked.got time?
got newshe texted back.
all good i hopeShe walked faster.
try interesting
She already hadinteresting. She really wantedgoodfor a change.
Rather than contemplate punching sharp noses, she counted her blessings as she hurried down the street. She had a lot more blessings since Loretta and Jax had entered her life.
Jax setdown his phone as the whirlwind that was Evie flew through his outer office. He had time to open his arms to catch her as she landed in his lap and spun his chair around.
“You are my unicorn!” she announced, kissing his cheek.
He demanded more than cheek kisses before returning her to the floor and standing up. “Unicorn? I’m sparkly and horny?”
She laughed happily. That was his Evie. She’d sounded ugly furious on the phone, but she’d apparently recovered. Evie in a temper could be dangerous, so he was glad he’d defused the situation.
“Silver unicorn, defender of justice, mighty hooves raised to trample evil. Look up Jane Lawson sometime and find out why she’s so terrified, or I may have Mavis hex her.” She took his arm and followed him out. “Where are we going?”
“Ariel’s. I want to tell my news only once. Is your fan ghost still hanging around?” He led her into the hall and locked up. One of these days, he’d hire a receptionist to keep the office open when he was out. Today wasn’t that day.
“I last saw her at the boutique. That doesn’t mean she’s not around. She seems to be telling me that the products are fake, although how one can have fake lotion is beyond my knowledge. It’s either lotion or it isn’t.”
“Ingredients list lies? Any value in hiring a chemist?” Jax led her down to his motorcycle.
“Not that I’m aware, although, as I have noted, the lady is not honest and probably wasn’t even pleasant when she was alive. There may be myriad folks who would have liked to off her.” She climbed on the Harley and hugged him from behind.
When they arrived at his sister’s cottage, R&R were already there in their technologically enhanced utility van. They’d helped Jax bring about this outcome, so they deserved to hear his news too.
Ariel emerged from her cave. His neurodivergent sister usually immersed herself in her computers at this hour, but she was learning to adapt. Living with rowdy Roark, adaptation was pretty much a requirement. The Cajun was good for her.
“News!” Evie demanded, climbing off and settling cross-legged on a bench—not easy in a dress and pumps.
Jax tore his gaze from her flouncy skirt and back to Ariel. “The court decided in our favor. Dad’s patents and royalties are ours.”
R&R hooted and pumped their fists. The women waited—because yes, there were consequences. Winning was not the ultimate goal.
Jax was a lawyer. He knew how to manipulate words. He didn’t want to manipulate friends and family, so he kept it simple. “We have been offered a choice. Accountants are calculating the amount DVM Electronics owes us for usurping Dad’s patented microchips and circuit board design. DVM is facing mega lawsuits over their fraudulent voting machines. They’re in the process of replacing the faulty ones, but it could be years before they see a profit again.”
“Ballpark—how much?” Reuben shouted rudely, getting down to the nitty-gritty. It had been his professional engineering report that had convinced the FBI and the courts that DVM and its stockholders were in breach of more laws than Jax wanted to count.
“The company’s stock is privately held, so the value is in the assets. We could be looking at thirty to fifty percent of their holdings based on growth over our father’s original ownership.” Jax gave them time to process and question. No one did. “After the liabilities for all the lawsuits, their net assets would only be in the range of a quarter to half a million dollars. We’re not zillionaires.”
Roark whistled and glanced at Ariel, who was feeding her pet turtle. Jax wasn’t fooled. His sister had the mind of a cash register.
“You’re thinking of not taking it?” Roark finally asked, when no one else did.
“With that money, Ariel could buy this cottage from Loretta’s trust and do anything she likes. I can actually hire staff and restart my retirement accounts. I can’t ignore the cash,” Jax warned. The temptation was great to take the money and run.
