Sweet Cinderella (A Christmas Novella) (The Klaus Brothers Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

immediately.”
    “Huh. That’s weird.” For the life of her, she could not come up with one single reason why the Director of Finance would want to speak to her.
    “And Shirley . . .”
    “Yes, Master Fromm.”
    “Just remember. Gregor Klaus does not suffer fools lightly.” He stalked away, clearly dismissing his worst student.
    She scratched her head and then quickly repaired her curls.
    Why in the world would Gregor Klaus want to see her?

    “You’re Shirley Fredericka Brinkerhoff?” Gregor Klaus peered at a file on his desk. Shirley was seated in front of him, next to a tabletop that was shockingly void of knickknacks. Not one personal item. Nothing.
    Dudsville!
    Her work space at home was covered with Christmas doodads and scented candles and curling irons and sequin hair clips and pictures of One Direction and chocolate candies. Well, a lot of stuff.
    Shirley really loved her stuff.
    Clearly, Gregor Klaus did not. His entire office was like an empty tomb. Grey and lifeless and boring as hell. Maybe he wanted to hire her as an interior decorator? She perked up a bit at that intriguing idea.
    “You’re probably wondering why I asked to see you.” Gregor’s voice sounded strained.
    “Um, yeah. To redecorate your office?”
    Gregor frowned. “No.”
    “You want a new look? We can jazz up that whole business power suit thing!”
    He shook his head. “No.”
    “Okay. I’m out of ideas. Why am I here?”
    “You have a reputation.” He paused. “
Regelbrecher
. Rule Breaker.”
    All the color leached out of her face.
Oh, crap!
“Um, I’m not sure what I did to get into trouble this time, but I assure you—”
    Gregor took a green satin pump out of his desk drawer and pushed it to her. “You’re not in trouble. I need your help. I heard—from a couple of elves—that you’re good with the
demaskierend
spell. I don’t want to get the council involved with this. Or my family. This is just between you and me. Understand?”
    She stared at Gregor for a moment, and finally she understood. “Ohhhhhhhh. You need a
Regelbrecher
. On the down low. Well, okay then. You’ve definitely come to the right elf.” She tapped a hot pink fingertip on his desk. “I’m off the hook, right? Not getting into any trouble for this?”
    “Of course not. I’m asking you to do me a favor.”
    “Oh, goody! Does that mean the next time I get into big trouble, you’ll owe me? ’Cause . . . that could come in very handy in the future.”
    Gregor nodded with a resigned look on his face. “Yes. I owe you. Can you do the unmasking spell? I have . . . a shoe. Her shoe. I don’t know her full name or her address, but I need to find her. Can you help me?”
    His nostrils flared, and for the first time Shirley realized how desperate he was. She’d better not fuck this up.
    “Sure. No problem. This spell is one of my favorites. In fact, my friends and I have made it into a fun drinking game—”
    He pushed the shoe closer to her. “Do it,” he said.
    Guess he wasn’t in the mood for chitchat.
    “Fine.” She grabbed the shoe and let out a gasp. A stream of
sternschnuppen
shot into the air. “Hannah . . .” she whispered.
    A tiny tear-stained face in the darkness. A child filled with sweetness and love.
    Shirley took a ragged breath.
    “What did you say?” Gregor stood up behind his desk.
    She shook her head. “Um, nothing. Hold on. Give me a minute.”
    “You most certainly did say something. You said
Hannah
. And you looked . . . surprised. What the hell is going on?”
    His voice stung like a whip. Master Fromm wasn’t kidding about him. She needed to tread very lightly.
    “Oh, nothing really. This shoe belongs to someone I met once. A long time ago. Just for a second. I recognize her aura. No biggie. She’s super sweet . . .”
    Gregor stalked around the desk and leaned down to her eye level.
    “You know her? You know Hannah?”
    “Um, well, it’s sort of hard to talk about . . .”