Chapter 36 Deepak
Chapter 36 Deepak
DEEPAK: Lunch?
VEERA: Yes! One?
OLIVIA: Who eats at one?
SANA: One works for me!
PREM: I can do one. It’ll take us a beat to get to the city.
KAREENA: Omg, Halal Guys?
BUNTY: Immediately yes.
BOBBI: I love Halal Guys.
OLIVIA: Are they organic?
Deepak dressed with his wife the morning before the board meeting. They stood in their closet, slipping on underwear between kisses, buckling their belts, and selecting shoes. He helped her into her suit coat and she straightened his tie.
After gathering the paperwork they needed, Deepak held her hand, feeling her fingers rub against his gold wedding band, as
they walked to their favorite bakery with the blue awning. He bought her the latte that she loved, while she picked out the
blueberry scone and tore half of it off for herself. At 6:25 a.m., they sat at the small table with their tablets, reviewing
their notes before the meeting at Illyria. Veera was going to come in with him, because it was finally time to present as
a united front.
When they finished their breakfast, Deepak ordered them drinks for the road as Veera packed their bags.
“What are you thinking?” he asked. They stood outside the bakery just before seven a.m.
“It’ll be nice going back into an office like this after all this time,” Veera said. She adjusted her suit coat and purse
before she retrieved the mint tea she’d asked him to hold. Unlike Deepak, who’d opted for another coffee as his second hit
of caffeine, she’d switched her to-go beverage of choice. “As much as I liked traveling with Sana, I was never going to be
happy doing global accounts the way my sister wanted. I think that was part of the reason why I was so desperate to get back
to the way things were. Before the merger.”
He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “But there is no going back now,” he said softly.
“No,” she replied. “We’re moving forward.” Veera used the pad of her thumb to wipe away the remnants of her lipstick that
had transferred to his mouth. He’d never stop craving her soft touches, the brushes of her fingertips against his.
At seven, they slid into the back seat of a luxury black sedan. Veera wanted them to start using the subway, thought that
it would give them more time together, but it was the week before Thanksgiving and the weather was starting to get chilly
during the day.
The drive was also an opportunity for him to rehearse, just one more time.
At 7:25, they pulled up in front of the Illyria Media Group building. Deepak held her hand, feeling the hard metal of her
wedding bangle brush against his wrist, as they took the elevator up to the executive floor. Their conversation had since
quieted, but Deepak knew Veera was as sure, as confident, as he was about the rest of their plan.
The elevator opened with a soft swoosh, revealing a stylish Olivia and Sana, who were already waiting for them. The women
were dressed in matching hot-pink pantsuits, which looked absolutely devastating in completely different ways. They complemented
Veera’s custom royal-red Kumari pantsuit as well.
Deepak had to wonder if they’d done it on purpose.
As if on cue, Kim strode into the lobby with a tablet tucked under one arm. “Mr. Datta, your parents and the Mathurs are waiting
for you.”
“Thanks, Kim.”
“Of course,” she replied, and took their coffee cups and bags after Deepak retrieved his laptop.
“This is fun,” Olivia said cheerfully, as they walked as a unit past rows of open seating and empty offices. “It sucks that
our villains aren’t spicier than your parents, though.”
“This is spicy enough for me,” Veera said with a snort.
When they walked through the conference room doors at 7:30 a.m., four sets of eyes turned in their direction.
Olivia went over to the glass wall and pressed the button so it frosted over, giving them the privacy they needed. “Isn’t
this wonderful?” she said cheerfully. “We’re a group of South Asians standing in an office building, talking about accumulated
wealth. What a time to be alive!”
“What is happening here?” Veera’s father blustered. His eyes went wide when he saw both Sana and Veera at the front of the room. He looked over at Deepak’s father. “Do you know what the children are up to?”
“They’re not children, Malkit,” Deepak’s father said smoothly. “I think they have a proposal they want to share with us.”
Deepak stood next to the presentation board and docked his laptop. The board flickered so that his computer screen appeared,
and a copy of the presentation he’d worked on with Veera popped up.
Leadership Assessment. Illyria Media Group. RIWF.
RIWF. Reduction. In. Workforce.
“Do you know what all of us have in common in this room?” Deepak said, as he began. “We all wanted to be better than what
our family expected of us.”
“Dude, that’s the line you’re leading with?” Sana whispered behind him.
He ignored her. “You’ve never asked us what we wanted for our vision of the future that you expect us to lead.”
His mother sniffled, and Deepak had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. She always cried when he presented during Illyria
Entertainment town hall meetings, too.
Veera stood next to Deepak’s side. “I was thinking the other day,” she said. “None of us—Sana, myself, Deepak—were consulted
at all for the merger. The decision was made for us, and about our futures, when this was something that we had been fighting
for since we were children.”
“You can’t expect us to hand you everything on a silver platter,” Veera’s father said. Then he chuckled, as if he had made a joke that no one else in the room laughed at.
“We didn’t expect anything, especially from you, Papa,” Veera said with a serene smile. “We earned it. We fought for it. And
we helped the businesses grow.”
“Now that the companies have merged,” Sana said, as she stepped forward to stand next to her sister, “Veera and I no longer
have any stock in the business. That ended when our employment was terminated.”
Malkit guffawed, then readjusted the lapels on his suit coat. “Which is why I don’t understand why we’re giving you the time—”
“Chup kar, Malkit,” Namrata Mathur said. She smacked her husband’s arm in a quick tap of rebuke. Her eyeballs bulged and with
a clenched jaw, she spoke in Punjabi. “You cost me my daughters for eight long months. You didn’t listen to them earlier,
but I swear the god, you’ll listen to them now. You’ve eaten so much of my head, I’ll walk out, I swear the god.”
Malkit Mathur’s face turned a deep crimson red under the dark brown of his skin. He pressed his lips together and focused
his attention on Sana. The embarrassment must’ve been brutal, Deepak thought.
Good. He deserved it.
“Here is the plan,” Deepak said. Then he switched the slide to show the growth by department, compared to Mathur Financial
Group growth in the three-year period before the merger. “Both Dad, and you, Malkit, are going to announce your retirements
at the board meeting.”
Malkit Mathur rushed out of his chair. The leather high-back office chair rolled back and crashed against the wall. “Like
hell!” he snapped.
“You will,” Deepak said, calmly. “Otherwise, you will be fired. Your department has done the worst during the merger period, and your projections aren’t looking that great, either. Dad? Do I have your support?”
“You do.”
Malkit turned to Deepak’s father. “I trusted you with my business!” he roared. His skin turned splotchy and spittle flew out
of his mouth. “Haramzadhe! We were supposed to create an empire together!”
“Malkit, we already have. Now we’re supposed to give that empire to our children to run.” Kaushal Datta leaned back in his
chair, an expression of casual disgust on his face. “You’re the one who is not following the plan.”
“I will vote against you, Malkit,” Veera’s mother said quietly. “You’ve worked long enough, made more money than our parents
could’ve ever imagined. I want to go back to India, and I want to spend more time with my family. Buss. Enough. It’s time
for us to enjoy our lives.”
“They aren’t qualified, Namrata,” Malkit said. He motioned to his daughters with his palms up as if to say, See? Look at these women before you.
“We’re more than qualified,” Veera said. “And if you don’t think we are, then that still reflects poorly on you since you’re
the one who trained us all these years.”
Fire burned in his eyes as he glared at her. “And I suppose you’ll take over as CFO?”
“No,” Veera said. “I’m opening up my own financial business, but Illyria Media Group can be my first client. With the help of Margaret, and a few of the other senior staff, I’m developing the first equitable financial practices division in a South Asian–owned business that supports entertainment sectors. I’ll also partner with companies like Bharat Inc. in the tech industry and specialize in B2B corporate lending.”
“You’re too soft,” her father said. “You’ll never make it. Now your sister—”
“Doesn’t want to be in New York,” Sana said. She touched Veera’s shoulder. “Instead, Deepak has asked if I’d be interested
in leading the Global Ops division and I’ve applied. Olivia can work from anywhere, so if I am offered the job, I’ll be restructuring
the India office first. Mom, maybe you can come south and visit us.”
Veera’s mother brightened. “Oh, wonderful! I’d love that, beta.”
“No, no, no,” Malkit Mathur said. He rested his hands on the table. “If you try to get rid of me, you have to pay a massive
severance fee.”
“Unless you don’t hit your corporate goals,” Deepak said. He tapped the keypad on his laptop and another slide popped up with
a snapshot of contract language. “Then your fee is reduced by every percentage you’re short. And the rest? Well, I’d gladly
pay that out of my own pocket.”
“You should be happy your daughters are succeeding, Papa,” Veera said. “You can’t teach us to be leaders and then tell us
we’re not ready when it’s time for us to lead.”
Malkit Mathur straightened his jacket. “I still have a significant percentage of shares, and—”
“And if you use it to hurt my daughter-in-law or my son,” Deepak’s father said, as he slowly got to his feet, “then you’re
going to have a bigger fight on your hands than you might be ready for.”
Deepak’s mother wiggled her fingers at him. “I will also be supporting my daughter-in-law and my son. Malkit, when you approached
us with the plan to merge, you sold us on our children working together. You’re the one who is going back on your deal.”
“I agree,” Namrata Mathur said. She turned to her husband. “Malkit, stop this nonsense.”
Deepak held his wife’s hand as she saw the proud man she’d once looked up to, the person that she had always cared for and
loved, turn on his heels, and walk out of the conference room without another word.
Veera squeezed his fingers, once, twice, then let him go.
There was an audible release of breath from everyone around the table.
“I have to apologize on his behalf,” Namrata Mathur said, when the door closed behind him. Her voice began to tremble as she
slowly got to her feet as well. “He never used to be like this. Then a few years ago, he started to act so much more controlling.
As if he were worried that Sana and Veera would change everything the way that he wanted it, and their vision was a bad thing.”
“Namrata, you don’t have to apologize for him,” Deepak’s mother said. She reached across the table and tapped the surface
with the palm of her hand. “Everything worked out the way we wanted it to, nah? You and I dreamed of our children finding
each other and look what happened?”
“Wait, you wanted us to get together?” Deepak burst out. He bounced back and forth between his mother and mother-in-law. “Me
and Veera?”
Both the older women shared a look, then burst into giggles. The tension diffused in the room.
“Of course, we did,” Namrata Mathur said, smiling at him. “Silly boy. When Veera was with you, she glowed.”
“And when you were with Veera,” his mother added, “you relaxed! You laughed. You were yourself. And Olivia, I’m so sorry,
I never thought that my son would rope you into his insanity.”
“That’s okay,” Olivia said. She wrapped an arm around Sana’s waist and leaned into her side. “Everything happens for a reason, and I know I’ve found mine.”
Deepak’s father clapped and stepped back from the table. “Good, now that Olivia is here to vote, I think the only person we
have to concern ourselves with is Narinder.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Olivia said. “He’s been a wonderful friend, and he’ll be supportive.”
“Thanks, Olivia,” Veera said.
Olivia winked as she leaned her head against Sana’s shoulder. “No problem, sweetie.”
The parents began asking about the weather and chai, as if everyone hadn’t experienced an adrenaline rush seconds before.
As if their children weren’t moments away from starting a coup.
They were speaking over one another in a mix of languages, recommending the best chai restaurants, as they walked out of the
room together.
When Deepak, Sana, Olivia, and Veera were alone, Deepak moved on impulse and pulled all three women in for a group hug.
His face hurt with the force of his grin. “How badass are we, huh?”
“Did he really just say badass?” Olivia asked, tucked against his side.
“He did,” Sana replied from her spot under his other arm.
“He’s a nerd,” Veera agreed. Then she stood on her toes and kissed his jaw.
With a rallying cheer, they separated at once, replaying the meeting in various degrees of exaggeration. Within minutes, they
were laughing and the weeks of stress and anxiety passed. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Malkit Mathur was going
to retire at the meeting, and Deepak would be voted in as the next CEO.