Chapter 11 Vedika
VEDIKA
Vedika paced the length of her room, her phone to her ear, teeth worrying at her lower lip as she listened to her father list the many errors in her Banlay paperwork.
“I had the paperwork, Pa,” she broke through his rant. “Every last point had been negotiated and signed off on. I have no idea where the NDA went.”
Aakash sighed on the other end of the call. “It couldn’t have disappeared into thin air, Vedu. I’m looking at the folder with the soft copies of all the documents. It’s not there.”
“I had it,” she insisted, her cheeks flushing with anger and humiliation. “Someone’s deleted it or … we’ve been hacked.” The last bit had just occurred to her.
“Someone hacked into the Thakkar industries intranet and deleted only the NDA in the Banlay file?” Aakash’s dry tone had her hackles rising.
A knock on her door had her head going up.
She marched over and flung it open knowing who was on the other side.
She hadn’t ordered room service or called for housekeeping which left only one option.
The pest she was stuck with. Sure enough, the door opened to reveal Daksh leaning against the doorjamb, looking relaxed and happy.
She had the irrational urge to kick him between his legs.
Instead, she turned on her heel and stalked back into the room, leaving him to follow. He sauntered in, his hands in his pockets, and sat down in the only available chair in the room.
“I’ve got this handled, Pa,” she said crisply, turning her back on him. “I’m in touch with my team.”
“I’ll handle it,” Aakash replied. “I’m here, in the office. It’s a simple enough matter to –“
“It’s my account.” Ice slid through her voice. “I will fix the issue. I will bring it to closure. I will do what needs to be done.”
A moment’s pause and then her father said, his voice deathly calm, “This is still my company, Vedu. I can’t risk a leak of confidential information and the lack of an NDA leaves us open to exactly that.”
“It won’t happen,” she said, her voice echoing his tone. “I promise.”
When he didn’t say anything, she threw pride to the wind and added, “Pa please. I need to do this or I’ll forever be the fuck up that couldn’t even get something this simple right. The nepo baby who screwed up a basic step. Let me fix it. Please.”
Her stomach twisted, pain and unease winding through her. She could feel Daksh’s eyes boring into her back but she didn’t look at him as she waited for her father’s verdict.
Aakash sighed again. “Okay sweetheart. You have twenty four hours. Then I step in.”
Her shoulders sagged as relief flooded her. “Thanks Pa.”
She disconnected and dialled Ashish. His number was busy so she left him a voicemail asking him to call back.
She tapped the phone against her hand as she considered next steps.
She’d already called and harangued the airline.
There was no hope of catching a flight out of here.
She’d blistered the skin off her team on a call earlier and they were jumping to get a fresh NDA through legal and to the legal team at Banlay for signing.
She’d spoken to the client herself and he’d assured her that the minute the NDA hit his desk, he’d sign it.
He was a close friend of Ashish’s and she knew he would extend himself for them.
She’d covered all her bases…yet, she still wanted Ashish to speak to his friend once more. Maybe then this knot in her chest would dissolve and she could breathe again.
“I’ve never heard anyone complain so much about being a nepo baby while making the most of it.”
Daksh’s calm voice had her shrieking and spinning on her heel. She’d forgotten all about him! Her doom spiral had occupied all her thoughts, leaving her with no mental bandwidth for the ass who was haunting her.
“What?” she asked, gaping at him.
“If you had such a big problem with being a nepo baby, why did you join your father’s company?”
“Where else would I go?” she asked, bewildered.
“Literally anywhere else in the world, Mouse.” He lounged in that chair, his legs spread, his arms resting on his thighs, looking like a king at leisure.
The fabric of his cotton shorts pulled against his powerful thighs even as his soft, grey t-shirt gently fell in loose folds over an impressive chest.
“I’m a Thakkar,” she snapped defensively, fanning her hot cheeks and not looking at his body. “Thakkar Industries is mine. Why in the world would I work anywhere else?”
“It’s your father’s,” he said, his lips thinning in disapproval. “I don’t think you’ve earned it yet.”
“Your brother works for your father,” she pointed out childishly. “Has he earned it?”
Daksh inclined his head. “No, he’s working towards it and he’s very happy there,” he conceded. “You, on the other hand, look miserable.”
“You know nothing about me,” she said haughtily, tossing her braid over her shoulder. “Or about real work.”
His dark, intense eyes flashed at her remark but he said nothing, just watched her.
She felt compelled to fill the awkward silence. “Not all of us can run around tramping through jungles, taking pictures of dogs and stuff. Dominating the corporate world is high stress and high reward. I’m not miserable. I’m thriving on the pressure.”
“I love taking pictures of dogs,” he said mildly, “though you don’t find too many of them in the jungle. Also, speaking of thriving, you look like you have a stomach ache.”
His gaze dropped to where her palm was pressing against her stomach. She removed her hand and tucked it behind her back.
“I don’t,” she muttered, even as her stomach twisted painfully. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“I thought we could go out for lunch,” he said. Now he looked like his tummy ached at the thought of spending time with her. “Since, we’re stuck here, we may as well make the most of it.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “Why?”
Daksh’s eyebrows shot up. “Most people eat lunch, Mouse. I’m sure we can find some leaves or dry chicken for you. Somewhere, in Goa, there is a restaurant that feeds people who enjoy rodent food.”
She made a heroic effort to ignore that last insult and asked, “Why are you asking me to come along? You don’t like me. I don’t like you. Goa is a large city. Surely, we can ignore each other for the duration of our forced stay.”
“Most people aren’t going to be related in a few days. I’d like to get to know the newest nepo baby in the family.”
He grinned, enjoying his own stupid joke. It was stupid, she thought…the joke. What wasn’t stupid was the strange twist her stomach did. That was new and nothing like its usual bad behaviour.
“Come on, Mouse,” he coaxed. “Truce?”
She made the mistake of meeting his gaze. The devilish glint in his eyes told her she was going to regret every minute of this. And still, when her mouth opened, all she said was, “Truce.”