Chapter 1
In seventy- two hours, Hemdeep Singh had flown halfway around the world, led seven meetings for his client, reviewed hundreds of OSHA guidance documents, and taken a tour of two plants and warehouse facilities.
The final contract negotiations were underway, and if he could secure the multimillion- dollar agreement, he’d have another successful win for his new firm.
The hotel he used as his home base for negotiations in the Philippines was a hotbed for tycoons and wealthy families because it provided discretion and luxury.
Next to the bar that snaked along one side of the waterfall, where bartenders decorated drinks with exotic flowers, Hem swirled the top- shelf whiskey in his tumbler before toasting Faisal Rao, a magnate in the renewable energy industry.
Faisal was also a vicious negotiator and had graduated from a top ten law school before investing his family’s fortune in enterprise.
Faisal hummed and scratched his beard. “I’m likely to agree with you?— ”
“Then we can sign.”
“But I want my team to take a look at it.”
Damn it, Hem thought. There wasn’t a chance in hell of wrapping up the agreement within the hour if Faisal sent it back to his team. They were slow as shit.
“You know your business better than they do,” Hem countered.
Faisal grinned. “That’s very true.” He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his thick chest. “And I hire the best legal team in the world to protect what’s mine.”
“Second best,” Hem said with a grin.
Faisal let out a laugh. “You may be right. It’s nice to see another Desi at the top of the game in a field outside of medical and tech.”
Hem winced. That wasn’t exactly true, he thought.
“—I’ve enjoyed talking to you, Hem,” Faisal continued. “But I realize that I don’t know much about you. Sikh?”
“Yes. From Chandigarh. My relatives still live there.” Hem hated this type of small talk, but he knew that it was sometimes the only way to get a client to feel comfortable enough to commit to a deal.
“My father’s family came from Chandigarh originally,” the man said with a proud tilt of his chin. “Papa was desperate to wear a turban and carry a sword in his youth like the traditional Sikh men he saw growing up. So he’s said. Honestly, your height should’ve clued me in. What are you, six- two?”
“Six- four.”
“Yes, of course your Sikh. You know, I was surprised that the old goats at Tevish were using such a small, newly established firm to handle this negotiation. You’ve proved me wrong. It would’ve been nice if they’d showed up themselves to handle business like men.”
Ah. It was pride.
Faisal was dragging his feet because his pride was injured. Here he was, CEO of a successful midsize business, having to work with an outside law firm on a negotiation. Hem could understand executives that were level- conscious, even though he’d never been trained to care about status or rank.
His father had never been level conscious. Deepak Singh didn’t care what position a person held in his company. They were all treated with respect. He would’ve signed the papers in a heartbeat and then paid for dinner to celebrate.
Hem tried for a patient smile as he swirled his liquor in his glass.
“They send their regards. Scott Tevish’s eldest is getting married next week so they were otherwise occupied.
I grew up with them, interned at their company in college, so they trust me to take care of things while they’re away on personal matters.
Our families do quite a bit of business together, too. ”
“Oh? What’s your family business?”
“Bharat, Inc.”
Faisal’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “Your father is . . .”
Hem’s stomach clenched. The alcohol tasted stale on his tongue. “Deepak Singh, yes.”
Faisal let out a low whistle. “But you don’t work for Bharat.”
“No. Not anymore.”
There was a long, awkward silence that Hem had come to expect.
His parents were the reason why his fiancé left, and he couldn’t look at them in the eye after his relationship burned to the ground. Very few people knew of the heartache, the pain that had triggered his decision to leave both New Jersey and the family business.
On top of that, he needed to do something on his own.
Make something of himself that wasn’t tied to a bigger legacy.
He’d only ever known Bharat, and it felt too unstructured, too relaxed for him.
He wanted more, needed more, and starting his own law firm and investment group had been the best thing he’d ever done.
“Come on, Faisal,” Hem said in an effort to break the tension. “You can’t be scared of me now that you know my history.”
Faisal’s fingers fluttered over the edges of the tablet he’d been referencing. “I’m scared of nobody, kid. I’ve been at this for a lot longer than you. Honestly, I simply wanted to know how you got so damn good at bullshitting. Now I do.”
Hem was closing in on the win. He could feel it. “I’m shooting straight, Faisal.”
Hem felt his phone buzz and he discreetly reached inside his jacket and silenced the device. “Sign the contract. You’ll make a shit ton of money if you do.”
“I’m beginning to warm to the idea. Only because I have a feeling that you’ll never stop bugging me until I commit.”
Hem’s phone began to buzz again. It was loud enough to capture Faisal’s attention.
“Do you need to get that?”
The phone stopped. “No, I— ” When it started buzzing for a third time, he took it out and read his brother’s name on the screen. “Yeah, actually, give me a second.” He stood from the small table they’d occupied and walked a few feet away for some privacy.
“Ajay, what is it?”
His brother’s gruff voice answered immediately. “I’m calling in the troops, brother.”
“I’ll be back in New York in two days.”
“No, you have to come home now.”
Hem snorted. “Home? Like the estate? No. That’s not happening.”
“I’m not fucking around, Hem.”
Something in Ajay’s voice caught Hem’s attention. “What’s wrong?”
“Have you checked your email yet?”
“No, was I supposed to?”
“Do it.”
Hem opened up his email and saw a message forwarded from his brother originating from Hans Fineburg, CEO of WTA Digital.
TO THE CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AND LEADERSHIP COUNCIL OF BHARAT, INC.
This missive, adherent to SEC guidelines, constitutes a formal offer of purchase . . .
Hem’s fingers tightened on the phone until his knuckles turned white. “What the fuck is this?”
“That’s not all of it,” Ajay said. “We found out that even though they’re issuing a formal offer, they’ve already started approaching shareholders to buy out shares above asking. Hem…Dad had a heart attack after the letter hit our inboxes this morning.”
Hem felt as if Ajay had sucked all the air out of his lungs.
Heart attack. The words echoed over and over and over again in his head.
“Is Dad . . . Is he okay?”
“He’s stable, but he’s still in the hospital. We haven’t told any of the extended family or staff yet. We’re keeping it quiet. How soon can you be stateside?”
Hem hadn’t seen his father in almost a year, but he was still family, and Hem would do anything for family.
After checking his Rolex, he let out a stream of expletives. “It’ll take me at least a day. I’m in fucking Manila, Ajay. It’s not like they have hourly flights to the US.”
“Didn’t you take a private plane?”
“No, I sold it to pay for overhead costs on my firm.”
“Damned inconvenient, Hem.”
Now was not the time to explain to his younger brother that he didn’t want to dip into his earnings from Bharat or his trust to raise the money. Instead, he got rid of his expensive toys and funneled that into his fresh start. It was time for all of them to go zero carbon footprint, anyway.
“It’s still inconvenient,” Ajay continued. “I’ll check with a supplier to see if we can borrow one of their planes for now. If not, I don’t know, chopper to the next largest international airport and book a private jet from there.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Hem said as he glanced over his shoulder at Faisal. “What’s going on?”
“There is a board meeting in less than twenty- four hours.”
“Did Dad make that decision?”
Ajay hissed. “No, the fucking board chatted with each other like a bunch of aunties and decided to establish a compensation committee immediately to address the offer. They’re restless since we haven’t met sales targets after we went public and think that some of our shareholders will fold under WTA pressure.
We’ve got to get them in line before WTA stages a hostile takeover and tries to oust Dad. ”
Ajay was born to be a leader. He’d done amazing work since Hem had left the business and had shark-like instincts. If he was worried, things had to be in bad shape. “I’ll be there for the meeting. Whatever you need. How’s Mom holding up?”
There was a deep, frustrated sigh on the other end of the phone. “How do you think? She’s a goddamn rock, man. Yelled at Dad the moment she saw him in the hospital room. Said that he got what he deserved for eating too much mango pickle at night. As if that’s the cause of a heart attack.”
Hem missed his mother, sometimes painfully. Her predictable reaction made him smile. “Thank god for small blessings. I’m on my way, Ajay.”
“Good. I need you, Bhai. I don’t know if I can do this one without you.”
“You won’t have to.”
Hem hung up and walked back over to Faisal who was reading the last set of provisions on his tablet again.
“Everything okay?” he said.
“No. Sorry, but I need to go.”
Faisal flipped the cover over his tablet and straightened in his seat. “No problem. This will give me time to review with my team again?— ”
“No.” Hem picked up the tablet which was luckily still unlocked.
He scrolled to the bottom of the page, pulled out a stylus, and held it out.
“I know you don’t want to give up control over this financial aspect, but fuck it, Faisal.
You’re going to be rich. Stop stalling. The offer isn’t going to last much longer. ”
Faisal gave him an even look but he took the stylus and quickly scribbled his name.
Hem did the same for his portion, and they signed six more sections before Hem saved the document and passed the tablet back to Faisal so he could send it through to Hem’s email.
“Happy now?” Faisal said.
“Thrilled. It’s been a pleasure doing business.
” Hem picked up his drink and drained the last of its contents before grabbing his coat and his briefcase.
He hated himself for wasting those precious five minutes on this guy, but he needed a moment to get his nerves in check.
The time it took to sign the documents helped ease some of the anxiety so he could focus on what he had to do when he got to the airport.
After one last wave at Faisal, Hem strode across the lobby to the elevator, scanned his keycard and went straight to the top floor where he’d checked in for his trip.
“Please be okay, Papa,” he whispered over and over again as he entered his suite and immediately began packing.
He thought about his father and the bitter words they exchanged the last time they spoke. After Deepak Singh meddled in his life so coldly, so painfully, Hem went no contact. It was hard, since the concept was so foreign in his culture, but he needed space and thankfully his parents gave it to him.
This takeover attempt and a heart attack changed everything. He still loved his father and despite everything that had happened, he’d do anything to help salvage Bharat, even if it meant coming back to the company.
After tossing all his belongings in his suitcase, he zipped it up and left the room as quickly as he’d entered with his bags in tow.
He was sliding into the backseat of a taxi minutes later while he drafted a message to the two attorneys he’d hired on staff along with his clerks, paralegals, and office managers.
Divide and take my case load temporarily. I’ll be out of the office for the next few weeks. You can still reach me by email and my cell if it’s an emergency.
He gave detailed follow- up instructions to his paralegal and his assistant and fielded the few text messages that came in after his staff read his message.
Dread filled his gut at the thought of letting go of the reins on a business that had been his salvation after Bharat. Hopefully he was making the right choice.
But now wasn’t the time to think about business or old arguments and family politics. His father needed him, his brothers needed him, and there was nothing Hem wouldn’t do to protect them.
“The eldest Singh has returned like a Bollywood fucking hero,” Hem mused to himself as he left Manila for home.