Chapter 3
Hem landed in the states exactly twenty-three hours after his phone call with his brother. He managed to score a few hours of sleep on his flight but spent the rest of the time researching. WTA. Bharat. Board minute meetings. Updates from Ajay and Zail.
He’d also texted his mother. Their messages had been few and far between over the last year, which he’d hated. But now, after his initial ‘how is he?’ it was as if the floodgates had opened. He received an update every thirty minutes.
That both hurt and soothed him in different ways.
Hem had just finished reading the last update when his car pulled in front of the office building on Park. He’d managed to snag a shower during his short layover and change into another suit, but he was still travel weary since he’d come straight from the airport.
With luggage in hand, Hem took the elevator to the top floor of what had once been promised to him. Bharat Inc.
As he entered the reception area, he paused, taking in the renovations that his brother had done.
Since Ajay took over operations, the space had been gutted and redesigned as an open office workspace.
Behind the glass wall that sectioned off the reception area, rows of standing desks were occupied by diligent employees focused on dual screen monitors.
In the middle of the floor, clusters of colorful couches and sitting areas were used for conversation and informal team meetings.
The office had been grey cubicles and white walls since he was a child. It was nice to see a change.
“Can I help you, sir?” a petite older woman said from behind the reception desk. She had to be a new hire that started, what, in the last year or so? Had that much changed since he quit?
“I’m Hem,” he replied. “Nice to meet you.” He turned left toward the East Wing.
“Sir! You’re not allowed to be here unescorted! I’ll have to call security.”
Using the biometric scanner, he unlocked the door. “You can call security, but it’ll just waste time for both of us. I appreciate that you’re doing your job, but I’m the owner’s son.”
He heard her gasp and suppressed a grin as he continued down the hallway to the large boardroom in the back.
It didn’t take long for people to spot him. The gasps. The whispers.
Is that…
No, I thought he was fired?
No, he left on his own. Was it a breakdown or something?
I heard it had to do with his fiancée.
Hem turned the corner and saw his brothers, Ajay and Zail, standing to the left of the double doors wearing custom three- piece suits similar to his and gripping their cell phones.
His younger brothers, Hem thought. These idiots were the reason why he dropped everything.
His heart swelled at the very sight of them.
Ajay looked exactly the same since the last time they’d met. Lean, tall and muscular. Alert. He had sharply defined features, broad shoulders, and a clean-shaven face. He looked like a born leader.
Then there was baby brother Zail. The pain in the ass had been buried in his lab for the last six months.
Not that Hem could tell since Zail’s arms were still as thick as a lumberjack’s.
His beard had grown out, even though it was neat and trim.
His hair was longer, too, and he had tied it in a fucking man bun.
A man bun. Their ancestors would’ve laughed.
“Oh, chutiyae,” Hem called out. “I made it.” Ajay and Zail looked up simultaneously with haunted and relieved expressions on their faces.
“It’s been too long, bhai,” Zail said as he grabbed him in a bear hug and slapped him on the back. Ajay did the same.
“Did you see Dad?” he asked when he pulled away.
Hem rolled his suitcase against the wall, so it was out of the way. “I talked to Mom and got an update, but I didn’t have time for anything else. I came straight here from the airport. Why are you two standing outside? The meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago.”
“We wanted to go in together. United front and all that,” Zail said quietly. “They’re going to ask why Dad isn’t here.”
“What do they know?”
Ajay shook his head. “Absolutely nothing. I’ve been telling people that Dad is working on something new so he’s AWOL this week.
I don’t know if that’ll fly in this meeting, though.
The last thing we need is for the board to unanimously vote for the sale, and then to oust our father. That would be the logical next step.”
“Where’s Bill?” Hem asked. “Legal should be all over this.”
“He retired three months ago,” Ajay said.
Hem’s jaw dropped. Bill had been around as long as the company. He’d trained Hem to be the lawyer he was today. He hadn’t even called Hem to let him know…“You’re shitting me.”
“I wish. We’re still reviewing résumés for his replacement. We could’ve promoted one of the younger employees, but they are just too green. No one has the vast experience that Bill had. Other than you, of course.”
A rush of cold adrenaline coursed through Hem’s veins as an idea formed.
Hem knew that if he created a scene, the board would be focused on him and not the fact that his father wasn’t present as the head of the company.
He was a majority shareholder who’d been absent from all of the meetings since he resigned, so no one knew how he’d be in a leadership role. That was a plus in his favor.
“I need you to back me up,” he said to his brothers.
“Done,” Ajay and Zail said in unison.
After taking a deep breath, he yanked open the doors with enough force to crash against the walls.
The sound was loud enough to silence every person on the floor as well as in the boardroom.
He stood by his brothers in the entryway as he scanned the table surrounded by a dozen occupied leather chairs.
The wall- to- wall windows displayed the most prominent view of the river, sparkling in the distance.
“Looks like the party started without us,” Hem said cheerfully. He glanced over his shoulders to see Ajay and then Zail’s stoic expression.
There were rumbles of disapproval from some of the relics in the room.
Hem straightened his tie with one hand, strode to the credenza against the far wall, and dropped his briefcase on the oak surface.
Ajay and Zail took opposite corners on the other side of the room and stood with arms crossed over their chests.
“Gentlemen?” Ajay said. “Once you’ve composed yourselves, Hem has the floor.”
Hem smiled. Held eye contact. Waited for everyone’s gazes to drop or shift away from him first. “I know I’m not the face you expected to see, but I’m the one you’ve got, so I hope you take the time to enjoy it.”
To his left, a leather chair rolled away from the table. “Well, you know how to make a first impression.”
That was when he noticed her. She sat with her legs crossed, wearing a fitted dress that modestly draped over her thighs, hair precariously pinned on the top of her head, large eyes, straight nose, and a pursed mouth made for dirty thoughts.
It took him a minute to recognize her. Memories from fancy parties and weddings filtered through his brain. A tall girl who was all arms and legs and frizzing hair. Then a subdued woman standing in the shadows behind her uncles. Tastefully dressed and perpetually bored.
The first thought that came to mind was the way she always went for the brown bread in the breadbasket when they were kids. If there was no brown bread, she’d skip it all together. He’d once saved it for her from his brothers.
“Here.”
She barely looked at him. “Thanks.”
He’d never spoken to her beyond that moment and a few polite hellos over the years.
As they got older, they were hemmed in by social standards.
Single Indian people did not speak to each other at Indian parties under the watchful eye of the community members unless they wanted their names to be matched up together in a romantic pairing.
His mistake.
“Mina Kohli,” he said with a slow, easy grin.
“Hemdeep Singh.”
Even though he had no idea why she was here, Hem couldn’t help but think she looked like she belonged at that table.
Why hadn’t he noticed her before?
Someone cleared their throat. Another person blew their nose. Hem looked up at the expectant faces in the room. It took him a moment to register that everyone was waiting for him to answer her. “Not that I mind, but this is a private meeting, Ms. Kohli.”
Mina unfolded her legs slowly and stood. He followed the way her body moved and stretched until she reached her full height. In her green heels, she was almost eye level with him.
“I was invited by your board members,” she said, extending a hand. “I was chosen to lead your compensation committee and provide an assessment to the board about the offer.”
Hem slid his palm against hers and gripped. Her big, beautiful dream-girl eyes widened in shock at the way his fingertip brushed over her wrist.
Even though he’d only meant to rattle her, he hadn’t expected to feel a jolt of electricity course through his bloodstream. It had been ages since he’d experienced that static thrum of excitement. Or had he ever? This was interesting. Very interesting.
After a quick glance at Ajay who gave him a barely perceptible nod, Hem let Mina’s hand go and she sat down.
“Then I look forward to working with you. As for the rest of you, thank you for selecting a lead for the compensation committee. Anything else you want to let us know while we’re here?
Shouldn’t you tell us what we should have for lunch? Or how to brush our fucking teeth?”
“Check the attitude, Hem,” Frankie Uncle said from the head of the table.
He was older than dirt, and a Nobel Laureate who’d known Hem since he was in diapers, which meant he’d be the hardest to get in line.
“You haven’t been at the company in over a year, and you waltz back in here making comments about decisions we have to make?
That’s not how this works, puttar. We have obligations to shareholders now. ”
Puttar.
Son.