Chapter 8 #2
“Doctor said he’s going to have a full recovery, but Hem is consulting as our legal advisor and Zail has to spend more time on the East Coast.”
“Shit,” Brahm said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is bad. Especially since Gopal is on a fucking bender and causing problems. It’s gotten worse, probably because Deepak isn’t there to take care of him. He needs to be . . . addressed. That’s why I’m calling you so early in the morning.”
“Mom mentioned that he got into gambling again,” Zail said.
“That’s an understatement. Our law enforcement connections in the area have confirmed that he’s now indebted to one of the drug lords that kills first and asks questions later.”
Hem swore. If his uncle owed money to a drug lord, then the price for repayment would be extreme. Regardless of the family’s connections to law enforcement, the drug cartel in Punjab was no joke.
“How do we smuggle him out?” Zail asked.
“I can get him out,” Brahm replied. “But it’ll have to be a stealth mission.”
“Shit,” Ajay said. “That means he’s in deep.”
“Very, bhai. Very. If you’re acting as your father, then I’ll step in and cover for him here. Gopal will have to detox here in the UK.”
“Thanks, Brahm,” Hem said. “We owe you one.”
Brahm lifted a white teacup and sipped. “A raise would be nice. Now that conversation is dealt with, in addition to the news on my favorite uncle’s health, none of you fuckers debriefed me on last week’s impromptu board meeting.
Whatsapp messages don’t count. What the hell is going on over there?
Am I going to have to pray for another family member to get rich and secure my employment at a London office? That’s damned inconvenient.”
“No one’s getting rid of you yet, British boy, but we do have a problem.” Hem walked through his weekend discovery one more time for Zail and Brahm. The joking was quickly put aside, and Hem watched their expressions cloud with the anger that had been sitting inside him.
“I’ll get our cyber security team on it,” Zail said. “If there is a tiny slipup from any of the employees, my teams will find it. I know that the security work is already overflowing, so if we need to hire more heads, let’s start the process now.”
“We won’t need bodies over here,” Brahm said. “But if I have to clean house, I will. Chacha worked too hard for his company. And Hem? Mina’s decision could end this in either a good or bad way. She holds the key. Watch your back, bhai.”
Zail scratched his facial hair and cleared his throat. “Hem, I have a suggestion that you’re not going to like.”
Hem stiffened. “What is it?”
Zail sat at his desk, a white wall behind him with his shoulders taking up the entire frame. They lifted and fell with a deep sigh. “I know you want to sleep with her?— ”
“Zail— ”
“— but why don’t you do a little forensic investigation first? Get one of the security teams to dedicate some time on her background, her uncles, the firm, everything. Something doesn’t sit right with the way Sanjeev offered her up.”
Hem hated the idea of lying to Mina, but at the same time, he knew that his brother had a point. He trusted his gut, but there were too many jobs relying on Mina’s decision for Hem not to be a little cautious. He knew she was innocent. He felt it in his bones.
But he’d been wrong about women before.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Think fast,” Ajay said. He pointed at his tablet. “Rafael said she’s here and he’s going to set her up in a conference room near the senior managers in the finance team today. You’ll have to go downstairs to see her so you can coordinate the documents she’s reviewing this week.”
Hem stood and straightened his tie. He pointed to the monitor.
“Brahm, let us know if you need us to provide additional support for Gopal’s extraction.
And instead of paying the drug lord, let’s pay our connections to get rid of the bastard so he doesn’t come back and make things difficult for the family. ”
“On it, brother.”
Thankfully, his family wasn’t squeamish about the dirty work. Punjab was not like the United States. Sometimes, corruption needed to be dealt with through vigilante justice, not through a court system.
Hem waved at Zail and turned to leave an exit left out of the office when Ajay called after him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m getting coffee.”
Brahm, Zail, and Ajay all gave him puzzled expressions.
“Why don’t you send someone to get it for you?” Ajay asked. “That’s why you’re rich, chutiya.”
“Because knowing Mina, she’d reject anything I didn’t get myself.”
All three men in the room burst out laughing. Hem gave them the finger and walked out, but he could still hear them cackling and making whooshing sounds like a whip as he walked to the elevator.
He was not whipped. He was . . . being strategic. If he was going to get Mina to let him into her life, he had to be two steps ahead.
He called Mina’s office and asked for her assistant as he cut through the chrome and glass lobby and exited onto Park Avenue.
“Kholi and Associates, how can I help you?”
“Hi, is this Mina Kohli’s office?”
“Yes, it is, but she’s not available this week. What can I do for you?” A cheerful woman answered.
“This is Hemdeep Singh over at Bharat. Mina is here, but she’s in the middle of something. I wanted to ask, what is her usual coffee order?”