Chapter 11 #2
Sure, Mina hated her history, but it was hers, so she’d be honest.
When Hem remained silent, his eyes closed and his fingertips running over the back of her hand that she’d rested on his chest, Mina was finally able to speak. “My grandparents on my mother’s side died in a hate crime.”
Hem’s eyes flew open. “Oh God, Mina.” She gripped his fingers, holding onto them like a lifeline.
“I know. My mother had just graduated law school and ended up with two younger brothers in her care while grieving for the loss of her parents. Most people couldn’t do it, but Mom raised her siblings while building a name for herself.
She told me that when she met my father, he was clear with her that he didn’t care if she was constantly worrying about her siblings.
Her nurturing skills were attractive, apparently. ”
“How did they meet?” Hem asked.
“They were both working for a top ten firm, and she’d just made partner when she got pregnant with me. She wanted a child of her own but knew that with her job, she’d just be an absentee mother.”
“So, she chose you over work?”
“Yeah, you can say that. She left to start her own firm. She was amazing, Hem. She ran a business, but I never felt neglected for a second. When we spent time together, she was one hundred percent focused on me. No distractions.”
Hem sat up and pulled Mina onto his lap.
The feeling was novel, and she enjoyed the rock- hard thighs under her, the supportive arm around her waist. She curled against him and tucked her head against his neck as she told him the rest. She mentioned the journals she found in the attic the day she moved the rest of her things out of the Edison house.
She talked about the fight she had with her father when she found him celebrating her uncle’s ownership of the Kohli & Associates law firm a week after her mother’s funeral.
She even told him about Sanjeev’s accusations over dinner and how her father didn’t say anything at all to protect a woman he once had to have loved.
“They ruined someone beautiful, someone who did nothing but love them because they were threatened by her,” Mina said quietly.
Hem kissed her palm before pressing it against his cheek. “I’m so sorry, Mina.”
“That’s why I’m determined to make partner,” she said. “I’m going to take back Kohli & Associates and turn it into the firm that my mother always wanted it to be. We would’ve practiced side by side, you know. Instead, Sanjeev is at the helm, and god knows how he’s managed to keep it a success.”
“Hiriye,” Hem said softly as he stroked her back from shoulders to hips. “I’m so sorry that you lost your mother like that, that your uncles are trying to ruin the precious memories you have of her. But I need you to think like the lawyer you are for a second. Sanjeev is manipulating you. Why?”
“What?” she asked as she turned in Hem’s lap. “What do you mean?”
“He actively pushes your buttons as if expecting you to react in a volatile way. Then tonight, he tried to get you to lose your cool at a dinner party with guests. Why would they bring up such a sensitive topic in front of guests? Is there a reason why your uncle would say something like that in front of company? Airing family business doesn’t seem his style. ”
Mina pushed off Hem’s lap and got to her feet. The gears in her brain turning. “I know. I know that Sanjeev is up to something like he always is. That he wants to prove a point. It’s playing into this master plan of his that I’m a part of. I just have to figure it out.”
“Were the guests part of the plan, too? The ones invited to dinner.”
The roiling in her stomach grew stronger, and she got up from the couch and circled the coffee table to face him. “You could say that. Hem. Before I met you, there was . . . Well, Sanjeev offered me a deal.”
His expression darkened, but he braced his elbows on his knees and faced her. “I’m listening.”
“My uncles have been trying to merge with an immigration law firm in New Jersey. The firm’s owner is very traditional. His son Virat is single.”
“No,” Hem said. He shot to his feet, the words bursting from his mouth. “No, damn it.”
“Sanjeev said he’d make me an equity partner if I went through with an arranged marriage to Virat Aulakh.”
“You can’t possibly believe they’ll give you the partnership just like that.
Look at how they screwed with you over dinner!
Look how they screwed over your mother, and your mother raised them.
Shit, Mina. That’s why he’s instigating you.
He’s collecting proof that you’re unfit to be an equity partner so that when he doesn’t deliver on his half of the bargain, and you try to make his corruption public, he has enough proof that you’re volatile. ”
Mina gaped at him, watching the rapid rise and fall of his shoulders as he tried to even his breathing. It made sense. She’d been so close to the situation that she hadn’t even realized…
“I have no intention of marrying Virat,” she finally said. “It wouldn’t be fair to me . . . to— to us. But there is no way I can extricate myself from the situation right now. And when Virat asked me out during dinner tonight?—”
“He was there?” Hem roared.
Mina’s back straightened. “Watch your fucking tone, Hem. I don’t belong to you.”
“No, we belong to each other,” he snapped. She saw him take a deep breath, and when he was about to step toward her, she held up a hand.
“Look, maybe we need to push the brakes until after the due diligence is over. This isn’t casual anymore. We’re getting…we’re getting too deep. I need to stop Sanjeev from destroying my mother’s legacy, and what we have is just distracting me when my focus should be on work.”
His face clouded with anger. “Like hell we’re slowing down,” he said, his voice controlled and low. “What’s the name of the immigration firm?”
“It doesn’t matter?—”
“Name, Mina.”
She hesitated for a brief moment before she told him.
Hem nodded before he walked to the kitchen island and picked up his phone that he’d left next to the marble tray with an artfully arranged bouquet of flowers.
“What are you doing?” Mina asked as she walked over to stand next to him.
Hem didn’t answer her as he pressed his phone to his ear. “Hey, Tony? Yeah, sorry for the late call. I need you to do me a favor. Can you reach out to this immigration law firm that I’m about to text you and initiate conversations for a buy out?”
Mina could feel her eyes bulge.
“We’ll have to look at their books,” Hem continued. “But let’s get the ball rolling. Thanks, man.”
He tossed the phone back on his counter.
“There,” he said, evenly. “I may not be able to buy the firm, but I’m going to do my best to stall the deal until you can figure out a way to get Sanjeev off your back.
But under no circumstances am I just going to stand by while you’re cornered and you say yes while we have—while you and I just… found each other.”
“I wasn’t going to?—”
“And you won’t,” Hem said. There was such conviction in his voice, that Mina almost told him the rest of Sanjeev’s plan.
The problem was that if Hem was going off half-cocked, she didn’t know if he’d be risky and jeopardize her chance to collect evidence before she was ready.
She couldn’t tell him just yet about her uncles, but soon.
“You lost your mind, Hem. That was such a waste of money.”
“I’m rich, remember? It’s my money to spend.” He stepped into her space, cupped her chin and lifted her head for a kiss.
They stood together, suspended in time, lips barely brushing.
Her heart raced, and when she pressed a hand to his chest and could feel the rapid rhythm that was so much like her own. “Thank you,” she whispered. She was moved by his urgent need to protect her. “I appreciate you coming to my rescue, Mr. Moneybags.”
He smiled against her mouth. “Come on. Let me take you home.”