Chapter 15 #2
“I needed to look him in the eye when I had the conversation with him.” She removed her phone from her pocket and slid it across the table.
“And now I have this. You should hear the rest of what he said.” She pressed a button on the screen, and Sanjeev’s voice came loud and clear through the speaker.
If there was ever a quiet moment in New York City, it happened in that penthouse as the four of them listened to the recording.
Hem’s anger burned. Sanjeev, that rat bastard, was fucking with Hem’s family just as much as he was fucking with Mina. There was no way he’d let that happen.
“I backed it up in a few places,” Mina said when the recording ended. She sniffled. “You have proof that he’s after Bharat, and I have proof that he’s trying to ruin me. But my advice? We wait. Sanjeev is smart. He can argue against one tape.”
Zail stood, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I got a message from our tech lead. He says he’s on it, but something doesn’t feel right about passing this off.”
“What are you going to do?” Ajay called out as Zail headed for the front door to grab his shoes and backpack.
“I have to talk to Sahar to shut down the team and make sure all the data is secure. I’m worried Sanjeev might move to hide his source. I’ll call you when I’m back in Cali.”
“Do you think Sahar had anything to do with it?” Hem asked.
Zail gaped at him. “Are you fucking serious right now? Sahar would never. She loves this company as much as we do.”
Hem didn’t want to question Zail’s judgement, but his younger brother’s view of Sahar was obviously…compromised.
Zail finished tying his shoes, then walked back to the table and planted a kiss on Mina’s cheek. “Thank you for the information. Take care of yourself.”
Mina smiled at him, and Hem could barely control his grumble.
“Don’t push it,” he murmured.
Zail just flicked him the bird and strode out of the penthouse. “I’ll call you two kuthay later.” His words barely echoed through the penthouse before he disappeared into the private elevator that took him to the lobby.
“Then there were two,” Mina said.
“Mina, have you told us everything?” Ajay said as he got up from the table to collect empty containers, as if that was a completely normal thing that someone with his wealth and status did every night.
Mina stood to help him. “Other than my findings for the due diligence report, yes, you have everything.”
“Good. And even if all of this doesn’t lead us to the mole, we’ll still help you hold Sanjeev accountable.”
“Really? You— you will?”
“Of course. A promise is a promise. And since your instinct is right and you’ll most likely be out of a job soon, and your mother’s firm will be dismantled bit by bit, you’ll have a place at Bharat.”
“That’s…great.” Mina cleared her throat. “I’m going to just use your restroom for a minute. Just, ah, be right back.”
When Mina left the table and disappeared down the hallway to the left of the living room, Hem knew there was nothing in the world that could’ve stopped him from following her. He intercepted her in the hallway and cupped a hand under her elbow. “Come with me.”
“What? Hem, I just need a minute?—”
He pulled her further down a narrow hallway toward the study.
“Hem?” she said with a note of hesitation in her voice.
He knew he looked angry, that he practically radiated with it.
He wanted to put a hole in Sanjeev’s face and then make sure the bastard never breathed the same air as Mina again.
But he had to control his fury because he had something more important to share with Mina right now.
He ushered her into Ajay’s study filled with oak and leather furniture. When they were finally alone, he pressed her against the back of the door and dropped his forehead against hers.
She let out a shuddering breath that mirrored his. “Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“I should be asking you that. Don’t you hate me because of what Sanjeev had me do?”
He braced his hands on either side of her head. “No, baby, I don’t hate you,” he said before dropping a kiss to her upturned mouth. “I’m mad as hell, at Sanjeev, at you for jeopardizing your safety, at this faceless traitor, but we’re going to figure this out together.”
“Then why?—”
“It’s what Ajay said, am I right?”
She didn’t say anything at first, but Hem could hear the change in her breathing. The erratic beat of her heart thudding against his chest.
“H-hem, I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid this whole time,” she said as a single tear slid down her cheek. “I’m smart. Top of my class. Incredible win record. And this whole time I was fighting a losing battle.”
“Why did you think getting equity was your best option?” Hem asked quietly.
“They guard that firm with their life. It means as much to them as it meant to Mom. They’d never sell it to me, and taking it away from them from the inside the same way they took it from my mother felt like appropriate justice.
But deep down I knew Sanjeev wasn’t going to give me the partnership so easily.
I still had hope.” She began struggling in his arms. “Oh my god, I was so distracted. I need to focus on what to do next, which means I have to stop spending so much time thinking about us?—”
“No.” His denial was swift and hard. Men twice his age coward when he used that tone of voice. “Mina, you can’t blame us just because it’s convenient.”
“I’m not! Can’t you see? Sanjeev has me over a barrel, and if I wasn’t spending all my time with you, maybe I would’ve had more time to devise a better plan?—”
He covered her mouth with his, swallowing her protest.
It took one moment, then another, before Mina’s lips softened, and her fingers tangled in his hair to tug him closer.
Like every kiss before and every kiss that would come after, Mina’s strength, the fireworks that erupted between them, her soft, floral scent had a way of providing clarity. He was centered, focused, consumed by her.
His hands smoothed over her shoulders, her hips, trying to calm both of them from the rush of arousal. With so much regret, he pulled away in slow increments until they were leaning against the door, panting together.
“If you still want your mother’s law firm after this is over,” he started. “We’ll work together to make sure that happens. But right now, let’s focus on getting you as far away from Sanjeev as possible before this explodes and you get hit with shrapnel.”
“Hem— ”
“No. We’re a team. Say it, Mina. Say it and tell me you believe it.”
He watched the struggle in her eyes, but she finally nodded and said, “We’re a team. I believe you, Hem.” She swallowed a choked sob.
Hem brushed her tear away with the pad of this thumb. “Don’t worry, hiriye. You’ll still be able to keep your mother’s legacy alive.”
“How can I after all this?” She dropped her head back, so it rested against the door.
“Hey,” he said, cupping her face with one hand. “Have you thought about bringing your dad in? Can he be trusted?”
“I— I don’t think so. My relationship with him has always been confusing.
I’m pretty sure he helped Sanjeev and Nakul take the firm from my mother, but then Sanjeev admitted today that Dad is the reason why I have a job there in the first place.
After we report Sanjeev, I feel like whatever chance of a relationship I have with him is going to suffer, too. ”
Hem kissed her again, this time deepening it until she softened against him.
It was minutes, maybe an hour later when they pulled apart. “Come home with me after this,” Hem said, his breath ragged, his erection pressing hard against her lower abdomen.
He ran a hand down her side, cupped her ass cheek and squeezed. She let out a little gasp. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea. It’s been a long day, and we both have a lot to think about.”
Hem kissed her again, this time with a hint of desperation. Her mouth was red and puffy and swollen. Her upper lip and chin had beard abrasions. He wanted those markers of his lovemaking all over her body.
“Come home with me. I want you in my bed. We have nothing to be afraid of now.”
Mina’s eyes locked with his, and Mina pressed her lips against his jaw. “Okay,” she said.
Mina left the study first. It took a few more minutes for Hem’s erection to subside before he followed. He heard Ajay’s voice before he entered the great room.
“I have our two lead cyber security investigators on their way here. We have six thousand employee documents to get through and that’s just in the last four months from the R&D team.
We’re going to try to pull anything we can that is related to board members, too. If we can hack their laptops, we will.”
“I’m going to prematurely block WTA inquiries into buying more shares,” Hem added.
“Let’s get press involved and start to use them to our advantage.
We have money and flexibility that WTA can’t afford.
It’s time we used it to our advantage. Hem walked over to the dining room table and grabbed one of the remaining takeout containers that had noodles in it.
He pried off the lid and put it in front of an empty chair for Mina.
She surprised him when she walked over and slid into the seat he’d pulled out for her.
She began picking at her noodles, taking small, delicate bites. Good, Hem thought. She was finally eating. She’d pretty much just sat in front of her food when she’d first arrived at the penthouse. “What are you guys going to do when you find the leak?” she asked.
“We’re going to hold the bastard accountable,” Hem said. He looked up at his brother whose smile was just as grim, just as menacing.
Hem wasn’t part of the business anymore, but he was invested. Not just for his father. Not only for his brothers. For Mina, too. Then, he’d go back to the law firm he built, the firm he’d come to love, and start over with his woman.