Chapter 19
Mina had never cried over a man. She had more important things to do with her time than waste it on tears. But when she walked back to Hem’s bungalow and saw the pretty painted shutters and remembered the way that Hem smiled at her when they stood in his foyer together, she let out a sniffle.
Okay, it was more like a sob.
Go home. Had he really had the audacity to say that to her?
Just when she’d fallen in love with the idiot, he had to prove to her that men were a distraction. A waste of time. A one-way ticket to heartbreak.
She gave herself exactly ten minutes to cry. She curled up on his comfy couch and wondered if she’d ever see it again, or if Hem was too stubborn to grovel for her forgiveness.
When her time was up, she wiped her tears, splashed some water on her face in his bathroom, took one of the glass bottles of water from his fridge and stormed out.
How dare Hem leave her stranded in Alpine when all she wanted to do was support him and his family? Well, if he didn’t want her, then she’d focus on the next problem at hand: how to make sure she’d keep her law license and keep her reputation intact when Sanjeev was brought to justice.
With that in mind, Mina decided that calling a car wasn’t nearly as satisfying as driving Hem’s Bentley. She had the keys, and she figured that if she got a ticket, Hem could pay for it. His car, his problem.
She spent the first leg of the drive swearing, and the second falling into a surreal calm.
The turnpike gave her time to think and to focus on what she wanted to tell Hem when he came back.
Despite the hurt that still festered in her heart, she was feeling marginally better by the time she reached the tunnel.
When her phone pinged, she answered right away.
“Hello?”
“Mina? Hi, it’s Virat.”
Another man she didn’t want to deal with, she thought. “Virat? Hi, what can I help you with?”
“I wanted to make sure that you were still available for dinner tonight.”
The dinner. She’d completely forgotten that she agreed to see him after the chaos of the day before.
She was about to say no, because she desperately wanted to go back to her condo, but it wasn’t fair to Virat to keep prolonging the inevitable.
She had to cut ties with him before her uncles made the decision for her.
“Sure, I can still meet, but there was a change in plans. I’m not at my office today. A . . . friend had a family emergency, and I had to go to New Jersey to help. I’ll be working remote for the rest of the day.”
“That’s fine,” Virat said. “Is there another location more convenient?”
She took a minute to think. She was flying down the West Side Highway, which meant that she’d be home within ten minutes.
“There’s a wine bar I know that’s quiet and usually has tables.”
“That works for me. Six thirty?”
Six thirty would give Mina just enough wiggle room to decompress in her apartment. “Perfect,” she said.
“Good. Looking forward to it.” He said a goodbye and hung up.
Mina wondered how transparent she had to be with Virat. She really wanted to come out and say, Dude. I’m not going to marry you, so you should probably look elsewhere. The problem was, she didn’t know whether he’d be that open to her bluntness.
Mina’s phone pinged again and this time she checked the readout before answering. “Raj? Perfect timing. I really need to bitch to someone about how much I hate men.”
“Me, too,” her friend said in a tired tone. “But unfortunately, we need to talk about business.”
“What kind of business?” The sound of a keyboard clicking echoed through the phone.
“The kind that affects your new man. I received an interesting call from a colleague who said that parts of Bharat’s organization might be for sale soon. There is a new majority shareholder who is looking to oust the CEO and take the company in a different direction.”
It was obvious that WTA was already looking to start a hostile takeover. Mina sighed. “Thanks for that, Raj. I appreciate your help.”
“There’s more. One of WTA’s C- suite executives is related to a Bharat employee.”
Mina almost crashed into the car in front of her. In all the documents and paperwork that she and the Bharat team had reviewed, not once had they seen any connection between a Bharat employee and WTA.
“Who?”
“Her name is Sahar Ali Khan. She’s head of Research and Development at Bharat.”
“Oh my god,” Mina said. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is a disaster.”
She updated her friend on everything that had happened since the previous day. Raj let out a low whistle when she mentioned that Sahar knew about the leak.
“You are in some deep waters, babe,” Raj said.
“But if I’m being honest with you, it makes sense that Sahar would be the leak because of her connections and her access to information.
I’m going to email you a few documents. Just make sure the information checks out, otherwise you’re going to condemn an innocent person. ”
“The only person I want to condemn is my uncle Sanjeev.”
“Works for me. My security team has more contacts at your disposal.”
Mina laughed, and it was the first time all day that she truly appreciated some humor. “Why do you have all these connections, Raj? I spent hours with Ajay and Hem’s security people and we couldn’t find anything. But you call me with news in less than twenty- four hours.”
“If Ajay’s people can’t come up with basic information like mine have, then Ajay needs to fire them,” Raj said.
Her voice was hard and flat. There was no doubt that Raj was a leader through and through.
“You don’t make money if you play nice. Those Singh brothers are smart, and I hope they figure this all out soon.
Keep me posted and let me know if you need my help. ”
“Will do,” Mina said. After valet parking Hem’s car in the garage next to her apartment building, she decided to use the time she had before meeting Virat to review the information Raj had emailed.
As she read, it became clear that Sahar had motive and opportunity to leak her research.
There were still so many unanswered questions, though.
Why wouldn’t she simply take her skills to WTA instead of working at Bharat and then putting her whole career on the line?
Was there something else that WTA wanted? Was Sahar the decoy?
Hours later, Mina was still working through the details in her brain when she walked across the street and into Vino’s.
The trendy Hell’s Kitchen wine bar was packed with employees enjoying happy hour specials.
The bartop was a deep honey gold, and Edison light bulbs with iron cage chandeliers hung from the ceiling.
It was a beautiful meeting place and conveniently located.
After scanning the crowd, she saw Virat in a blue suit at one of the high tables along the back- left side of the bar. His face lit up when he saw her.
“It’s great to see you again,” Virat said when Mina approached the table. He stood and leaned forward to kiss her cheek.
“Sorry for the quick change of plans,” Mina replied. She slid into the empty chair and hooked her ankles on the bottom rung.
“I don’t mind. Would you like a drink?”
“Please,” she said as she debated how best to start the conversation.
A waitress appeared a moment later with her tablet. “What can I get you?”
“Do you have any suggestions for a white wine?” Virat asked.
“Saffron Fields Riesling is our most popular right now.”
“I’ll take that. Mina?”
She practically tossed the menu on the table. “Any Riesling other than Saffron Fields.”
She knew that both Virat and the waitress were staring at her, but she didn’t care.
“I guess we should’ve gone for the champagne,” Virat said when they were alone again.
“Why is that?”
He smiled ruefully. “Because the man you’re involved with made me an offer I can’t refuse.”
His words brought her racing thoughts to a screeching halt. “E-excuse me?”
“Hemdeep Singh,” Virat said as he leaned back in his seat.
“He asked me to meet with him yesterday morning. Said that it was urgent and confidential. I normally give my father a heads up on anything that has to do with the business, but I remembered you said that you were working on a due diligence assignment for Bharat. I got curious, so I decided to see what Hem had to say first.”
Mina reached for the water goblet on the table and took a healthy gulp. “And?”
“Hem … listened to what I wanted. It’s the first time in a while someone did that.”
Whatever he was about to say, Mina wasn’t expecting that particular answer. “Listened to what?”
“My plans for the family firm,” Virat said smoothly. “Every time I started a sentence with ‘my father,’ Hem interrupted me, and I started again. He’s a good attorney. Sharp. He had me confessing all of my career aspirations in under fifteen minutes.”
The waitress came back and deposited two wine glasses on the table. She waited while we both tasted and gave her a nod of approval before disappearing into the crowd again.
“I guess I’m still not following,” Mina said. “You told him what your career aspirations were, but what offer did Hem make you?”
Virat glanced out the window for a long minute before answering.
“My father never believed I was capable of running his firm without someone who was just as strong as him by my side. That’s why he’s been pushing for our marriage.
He thinks with your help, the firm can continue to grow and prosper.
At first, the truth hurt, but after a while, I just came to accept it. ”
“Oh, Virat…” Mina wasn’t exactly sure how to comfort him, especially since she’d seen how easy it was for people to walk all over him in person.
“It bothered me,” he said. “After dumping on Hem, I hadn’t realized how much it grated my nerves that I’d done everything my parents expected of me and it was still never good enough for them. But I want to run the company. I want to run it my way. No strings. No marriage, no complications.”