eight Caught in 4K #2
‘Just let me have a chat with him first,’ I said, squeezing the intern’s shoulder. ‘Then he’s all yours.’ It was hard to ignore how red her cheeks got at that. She smiled shyly and told him she’d find him later.
As I continued walking in front of Neil, I pushed my shoulders back and forbade myself from rubbing the back of my neck, where I could feel his eyes burning into me.
‘What was that about?’ he demanded as soon as we were inside. ‘There’s no way I’m going to sit here after hours doing your work.’
The conference room was made of glass walls, so I knew I had to keep our chat civil. Anyone passing by should think this was just another routine work chat, not a showdown between blackmailer and blackmailee.
‘Why don’t you have a seat first?’ I pointed at the chair next to the head of the table.
‘This better be worth my time,’ he muttered as he sat down and set his protein shake on the table.
I couldn’t help but smirk. You bet. ‘I just wanted to discuss your … extracurricular activities,’ I said, sliding into the seat in front of him.
‘My what?’ He creased his brows, confused.
I nodded slowly, enjoying the power shift I could feel by dragging this out.
‘Man, is this about all the flirting in the office?’ I could sense his impatience. ‘Because I’ve entertained none of it.’
Honestly, his cluelessness was kind of cute. ‘I couldn’t care less who you flirt with.’
‘Right.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘So what is this about, then?’
‘You tell me … anything you want to get off your chest?’
He leaned back in his chair. ‘What is this, a fishing expedition?’
I shrugged, unbothered.
‘Because if this is your idea of a game, it’s a pretty stupid one.’ He was trying to sound amused, but I caught the flicker of annoyance across his face. Perfect.
‘You’re right, you are better at playing games than me.’
He narrowed his eyes.
‘You know, figuring out people’s secrets and using that against them …’ I said, letting the sentence hover in the space between us.
He sighed, reaching for his protein shake. ‘You’re still mad about that? I thought we were moving past it after our little bonding sesh on Friday night.’
Bonding sesh? I almost laughed. ‘What about all the other secrets you’ve been hoarding?’
‘Huh?’ he asked, looking genuinely puzzled.
I had to hand it to him. It was almost impressive how good he was at this.
You’d think he might display some signs of nervousness after posting something so risky, but he’d been perfectly normal all day.
No mention of my flatmate, no mention of the viral post—nothing.
If I hadn’t snuck into his laptop to confirm my suspicions, I would’ve had no option but to believe that he did, in fact, live under a rock (with no Wi-Fi) and had no interest in the world of internet scandals.
I gave him a small, knowing smile. ‘You’re wasting your time in marketing, you know. You should be an undercover agent.’
His frown deepened. ‘Okay, seriously, what are you getting at?’
‘Just saying,’ I continued, keeping my tone casual. ‘Most people don’t manage to humiliate a millionaire before breakfast and still make it to work on time.’
He went very, very still.
‘But I guess the devil needs to work overtime to keep up with all these fashion faux pas, no?’
His eyebrow twitched. He opened and closed his mouth, clearly at a loss. For a few moments, I could sense the alarm emanating from him. He clenched his jaw tight, his eyes turned dark and every last trace of emotion vanished from his face.
I stared at his disturbed, handsome face, feeling triumphant. How does it feel now, huh? I wanted to nudge him. But he didn’t let me bask in my victory for too long.
‘What do you want, Kavya?’ Whatever vulnerability I had seen flicker across his face had evaporated, leaving behind a cold, blank expression.
‘What do I want?’ I snorted. I placed my hands on the table top and stood up, leaning forward. ‘You’ve been terrorizing me over a tiny harmless lie when you’ve been untruthful about your entire identity. How about some justice, for starters?’
Now it was his turn to snort. ‘Terrorizing, huh? And if your lie is so harmless then why do you care if it comes out?’
‘Cool, go ahead and tell HR. I’ll live with the consequences.
Not sure if you could do the same if I leaked your secret to a tabloid, though.
’ I knew he knew I was right. There was no way he could afford for this to become public.
Every SoBo socialite he’d snubbed would be out for his blood. Not to mention the lawsuits.
I stayed where I was, palms pressed to the table, eyes locked in on his. For a few charged seconds, neither of us moved or spoke. Then he exhaled, slow and heavy, his gaze finally breaking away. ‘Fine, I’ll forget about your little NYU secret and you can forget about mine. Sounds good?’
I let out a low chuckle, straightening up. ‘You’re not getting off that easy.’
‘So, what? You want me to salute you every time you walk by?’ I could tell he was trying to hide his bruised ego behind sarcasm. It was clear that Neil Desai was not used to losing. And to be beaten at his own game!
‘That’s not really my style,’ I said, scrunching up my nose. ‘Let’s start small. Saloni’s intern could use your help on that creative before you leave today.’
His jaws tightened. ‘You’re kidding, right? That’ll take me hours.’
‘Not even a little.’ I grabbed my phone and turned to the door.
‘Kavya, wait,’ he called out. When I looked back at him, he was running a hand through his wavy hair.
‘If I do this, you have to promise me you won’t breathe a word about any of this to anyone.’ His tone was dead serious. ‘Not Tanya, not your flatmate, no one can know.’
The playfulness was gone. A part of me felt bad for cornering him like that, but I reminded myself that I wasn’t the one who’d started all this. I’d just figured out how to finish it.
‘You’ve got yourself a deal, Mr Devil.’
His protein sipper hit the table with a soft thud as I walked out.
Huh. So, this is what it feels like to be in the driver’s seat, I thought.
I didn’t hate it.