Chapter 2
Mina Kohli lay sleepless in bed like she did every year on her birthday.
The muted sounds of an early New York City morning filtered through the open window as a backdrop to memories of past celebrations.
The last time she’d cut a cake and blown out candles had been with her mother.
It’d been fifteen years since the accident, and every birthday since had reminded her of the hole in her life.
A familiar ping echoed through the bedroom. With a sigh, Mina shoved at the blankets so that she could reach her phone that she’d left on the bedside table.
DAD: Happy thirtieth birthday. You’ll get through today.
Simple, short, and to the point. Her father had never been an affectionate man.
After her mother’s accident, whatever parental gestures he’d made faded until all that was left was obligation and niceties.
These days, he consistently checked in and performed the bare minimum.
Text messages on holidays and birthdays.
Monthly dinners. Gifts where appropriate.
Mina sent a quick message back.
MINA: Just like I always do. Hopefully I’ll see you at the office.
DAD: No. Working from home. I’ll ask my assistant to schedule a lunch later this week.
MINA: Okay, Dad.
“What a touching moment,” Mina muttered. With a sigh, she opened up her photos and clicked through the albums until she found the one labeled ‘Mom’.
Pictures filled the screen of a woman too young to be gone. Long dark hair, eyes too big for her face, and sharp cheekbones. Mina scrolled through the pregnancy photos, the baby photos, and pictures of the few times they went to Central Park when she was a child.
Her mother looked like her.
Shalini Kaur Kohli had been a powerhouse her entire short life.
Even though she had an active career as a litigator with her own law firm, and a social life that took her to fundraisers and the opera, she’d always made time for Mina.
She’d been a mother, a wife, and a sister who raised two younger brothers to be litigators as well.
But then her life had ended the day her brothers voted her out of the firm she built from the ground up. She’d gone out that night, and she had been drinking before she climbed behind the wheel of her sedan. The grief from learning about her family’s betrayal drove her off a cliff.
Mina discovered the truth about the accident when she was seventeen. That’s when she began her mission to take back her birthright. Nothing was going to stop her.
Except maybe marriage.
She shifted against her silk pillowcase, thinking about her uncle’s offer.
He’d give her an equity partner position at Kohli & Associates if she was able to secure a merger with J.J.S.
Immigration Law. That equity partner position was her birthright, but according to the sleazebag uncles she reported to, she had to sacrifice her freedom to earn it.
Because J.J.S. Immigration Law was a family business, too, and the only way they’d agree to a merger was the old fashion way.
Through marriage.
The problem was that she wasn’t attracted to Virat, the son of the managing partner. He was such a nice guy, but unfortunately, he possessed the personality of a cardboard box.
And he believed in traditional gender roles, which meant that even if she secured the equity partner position, she’d have to deal with him and his family trying to pressure her to quit working and stay at home.
Mina’s phone buzzed in her hand. Her eyebrows rose clear to her hairline when she saw Sanjeev’s number. Her uncle rarely called her, and never at four in the morning. Maybe he remembered it was her birthday. Doubtful, but Sanjeev was full of surprises.
“Yes?”
“You agree to the partner position yet, girl?”
Mina slowly sat up. The man must have a sixth sense. “No, I’m still thinking it through.”
“What the hell is taking you so long?”
“You’re whoring me out for an immigration firm. I deserve some time.”
“Don’t be crass. This is how business still works. Hell, this is how our culture worked for centuries. Besides, I thought you’d be willing to do anything for the equity partner position.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t mean much if the strings are more like restraints,” I replied.
His gruff voice boomed in her ear. “There may be another way to get you that equity partner position. Get to the office. There is an emergency board meeting at Bharat, Inc., and you’re the only senior associate with patent experience who has the bandwidth to take on another case.
If you’re here in an hour, that’ll give you three hours to prep on the company, the other board members, and WTA Digital. ”
Mina’s mind raced as she tried to piece together facts. Bharat was owned by tech genius Deepak Singh, who’d mostly passed leadership responsibilities to his sons.
Zail, Ajay, and Hemdeep Singh. The most eligible Punjabi bachelors in New York high society.
Mina had been raised in the same community, so she’d come across the Singhs growing up.
They’d attended the same weddings and fundraisers where they were forced to sit at the same table of awkward adolescent children.
Mina had been too busy plotting her future to think about Punjabi boys at the time, but she’d be a fool if she didn’t admit that they were gorgeous. Tall, chiseled, and built.
She’d rarely come across Deepak Singh though. Maybe in passing? He’d been friends with Sanjeev for years which was how Sanjeev had been selected to be part of the board.
WTA Digital, the other company his uncle mentioned, was as well- known as Google.
Their hands were as dirty as the tech industry could get because they were often in bed with the government.
They did everything from artificial intelligence and smartphones to defense projects and NATO commissioned research.
“Mina! Are you there?”
“I’m here. I’m just trying to figure out why…wait. Did WTA make an offer for purchase?”
“Just get to the office, girl,” Sanjeev said before he hung up.
She had so many questions. How was this case going to give her the equity partner position? And why was Sanjeev giving it to her? He’d always edged her out of most high-profile cases that came through their doors.
Without another hesitation, Mina got out of bed and hurried through her morning routine so she could make it to the office on Park.
As she showered, she dictated to her digital assistant and drafted emails to her legal assistant and paralegal. She needed to rearrange her schedule, which meant shifting two client calls and asking for an extra day to review a contract.
Mina slipped into a maroon suit dress with matching pumps and a coordinating Chanel bag. Because it took her some time to pile her long hair on top of her head in a sleek updo, she had to call for a car to pick her up in front of her apartment building in Chelsea.
“Looking lovely today, Ms. Kohli,” George said as he opened the door for her. “Spring weather at its finest.”
“Thanks, George. I may have a meeting with a new client today.”
“Knock ’em dead.”
“I always do.” The car was already waiting at the curb, and in a practiced move, she folded herself into the back seat and answered emails for the entire drive to Park and 40th.
Park was just beginning to wake up with early risers powerwalking in three-piece suits to their designated high rise.
The lights were on in her building when she scanned her badge and stepped through the glass doors and into the offices for Kohli & Associates.
After making a left at the foyer, she entered the large open space of cubicles used by the legal support staff and assistants.
Desks were crammed with files in acetates, discarded coffee cups, and personal items. Along the walls and in the center of the room were offices constructed with frosted glass.
She walked by rows of cabinets that butted up against cubicles with stacks of Redwells on top. Even though their filing system was all digital, no one got rid of the paper files. It was almost a part of the décor now.
When she passed the large conference room, she let out a sigh at the view. Her floor was high enough to see the East River along one row of windows. Sometimes when she was going for a run or binging on movies at her condo, she’d imagine this exact view was spread out in front of her.
“Mina?” her uncle roared from his corner office.
She headed toward the sound, passing empty cubicles and offices along the way.
When she reached Sanjeev’s assistant’s desk, she paused to admire the older woman typing away at the keyboard.
Except for the dark circles under her eyes, Vibha was pressed and polished, as if it wasn’t five thirty in the morning.
Her black hair liberally streaked with grey was tied in a tidy braid that fell down her back, and her clothes were an understated beige that did little to bring attention to her presence.
“Good morning, Mina,” she said with a wan smile. “He’s ready for you.”
“Why don’t you get some coffee, Vibha?”
“No, I’m okay.”
Mina pulled out her company card and handed it to her. “Get something for yourself. And if you don’t mind, coffees for me and the dragon.”
She glanced at his office and then back to Mina. “I shouldn’t . . .”
“I’ll keep him busy. You look like you could use some fresh air. I think the cart downstairs just opened up.”
Vibha glanced one more time at Sanjeev’s open door before she quickly grabbed her small purse from a bottom drawer in her desk. “Thanks, Mina.”
“Anytime. You can always come to me if you need anything. I know that you trusted my mom when you worked for her. I want you to know that you can trust me, too.”
“I— I’ll be right back,” she said before she scrambled down the hall.
“Mina!” her uncle roared again.