Chapter 8
After breakfast, Hem dropped Mina off at her condo with a kiss on her cheek and a wave.
He wanted to spend the day with her, wanted to get to know her more, to find out all her secrets and give her his.
They were moving at the speed of light for him to feel this kind of hunger, this aching urgency to be with her.
Even though they’d known each other, or been aware of each other in the past, this was new and he needed a minute to think and reprioritize.
Because there was something she said before breakfast that he couldn’t let go.
I have too much riding on my role at Bharat for my personal life to interfere.
Hem had a lot riding on his role at Bharat, too. That was why he quickly began to organize his thoughts as he picked up an iced coffee and drove back to his penthouse to begin his own due diligence review.
He started the same way he began every review: by establishing a historical record. The interns had done a good job for him, but he wanted to comb through it with a discerning eye.
He moved onto organizing files by category, analyzing conversations, and reviewing financial reports.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Mina to make a fair assessment of the Bharat files.
His instincts about people were incredibly sharp and he strongly believed that she wouldn’t screw him over.
But somehow, WTA had managed to surprise them, and he and his brothers had to find out what they were doing wrong.
That was his responsibility, not Mina’s.
By Monday morning, Hem had spent enough waking hours with the material to understand why the company was in a ripe position for a takeover.
“I have some answers for you,” Hem said as he collapsed in one of the chairs across from Ajay’s desk. He’d brought his laptop with him along with the reports that he’d compiled, the data that he’d sorted and analyzed. “You’re not going to like them.”
Ajay put down the tablet he was reading and straightened the silver kara he wore on his wrist. A cup of steaming coffee sat at his elbow. “I want to hear about this weekend first.”
“That’s what I’m about to tell you, asshole.”
Ajay grinned. “Nope. I’m not talking about your reading material. I’m talking about who you were with while you were reading it.”
Hem swore. “Zail is a little tattletale bitch.”
“Rafael.”
“Damn it?— ”
“And Zail,” Ajay added in a sing song voice. He leaned back in his leather chair with a smug expression plastered on his face. “Did you seriously expect him to keep quiet about that?”
“Well…yeah.”
“Then you’re a fool,” Ajay said. “Is it true? Did you get Mina drunk and then take her home? Please tell me you were a gentleman until she sobered up.”
Hem thought of the rough, barely restrained kisses they’d shared. “She doesn’t want us to happen . . . at least not while she’s working on Bharat’s due diligence review.”
“Ouch. I bet the rejection hurts like a bitch.”
“Shut up,” Hem said, and he wished he had something to throw at his brother. “It wasn’t rejection, just…postponement.”
“Blue balls are a great motivator to focus on the important things,” Ajay said. He sobered. “Like the company. What did you find?”
“I spent all weekend looking at sales records, and I’m pretty sure I know why we’re losing money.
Before Bharat went public, the sales teams were winning seventy- nine percent of the requests for proposals that came in.
After the company went public, within six months, the sales team’s success with RFPs dropped to less than forty- eight percent. ”
Ajay’s face turned thunderous. “Is this a commentary on my leadership?”
Hem rolled his eyes at his brother. Ajay needed to grow a thicker skin if he was planning on leading Bharat for the long term. “I told you once, and I’ll tell you again, you were made to lead this company. You were made to lead all of the Singh companies. This is not about your capabilities.”
“Then why are you looking at the sales numbers?” Ajay grumbled.
“Because absolutely nothing changed from before Bharat went public. We’ve beat all the big boys. Google. IBM. WTA. But now, for some reason, WTA’s shell companies and subsidiaries are winning accounts that should be ours.”
Hem took out his laptop and flipped it to tablet mode. In seconds he pulled up the analysis report and slid it across the desk.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” Ajay hissed. He’d immediately come to the same conclusion that Hem had arrived at some time on Saturday night.
They had a mole.
“How the hell did this happen?” Ajay asked.
“WTA has been sneaky about outbidding us on sales opportunities. It looks like random accounts for varying contract values, so you can’t really see a trend. Unless you’re specifically looking for WTA subsidiaries.”
Ajay stood, his movements jerky as he began to pace in front of the window. “The board is way too excited about the offer. Do you think some of them are involved in trying to take down the company?”
“Could be,” Hem replied. “Mina’s uncle and a few others look like they were salivating at the offer letter.”
“Hem, do you think Mina’s dirty, too? I know you’re thinking with your dick, but I need your brain to be working right now. I can pull her.”
“No,” Hem said. “And I’m not thinking with my dick when I say that. We need more information and the fastest way to get it is to let Mina do her job.”
Ajay collapsed in his chair again. It creaked under his brawny size.
He was so much like Hem, and yet they were so different. Hopefully, they could work together and balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses to resolve this mess.
Because this definitely was a mess.
If WTA had a mole in their company, it was a good one and had gone undetected for months. He needed his brothers to start thinking out of the box.
“Keep an eye out on Mina,” Ajay said. “I like her so far since she’s managed to keep Dad’s secret, but we can’t take any chances.”
“I know. We need to tell Zail the news. I feel like this affects him, too. Two of the bids that went out included prototype software information from our R&D team out in California. No one else should even be close to developing something like that, yet WTA undercut us on both opportunities.”
“Fuck me,” Ajay said, rubbing his hands over his face. “After this is all done and you go back to your firm, we’re going to need to beef up the legal team. I can’t even imagine the number of lawsuits we’re about to enter. Corporate espionage, trade secrets, you name it.”
The comm unit on the desk beeped and Ajay pressed the answer button. “I’m in the middle of something, Rafael.”
“Sir, your brother and your cousin called. They both would like to telepresence into the unit in your office. I can schedule them individually or together in a group conference at a later point if you’d like.”
Hem shifted toward the screens on the far wall and motioned to them.
Since the bids were for the US military, Hem didn’t even think about the London offices and whether the mole could’ve hurt business dealings on an international scale.
Maybe giving Brahm a heads- up would prevent any further damage to the business.
“Rafael,” Ajay called out. “Tell them to call the telepresence line. And if you could set up the unit in here, we’ll take their calls now.”
“Yes, sir.” Rafael entered the office a few seconds later and walked over to the Polycom unit.
He programmed the screens, and when the first call came in, Rafael answered.
Hem grinned when his cousin’s face filled the screen.
A partial view of the London skyline was visible from the windows behind him.
He was also suited up, but unlike Hem and his brothers, Brahm had a bit more style.
He was slimmer but just as tall. His face had chiseled edges and facial hair cut with sharp edges in a style that was distinctly European.
“Rafe,” Brahm said with warmth. “You look even more gorgeous each time I see you.”
“Mr. Singh,” Rafael said. His voice was tinged with frost. “Is the audio adequate on your end to continue the call?”
Brahm responded in Spanish.
Rafael gave a sharp retort and made a visible motion of muting the screen. The second call came in moments later and Rafael patched Zail through. When the youngest Singh brother nodded, Rafael unmuted the pod.
“The call is ready for you,” Rafael said and handed Ajay the remote before exiting the room and closing the door.
“Oye kiddha,” Brahm said before switching to his crisp Cambridge accident.
“How are my brothers from my other mother doing? Isn’t that what Americans say?
Hem! Ki haal hai? What the hell are you doing in the office, man?
Visiting or begging for your job back? I knew you couldn’t hack it in the real world.
No one to wipe your ass for you, I’m afraid. ”
Hem shot his cousin the middle finger. “You’re in a cheerful mood after Ajay’s assistant turned you down so quickly. You should’ve taken the offer when he first flirted with you at last year’s holiday party.”
Brahm grinned. “I was focused on work then. Now? Let’s just say that the Jack Frost impression is even more of a turn- on.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go back to Punjab and tell the other uncles and our six cousins that you found your Bollywood hero?”
Brahm waved his hand in dismissal. “I’ve got better things to do than deal with those homophobic fools. Is your dad there? He hasn’t been answering emails.”
There was a long pause as Ajay, Hem and Zail glanced at each other. Brahm’s grin disappeared when he realized that the question wasn’t as simple as it should’ve been.
“Send your emails to me,” Ajay said. “Brahm, we need to tell you something, but you can’t leak it to the family. Not your mother, your father, no one.”
“Done. What’s going on?”
“Dad had a heart attack after WTA’s offer came in,” Zail said from the adjoining monitor. “We’ve been covering and now you have to as well.”
Brahm’s coloring became gray, his eyes wide. “Is Chacha . . . Is he okay?”