“I wasn’t aware talking to Yash was part of the plan,” Vansh said, that muscle in his jaw working again. Naina had tried not to think about the Rajes and how they were taking Vansh and her working together. From everything she’d seen, Vansh kept his work and, surprisingly, his life private. A task Naina would not have imagined possible. Every step Yash ever took seemed to be tangled up with the rest of them.

“No plan. No plan. I thought you were close and you’d talk, that’s all.” Mehta bounced in his chair. “Fine. Good. You’re all working well together. This is very exciting.” He threw another look between Vansh and Naina. “Let’s demo the app to the board. Next month.”

“Next month?” Vansh asked, unable to hide his surprise.

“Yes. Let’s focus on this and put the Nepal project on hold.”

Excuse her? Naina stood, wishing she could flip Jiggy’s chair over, with him in it. “We’re not putting the Nepal project on hold,” she said so quietly every person in the room seemed to hold their breath while straining to hear her.

Jiggy’s eyes skimmed their faces.

Before Jiggy could open his mouth again she added, “But we have a lot of things in motion, so we can certainly give some extra attention to this project. We can try to present to the board next month like you suggested.”

Face saved, Jiggy stood. One month was not enough time to present the app to the board, and Jiggy knew that. He wanted a reaction from them. And Naina suspected he’d be thrilled with a reaction where Vansh and she fought over resources. She slid Vansh a glance. Don’t say anything.

Jiggy walked up to Hari and looked down at him.

“You think you can pull this thing together in a month?”

Hari stuttered incoherently.

“We’ll figure it out,” Vansh said.

Jiggy spun to him, smile back on his face. “Good. I can’t wait to see what your friend here comes up with.”

“Me?” Hari said. It sounded like a hiccup.

“Yes. Vansh tells me you’re the best and I trust Vansh. Don’t you?”

Hari made a strangled sound.

With nothing more than a nod at Vansh and Vansh alone, Jiggy left the room.

“I can’t present to the . . . to the . . .” Hari started rocking back and forth in his chair.

Naina squatted down in front of him and took his hands. “Hari, listen to me. That man is a bully. He can’t hurt you. You don’t have to present to him or to the board. Vansh and I will take care of that.”

Vansh opened his mouth, but Naina put her hand up to stop him.

“I don’t want to work on the app anymore,” Hari said. “I want to work with Naina. On her project.”