Automatically her chin went up. It had taken him too long to react. Fine, it had been seconds. All the same, she fixed Vansh with a glare that said this wasn’t quite the group-hug moment he wanted to make it.

Jiggy clapped. A slow clap, as though this were the rehearsal for a theatrical farce and he the director. “Very lovely!” The nasty gleam in his eyes was anything but lovely. He reminded Naina of her mother’s friends when their gossip was particularly vicious. “Sharing is caring.” Jiggy wiggled his brows and Naina’s skin crawled. “I love all the caring you two have been sharing.”

His laughter boomed through the room.

Every intimate moment between Naina and Vansh seemed to scatter across the mahogany table and lie there exposed as Jiggy voyeuristically lapped it up.

“Rich people, whole different code of ethics, no?” he threw at Hari, who had been trying to disappear into the corner.

Naina went to Hari. He had gone pale and was visibly trembling at all the undercurrents of tension. She sat down next to him and patted his hand.

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean,” Vansh said, letting annoyance slip past his usual charm. “But our code of ethics on this team is beyond reproach.”

At that, another belly laugh burst from Jiggy. The man was really getting into the horror-movie-villain role today. “I’ll tell you what. I have a board meeting in a half hour. Let’s get your presentation in front of them today.”

Hari made a sobbing sound.

“That’s impossible,” Naina said just as Vansh said, “That’s a great idea.”

This of course made the bastard’s amusement explode with enough force to generate a mushroom cloud. “The NYT thing really helps us sell this to the board. Timing is everything in business.” He wagged a finger at Vansh. “You’re the man,” he said. “You get it?”

Discomfort flitted across Vansh’s face.

Jiggy wasn’t done. “Get your guy presentable.” He tossed the coldest of glances Hari’s way. “There’s no sniveling in boardrooms.” With that he strode out of the room without waiting for agreement.

Hari started shaking.

Naina wrapped a gentle arm around him. “Listen, it’s okay. You don’t have to be there when we present.”

Vansh sat down on Hari’s other side, eyes filled with worry but also with determination. “Unless you want to be. What Naina means is that we will be there and we will help you every step of the way.”

That was not at all what Naina meant. Not even a little bit. If Hari hadn’t been shaking next to her, moments away from collapsing with panic, Naina would have pulled Vansh out of the room and bitten his head off for speaking for her. Instead, she tried to telepathically send her thoughts to him, without changing her body language, as she calmed Hari down.