“Listen, Vansh,” he said, eyes on the dance floor. “I like you. I feel like you’re my little brother. Except, if you were, I’d hate you for getting all the looks in the family.” He laughed as though he’d made the funniest joke. “So I’m going to do something I never do. I’m going to let you follow your gut. Whatever project you have in mind, I’ve decided to be open to it. The only thing you have to do is convince Naina. You know how women like that are. Barracudas. Look how she couldn’t hold on to Yash.” He wiggled his brows. “But it looks to me like you could handle her.” Another grin. “Honestly, looks to me like you could handle most women just by smiling.” He poked two fingers into his own cheeks, digging finger dimples into them, and gave another self-congratulatory laugh. “So, handle her.”

Vansh ran a hand over his hair. It was slicked back and stiff against his palm. “What am I convincing her of exactly?”

“I love that about you. That you’re a straight shooter. All the cards on the table.” He slammed his buffed and manicured hands down, rings with various precious stones on each finger clinking against the wood. “I’m saying I like your idea. You are right, homelessness is a stain on San Francisco. What a great city, no? The way Bombay was in my childhood, a little beautiful and a little ugly. Now Bombay has nothing beautiful left. We don’t want that here, no? I’m saying you can have as much as you want out of the funding. I just don’t want Naina making trouble. No female chik-chik, you get me? These activist types think making noise gets them whatever they want. The funding is yours, whatever part of it you want. What’s left is Naina’s if she still wants it.”

You can’t do that, Vansh wanted to say. But he could. “The work Naina is doing is important. Let’s talk about this.”

“I know it’s important! That’s why I took her on. I convinced her to move back to San Francisco and run the foundation. Just like I convinced you to move back too. There’s nothing more to talk about.”

Vansh hadn’t exactly moved back, but this wasn’t the time to split those particular hairs. This conversation already wasn’t going where Vansh wanted it to go. “But Naina’s funds are earmarked already.”

“That would be relevant if the funds were hers. They’re mine. And she can still use them, so long as you’re on the project and you get to do your homelessness thing.”