“Yes, she did,” Ajay mused. “WTA is going to come after her now. And I think it’s time we step in line and fight them, too.”

Zail put a hand on his shoulder. “Bhai.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for fighting you on this. You knew what you were doing and I let my . . . I was angry.”

“It’s hard being the asshole, isn’t it?” Ajay said. He opened his arms and embraced Zail in a bear hug. They pounded each other on the back, and Ajay felt the last heavy weight lift off his heart. Things were back to the way they should be in his family.

Rafael knocked and entered the room. He held a Post-it in his hand. “Sorry to interrupt. Zail? Raj called and left this message for you.”

“Raj?” he said, with confusion.

Ajay turned back to the screen. She was still answering questions from the audience. “Raj must’ve left it right before she got on stage.”

“What does it say?” Bhram asked.

“It’s an address. In Peoria, Illinois. A remote rental cabin on the lake.”

Ajay shared a look with Rafael and then his cousin. He cuffed his brother’s neck. “Oye, duffer. Whose address do you think it is?”

Zail’s face went blank in shock. “Sahar’s? She found Sahar for me?”

“If anyone can do it . . .” Ajay said.

Zail shoved the note into his pocket. “I gotta get to Peoria. The jet?”

“At the hangar. Rafael, can you call ahead?”

“Yes, sir.”

Zail gripped Ajay in a bruising bear hug again. “You found the right woman after all,” he said gruffly in Ajay’s ear, and then he was gone.

A few minutes later, Ajay’s father, Hem, and Mina walked into the office. “Did we miss it?”

Ajay looked at Bhram and grinned. “You could say that.”

He turned back to the screen to listen to the rest of the question-and-answer portion of the press conference. He’d never felt so sure, so determined, about anything in his life as he was about his place at Bharat and how he felt about Rajneet Kaur Hothi.

Now he just had to sell her on the possibility of forever.

Chapter Twenty-Five
Rajneet

Raj was bone-tired and feeling even more wrung out by the minute. She gave a weak smile to the attendant at the security desk as she walked into Bharat’s offices. It was late, and most of the staff had gone home for the night, but Ajay had asked for her to meet him there.