Shalini Kaur Kohli had been such a powerhouse her entire short life, with an active career and social life. No matter what, she’d always made time for Mina. She’d been a mother, a wife, a litigator, and a sister who raised two younger brothers to be litigators as well. Her life had ended the day her brothers voted her out of the firm she built from the ground up. She’d gotten raging drunk, then climbed behind the wheel of her sedan. Mina discovered the truth about the accident when she was seventeen. That’s when she began her mission to take back her birthright. Nothing was going to stop her.

Except maybe an arranged marriage.

She shifted against her silk pillowcase, thinking about her uncle’s offer. If she married Virat, the son of the managing partner at J.J.S. Immigration Law, she’d get the equity partner position at her mother’s firm. Her marriage would make way for the union of two of the largest South Asian-owned firms in the country.

The problem was that she wasn’t attracted to Virat. He was such a nice guy, but unfortunately, he possessed the personality of a cardboard box.

Mina’s phone buzzed in her hand. Her eyebrows rose clear to her hairline when she saw Sanjeev’s number. Her uncle rarely called her, and never at four in the morning. Maybe he remembered it was her birthday. Doubtful, but Sanjeev was full of surprises.

“Yes?”

“You agree to the partner position yet, girl?”

Mina slowly sat up. “No, I’m still thinking it through.”

“What the hell is taking you so long?”

“You’re basically bartering me for an immigration firm. I deserve some time.”

His gruff voice boomed in her ear. “There may be another way to get you that equity partner position. Get to the office. There is an emergency board meeting at Bharat, Inc., and you’re the only senior associate with patent experience who has the bandwidth to take on another case. If you’re here in an hour, that’ll give you, oh, three hours to prep on the company, the other board members, and WTA Digital.”

Mina’s mind raced as she tried to piece together facts. Bharat had recently gone public, but they were floundering, or so the news said. Sanjeev was friendly with the CEO and chairman, which was how he’d been selected to be part of the board. WTA Digital, however . . . Well, their name was as well-known as Google. A tech company that was in bed with the government. They did everything from artificial intelligence and smartphones, to government defense projects and NATO commissioned research.

“Mina! Are you there?”

“I’m here. Let me guess. Offer for purchase?”

“Just get to the office, girl.”