“I’ll let you get to it, but I found out some information that you may want to know. A connection of mine who works in California has a partner at WTA. He said that WTA hasn’t been able to complete the location software that is supposed to compete with ours. I know that Zail is under the gun to meet the patent filing deadline, but it looks like that’s the only challenge he’ll have. WTA is not a threat.”

Ajay’s mind raced as he processed the information. “That means Sahar didn’t go work for WTA, even though that’s exactly where we assumed she’d go.”

“Bingo. If the intel was right, and she was going to work for WTA, then she would’ve helped them complete their project before ours. Has your security team been able to keep track of her and verify the relationship in WTA?”

“No, actually.” It hadn’t been until Bhram said her name that he realized he hadn’t asked Sri for follow-ups on that project in particular. Sri should’ve been able to easily secure that information. His head of security had definitely become a liability. His gut was telling him to let the man go, but there was too much at stake right now to make any hasty moves in one of his most essential departments. He’d also been the one to trust Sri from the beginning, and he hated being wrong. Hopefully with the daily status updates, he’d prompted Sri to move faster to get answers.

Ajay scrubbed a hand down his face before focusing in on his cousin again. “I’ll connect with Security. Right now, I’m setting up for a major acquisition.”

“Acquisition?”

Ajay told Bhram about the project, about Raj’s connection to the company through her ex-husband, the information she’d provided about Sahar. And because Bhram was family and another brother to him, Ajay admitted how much he wanted Raj. When he was finished, Bhram let out a low whistle.

“That’s a lot, Ajay. But then again, you always put a shit ton of pressure on yourself. If you really want to do this, though, I support you. I just think that you need to work fast. You have to make the announcement at the quarterly board meeting, which is in, what, three or four weeks? Sitting by yourself on a Friday night reviewing corporate documents isn’t going to be enough. You should get the answers straight from Raj.”

“I have Legal on it.”

“Not enough.” Ajay shook his head even as Bhram said the words. “Your instincts are sharper than all of ours. You read people just like your father can. Talk to her about the business to get the best sense of how to approach this acquisition. And who knows? Maybe it’ll solve your itch, too.”

“If she’ll talk to me.”