“I spoke to Sri myself. He said you had a little research project that I should know about. He told me everything. Hothi’s father’s opium operation, their drug-trafficking connections. All of it. How could you be with someone whose family is in the same business that almost killed our uncle?”

Ajay had completely forgotten that he’d asked Sri to look into Raj’s story. But that had been before. Before he spent time with her and slept with her.

Before he trusted her.

His blood began to boil. Sri was under strict instructions that the information was for him only. He had no right to share any of that intel with anyone but him. Ajay knew now that it was time for his head of security to go.

He’d have to take care of that later.

“Zail,” he said, cutting off his brother. “Fighting me and my CEO nomination is going to create tension with the board, uncertainty with our shareholders, and potentially jeopardize our clients. Think about what you’d be doing.”

“You think I give a shit?” Zail yelled back. “This woman cost me Sahar.”

“I think you’re shifting the blame there, brother. You cost yourself Sahar, and now you’re not thinking about the repercussions for the rest of us.”

“I’ve had hours to think,” Zail replied. “I’ll be seeing you real soon, bhai.”

Zail hung up the phone, and the rage, the feeling of betrayal, had him hurling his phone across the room.

He’d whirled toward the kitchen, and that’s when he saw Raj, dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the day before, standing on the staircase. She didn’t have her mask on, the one that hid her so well from everyone, including him.

“I think I’ll call myself a car.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s not my place to be here right now, I think.”

It took him a moment to realize that she was telling him she was leaving. He was breathless from the one-two blow. His brother had just pulled his support for Ajay’s CEO position, and Raj, the reason for Zail’s animosity, was going to leave him to deal with it on his own.

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m going back into the city in a little bit. Let me get dressed and I’ll take you.”

She shook her head. “It’s out of your way. And it’s better if you stay here and I go back alone. I heard some of that conversation. One-sided, of course, but I knew what was happening.”

“Zail’s temper is getting the best of him right now. He’ll come for a visit and we’ll talk it out. That’s what family does.”