Daksh laughed, the sound freeing the tension in his body.
“I need a favour,” Ashish snapped.
“Another one?” Daksh drained his coffee and went in to refill his cup of coffee. He carried the steaming cup back on to the balcony.
“Yes. Vedika’s having a slight crisis at work.”
That hadn’t sounded like a slight crisis. The woman was unravelling in real time.
“Can you please check on her and see that she’s doing okay?”
Daksh stared out at the ocean. It was calm and peaceful today. A complete contrast to the confusion raging inside him,
“What is this really about?” he asked abruptly. “If you want my help, you’re going to have to level with me.”
“Vedika,” Ashish began, taking a deep breath, “is delicate and fragile.”
Daksh pulled the phone back from his ear and stared at it. “Have you ever actually met your fiancée?” he asked his brother finally. “She’s a feral, rabid rodent.”
“She’s going to be your sister in law,” Ashish replied crisply. “If you don’t want Dad to crucify you, I suggest you do as I say.”
Daksh ground his teeth, ignoring the clenching in his stomach at the mention of his father.
“And what do you say, Evil Overlord,” Daksh asked, still staring out at the sea and, himself feeling very much out at sea.
“Calm her the fuck down!” Ashish snarled.
“How?” Daksh was genuinely baffled. He didn’t know the Mouse at all to be tasked with calming her down.
“Figure it out,” Ashish hissed. “And keep her mind off work. I’ll fix this mess in the meantime.”
And with that, Ashish was gone, leaving Daksh to his complicated thoughts and even more complicated life.
CHAPTER 11
VEDIKA
Vedika pacedthe length of her room, her phone to her ear, teeth worrying at her lower lip as she listened to her father list the many errors in her Banlay paperwork.
“I had the paperwork, Pa,” she broke through his rant. “Every last point had been negotiated and signed off on. I have no idea where the NDA went.”
Aakash sighed on the other end of the call. “It couldn’t have disappeared into thin air, Vedu. I’m looking at the folder with the soft copies of all the documents. It’s not there.”
“I had it,” she insisted, her cheeks flushing with anger and humiliation. “Someone’s deleted it or … we’ve been hacked.” The last bit had just occurred to her.
“Someone hacked into the Thakkar industries intranet and deleted only the NDA in the Banlay file?” Aakash’s dry tone had her hackles rising.
A knock on her door had her head going up. She marched over and flung it open knowing who was on the other side. She hadn’t ordered room service or called for housekeeping which left only one option. The pest she was stuck with. Sure enough, the dooropened to reveal Daksh leaning against the doorjamb, looking relaxed and happy. She had the irrational urge to kick him between his legs.
Instead, she turned on her heel and stalked back into the room, leaving him to follow. He sauntered in, his hands in his pockets, and sat down in the only available chair in the room.
“I’ve got this handled, Pa,” she said crisply, turning her back on him. “I’m in touch with my team.”
“I’ll handle it,” Aakash replied. “I’m here, in the office. It’s a simple enough matter to –“
“It’s my account.” Ice slid through her voice. “I will fix the issue. I will bring it to closure. I will do what needs to be done.”
A moment’s pause and then her father said, his voice deathly calm, “This is still my company, Vedu. I can’t risk a leak of confidential information and the lack of an NDA leaves us open to exactly that.”
