Chapter Sixteen Rajneet

Raj never cried over men, but Ajay had made her weep. Their argument circled her mind as her car carried her along the early-morning New Jersey streets.

She’d felt uneasy from the moment she’d woken up alone in that bed. She’d never experienced the morning-after scene. She couldn’t chance it. After she married, it had been imperative for her to keep her hookups short and sweet. No small talk, no dinner dates, no expectations.

But she’d fallen asleep at Ajay’s house and in his arms. When she’d woken in an empty bed to the sound of his raised voice coming from the living room, she knew that she had to get out of there, go home, and build some space between herself, Ajay, and Ajay’s family.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as the ugly memory of his one-sided conversation echoed in her head. And then, when he’d looked at her, she’d seen pain in his eyes. However, comforting him about the state of his feelings for her were outside the boundaries she’d set for herself and for their relationship.

And then he’d delivered a blow that had rocked her back on her feet. With no care in the world for how it affects other people, right?

Her parents had accused her of the same thing when she decided to stay in the States. Her brother had made the same accusation. Even Robert occasionally used to tell her that she would make decisions and screw the consequences.

Did people really think she was that heartless? That selfish?

Ajay had no right to push her, to demand anything from her. More importantly, if he didn’t get what he wanted, he was supposed to accept it as Raj’s right to choose.

Sure, he’d gotten angry, but she was an intelligent woman who was smart enough to admit that he’d been right about one small detail.

She was a coward when it came to her feelings.

The truth was that she felt safe when she told him her secrets, and it infuriated her that Zail would hurt him the way he did. Ajay took care of her needs, her wants, and given time, he would’ve most likely supported her dreams, too.

From all the things she’d seen and heard in the media, in articles, and from girlfriends, relationships were supposed to be reciprocal. All he’d wanted was the same thing in return and she’d failed miserably.

She just didn’t know how to be there for him in the ways he wanted. So maybe it was a good thing that he’d told her that he wasn’t going to call. If she was destined to fail, then there was no use starting in the first place.

Her phone blinked with a new message and she scrambled for it. Her heart sank when she saw that it was another work email. Brushing a tear from her cheek, she leaned forward so that she could speak to the driver. “Excuse me, sir? Can I send you another address? We need to make a quick stop.”

“Sure,” he said. “Do you know where in Manhattan it is? I was going to take the George Washington into the city.”

“You still can,” she replied. “But you’ll have to take the West Side Highway from there. We’re going to Midtown. I need to stop at an animal shelter to see my dog.”

By Monday morning, she’d gone through the seven stages of grief. True to his word, all questions were forwarded through Legal. He hadn’t even had the decency to send her the formal offer letter as interim CEO. He’d had his chief financial officer and Tushar do the honors.

That was okay. She was a boss bitch, and even though he’d made her happier than she’d been since she started RKH Collective, she didn’t need him to survive.

At eight a.m. on the dot, she was walking into her building, freshly showered and dressed in her favorite black dress with a creamy white pinstripe blazer draped over her shoulders. The outfit made her feel powerful, confident, and in control. It was the power suit she needed to forget about the fact that she hadn’t heard from Ajay.

Honestly, it probably wouldn’t have been enough on its own, but she’d managed to squeeze in a few minutes of cuddling with her sleepy puppy the day before on her way home from Ajay’s bungalow. Khunda had been so drowsy, warm, and soft against Raj, and that implicit trust had calmed her erratic thoughts, setting the tone for the rest of her day. Being armed with that feeling, as well as the news that she’d be able to take Khunda home as early as the next weekend, did more for her than she could’ve imagined.

Who needed men when she had the most adorable dog?

She pushed through the front doors and smiled at Tracey, who stood from her desk. “Morning! Any chance you can grab me some breakfast?”

“No problem. Avocado toast, poached egg, cinnamon latte, hold the foam?”

“You’re a goddess. Please also get yourself something. Maybe bagels for everyone. It’s going to be a hard day today. Any messages?”

Tracey followed her into her office.

“Your brother called,” she said. “Twice.”

“Ignore him.”

“Done. You also have messages from most of your executive leadership. They want to meet with you since you sent the internal memo about the buyout.”

Raj had prepared for that. She picked up her phone and texted Tracey the list she’d typed up on her drive in that morning. “I need in-person meetings with that list of people and in that order. Twenty minutes each. We’ll arrange for longer sit-downs later in the week once we go public. Tracey, what’s the mood in the office?”

“It’s Monday morning and we’re the first ones here, but I’d assume it’ll be nervous.” Tracey shrugged. “I am, too. What if we all lose our jobs?”

“You won’t,” Raj said. “Especially you. Wherever I go, I’ll take you with me.”

Her assistant grinned. “Well, of course. What would you do without me?”

“We won’t have to find out.”

Raj had thought about the best way to talk to her company and address the buyout with her employees. They’d been the bones that held her body of work together. They were her most valuable asset, and she wanted to make sure they all knew why she was doing this.

“Hey, Tracey? Before you go, can you connect with Harnette and her team? Ask them to set up a town hall today for three p.m.”

“Today?” Tracey’s eyeballs practically fell out of her head. “You want her team to set up a town hall for the entire company by three?”

Raj nodded. “It’s best to rip it off. Like a bandage. I want to talk about my memo, and then the buyout strategy going forward. We’ll even open up for questions.”

“Absolutely. Anything else you need, boss?”

Yes, she wanted to say. She wanted Ajay, wanted to make sure he was okay. She wanted to stop being so afraid of giving up more of herself, and she wanted to stop being so angry that Ajay knew that about her. More importantly, she wanted to ask Tracey what she was supposed to do to fix things. Those were all her problems, though.

Instead, she smiled up at her assistant and opened her laptop. “If you could get Kia on the line from Gen One. I think I’m ready to accept the nomination.”

“Wow, sure. I’m on it.”

Raj had barely started sifting through her emails when she heard commotion outside the glass walls of her office. With mild surprise, she watched Robert storm past Tracey’s desk toward her. She shook her head at her assistant, who’d already picked up her cell in a wary move that said she was about to call Security.

“Raj,” Robert barked as he burst in. The glass door rattled as he slammed it shut. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

She crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair. “You’ll have to be a little bit more specific, Robert.”

“Selling to Bharat? Are you out of your mind?” His face was molten red with fury, which obviously clashed with the color of his pale beige suit.

“Why would I be out of my mind?” She’d known that her ex wouldn’t have the ability to stay away from her, that the minute he heard about the offer, he would come running. What Raj hadn’t anticipated was that he’d be knocking on her door an hour after an internal memo went out.

She raised a brow and tilted her chin up in that way she knew Robert hated. “I can’t imagine who would have the balls to tell you the news.”

“I used to work here. Of course someone is going to tell me your harebrained idea. Do you know how this makes me look?”

She picked up her phone to look at the time. “Am I supposed to care?”

“My wife is selling the company we started together to a company that WTA is targeting for a takeover. A company that is my account at the firm!”

“Let’s get a few things straight,” she said as she stood and planted her hands on the glass desk. “I started RKH Collective. You had nothing to do with it, you sniveling piece of shit. And second, I am no longer your wife in any sense of the word. I am your ex and your reputation is no longer my concern. Do not barge into my office like this ever again, otherwise I will have you thrown out on your ass, understood? I bet WTA would love to see that.”

“You bitch.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

He lumbered around the office like a wounded bear. “What happened to our years of friendship? What happened to the partnership we had and shared?”

“I asked you the same things when you stole information from me for your own advantage. What was it you told me? That you thought I would do the same thing.” She looked at her nails and then buffed them against her shoulder. Whoever had said revenge wasn’t satisfying obviously hadn’t done it right. “It’s a premium offer, and obviously a great business move for Bharat.”

Robert’s skin color deepened until it was almost purple. “I could get fired for this. My boss thinks that I screwed up, that I’m playing both sides now, and that’s because of you.”

“Oh? Well, that’s your problem.”

He straightened and adjusted his tie. “No. It’s going to be your problem.”

His bitterness had Raj looking up. There was that sharp edginess in his expression, the one that told her he was about to cheat to get his way. Raj adjusted her blazer over her shoulders like a cape.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Of course not. That’s illegal.” He straightened the knot of his tie. “But if you think my reputation isn’t important to you, then you obviously haven’t thought about what this could look like to the board at the Gen One. How do you plan on becoming the head of the foundation if your personal life is in chaos? Divorcing one man while obviously sleeping with another?”

“I plan on leading the same way I’ve always led my business. If they don’t like it, they can go to hell,” Raj said calmly, even as her heart raced at the thought of not getting the foundation position. She’d worked through a potential backup plan, just in case she didn’t secure her seat, but that plan had included Ajay by her side.

By her side.

Dammit, she was starting to understand what his expectations were.

“Robert,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “With the company sale, I’ll be flush and have some time to reassess my priorities. You know, I haven’t been to Bali yet.”

“This is a joke to you?” His voice was back to a reasonable volume. “Well, how about this one? WTA is still a major shareholder of Bharat. My company has every right to propose that Bharat stop the acquisition.”

She froze, but kept her calm, cool expression firmly in place. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“By filing an injunction.”

“On what grounds?”

“Bharat can’t buy you out if you’re in the middle of litigation.”

She felt a prickle at the back of her neck. There was something she’d missed, something she hadn’t planned on happening that Robert obviously had. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not in the middle of litigation.”

“Oh? What do you think your divorce is?”

“We’re settling,” she bit out.

“Not anymore.” His grin was ugly now, and all of the good memories she’d had of him over the years, the late-night TV shows, the heated arguments over business, the friendly meals that one would have with a roommate, were tainted forever.

“You’d seriously stop our divorce for WTA? For a company that probably thinks of you as disposable?”

“Nice try, darling,” he said. “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer. Looks like the divorce is going to take longer than you thought.”

With that parting shot, he turned on his heel and left the same way he’d come. Raj waited, thinking through the best way to handle the situation. It took her less than a minute to plan out her strategy.

Her first call was to her head of IT and her security department. “I need you to scan every corporate email account and cell phone to see who has been in contact with Robert over the last month. Start with the legal department.”

“What are we looking for?” her employee asked on the other end of the line.

“Anything that shares our company information with him.”

“And if we find something?”

“Send it to Tracey. I’d like to fire them personally.”

After a few more instructions, she put in a call to her divorce attorney, who assured her that Robert’s only course of action was to delay the inevitable.

Tracey walked in just as she finished up and left a paper takeout bag. “You have ten minutes to eat before your first meeting,” she said.

“Thanks, Tracey.”

That also meant she had ten minutes to call Bharat about Robert’s threat. Ajay needed to know about her morning visit from her ex-husband. She didn’t want him to be blindsided.

Even though she wanted to talk to him, to text him, to connect with Ajay personally, she honored his wishes and put in a call to Tushar. Ajay’s head of Legal would just have to relay the news. She had work to do.