Page 50 of Best Kept Secret

I couldn't help but smile. Nina was intimidating, yes, but she was also personable and charming. I was going to really like working here, I thought, not being able to contain my joy.

Nova took me to her office, and as we walked, a feeling stirred in me—one I hadn't experienced in years. I'd been exhausted for so long, but now, the thought of diving intomorework left me energized. I wasn't just Mira, the woman playing house with Beau and caring for Pari. I was Mira, someone with something to offer, someone who could stand on her own two feet.

"Thank you, Nova." I hugged her as soon as we were in her office.

Nova patted my back. "No thanks needed, Mira. You got this because you're good at what you do."

I stepped back, and my insecurities came right back once the euphoria of getting the job passed. "Youreallythink I can do this?"

"Mira, you can do anything you set your mind to," Nova remarked. "I don't think you know your own strength, but everyone around you can see it."

Once the paperwork was signed, I texted Beau:I got the job. We should celebrate.

I could splurge on a bottle of champagne. Or maybe sparkling wine would be more affordable. I had about two hundred dollars left in my account, and I could and would spend part of the money to pour some wine into a glass, and toast my new job with my man. I had a home, a car, andI had a job. I didn't have to count each penny anymore.

Beau texted back:Just get back.

Me:Is everything okay?

Beau:Yes.

That didn't sound likeanythingwas okay. I decided to forego the bubbly and get home.

Chapter 20

Beau

Iwas already annoyed with Mama for summoning me without much of an explanation. And now, seeing Anil and Seema Sen sitting stiffly in her living room, my patience was wearing thin.

The Sens looked well put together.

Anil, the lawyer, was in a crisp button-down and polished shoes. His shoes were Berluti, and his clothes were designer. His wife was in a wrap-dress, Diane von Furstenberg, and the bag on her side was Chanel, which probably cost thirty thousand dollars if not more. A far cry from Mira's twelve ninety-nine tote bag.

Mira's father rose and held out his hand. "Anil Sen."

I shook it. His wife followed, and introduced herself.

"I invited them," Mama explained before I could ask what the fuck these people were doing in my mother's home. "Sit down, Beau. You want to hear them out."

I sat down on an armchair but didn't relax. I didn't like this, not at all. I felt like I was betraying Mira by talking to her parents without her.

"Would you like a drink, sweetheart?" Mama asked.

"Sure." I turned to Tansy, her housekeeper. "Tansy, hon, can you get me a beer. Mama has some IPAs I left behind."

"Sure, Beau." Tansy went to find my beer, and I leaned forward, dropping my forearms on my knees, waiting.

The Sens looked controlled, like they were preparing themselves for something difficult. My mother looked smug, her eyes darting between us as if waiting for something to explode.

If these assholes were here to take my kid away, they had another think coming. No fucking way.

Tansy came back and set a beer poured into a glass next to me. "Thanks, hon."

She looked around the room, and I saw my mother shake her head at her. Tansy left, the signal clear, this was aprivateconversation. Not that there was anything that happened in my mother's house that Tansy didn't know about—just as Roxy knew everything that happened in mine.

"Beau." Anil leaned forward as I had, rested his elbows on his knees and steepled his hands. It was a classic,I'm on your side and hence have positioned myself like youmove. "Thank you for meeting with us. We wouldn't have asked for your time if it wasn't important."

"I didn'tknowI was meeting with you." I looked pointedly at my mother. "This, Mr. Sen, feels very much like an ambush."

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