Page 33 of Power

Shyam didn’t utter a word. Instead, he took my coat from Jai’s hands and moved to the closet near the entrance to hang it up.

“Awkward,” Jai sang in a low voice.

“Tell me about it,” I replied. If this were any indication of how the rest of the night would go, our meeting wouldn’t be very productive.

“So,” Jai started. “I kind of told him that you knew about the strip club. He got all weird when I told him.”

Shyam had never directly addressed the strip club the night he’d charged into my apartment, so I hadn’t known that Jai had already told him. But I was starting to piece everything together. Shyam was probably pissed at Jai for saying anything to me. And from the way I had reacted, he had probably realized I had developed feelings for him.

“You!” I exclaimed while still trying to keep my voice no louder than a whisper. The last thing I needed was for Mr. Noncommittal to overhear us. “That’s why he’s being so cold with me!”

“Yeah, probably not the best move on my part. Sorry ’bout that.” Jai grinned apologetically.

Before I could shout-whisper at Jai some more, Shyam returned to us.

“What can I get you to drink, Amelia?” he asked in his deep voice.

The way he’d said my name ignited something in my core. I raised my gaze to see his face fixed in an intense expression, like he was studying me. His words had been polite, but his eyes were expectant. My mouth suddenly felt parched.

“Uh. Water is fine. Thank you.” I gave a quick and awkward smile.

He nodded and walked to the bar to get my drink. I needed my head clear around him, so alcohol wouldn’t have been a good choice.

After he was out of earshot, Jai showed me to the dining table, where I assumed we would be holding our meeting. “I don’t know what he said to you, but I do know that he cares about you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“He doesn’t realize it yet. In case you haven’t noticed, he’s a stubborn asshole,” he said as he pulled out my chair. I sat down and put my bag on the floor next to me.

I tried to suppress my urge to laugh, but it just came out as a snort.

He walked to the opposite side and seated himself across from me. His laptop was already on the table, so I took mine out from my bag to set it up. Our laptops came with VPN access that was impenetrable to hackers, so it was very secure to access any data we had gathered at the lab.

“It’s true. He thinks he’s the most self-aware person on the planet, but he’s in denial,” Jai said.

“He was pretty convincing when he said that he just wanted to keep things casual.” I didn’t want to go into details about his brother forcing me into submission and making me suck him off in my apartment.

“I’m sure hewantsthat, but I’m not so sure that’s how he trulyfeels. But he told me to mind my own business, so I’m staying out of this,” he said teasingly, throwing his hands in the air in surrender.

“You have a funny way of staying out of things.” I smirked. He winked back at me.

Shyam appeared at the table and placed my water in front of me.

“Thanks,” I said nervously.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, his eyes lingering on mine for an extra moment.

He pulled out the seat to my right, at the head of the table. Sitting so close to him made me even more nervous than I had already been.Deep breath.I could do this. I was dressed to kill, and I wouldn’t let his proximity unnerve me.

Two more buff men joined us at the table, one sitting next to me on my left and the other sitting next to Jai.

“Saran, have the new security measures been implemented successfully?” Shyam asked, starting the meeting.

The man next to me was larger than the chair that he sat in. His biceps were barely contained by his shirt and were covered in tattoos. He directed his focus toward Shyam when he spoke. “Our most recent shipments to France and Brazil have arrived without event. We’ve had two men dressed as armed security guards on each shipment.”

“Javed, how much are we producing per day?” Shyam focused on the man sitting next to Jai. He was just as big as Saran, but his face was fixed into a permanent scowl, making him look more menacing. I was glad there was a table separating us.

“About twenty kilos. We needed to scale back on production since sales decreased,” Javed offered, his voice rough like gravel.

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