Page 41 of Power

I stalked down the hall to the group of conference rooms where I knew he held his meetings. Only one room had a “RESERVED” sign on the digital monitor outside of the door. The privacy blinds had been drawn, so I figured that was the room that he was in.

I put my hand on the doorknob, and for a moment, a sliver of clarity broke through.This is way too dramatic, Becker.The good angel on my shoulder was probably right. But the bad angel on the other was fucking pissed at being bossed around by a control freak. I turned the knob and pushed into the room.

Eight men in perfectly tailored suits and with leather portfolios and fancy fountain pens on the table in front of them drew their attention toward me.Shit. Maybe I should have listened to that good angel.

I knew all the men sitting in the room because we had offices on the same floor, and I had seen them in passing. They stared at me with confusion and interest.

Jai was seated at the far end of the table. Judging from his expression, he was trying to suppress a laugh. He knew who I was looking for and was totally here for the show about to take place.

Shyam sat at the head of the table, glaring at me. He did not find my intrusion as amusing as Jai did. I stood my ground and faced off with him wordlessly, glaring back with such fire in my eyes that he finally rose to his feet and pressed his knuckles into the table before him.

“Leave.” His voice was low but full of venom. No one questioned him, or even spoke. They left their belongings behind and filed out of the room in silence.

Jai remained seated and crossed his ankle over his knee, getting ready for the drama about to unfold before him.

“Get the fuck out,” Shyam growled at his brother without even looking in his direction.

“Shit. I never get to stay for the fun,” Jai joked as he strolled toward the door.

He stopped to nudge me playfully with his elbow on the way out and whispered, “Godspeed.” He closed the door behind himself.

I started before Shyam had a chance to talk. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

He raised his eyebrow at my choice of words. I rarely ever cursed aloud, so I was sure he was surprised by what had come out of my mouth.

“Your boss,” he replied, asserting his dominance over me. “Care to explain to me why you interrupted my meeting?”

“You had HR cancel my vacation!” I said, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?” His voice remained steady, unlike mine.

I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. “Why else would they approve it and then deny it?”

“I need you to work next week.”

“Over Thanksgiving? That’s bullshit,” I snapped, resting my hands on my hips as I waited for a better response.

Trying to distract me from the purpose of my tirade, he said, “That mouth of yours has certainly become dirty, hasn’t it?”

I ignored him and pressed on. “I had plans! My mom is expecting me. I already booked my tickets.”

“Cancel them. She’ll understand,” he said as if it were no big deal. Maybe it wasn’t to him, but my mom was important to me.

“No! Practically the entire company is on vacation next week, except for me? That’s not fair!”

“I will not be on vacation. I will be working too.” He probably never took a vacation. I couldn’t imagine him snapping pictures on the streets of Rome with gelato in hand like a tourist.

“Shyam, I miss my mom. I want to see her. Why are you doing this?” I pleaded.

He stayed quiet, deep in his own thoughts. He was hiding something from me.

I walked around the table to where he stood. “Hey,” I said gently as I put my hand on his bicep. He turned his face to look me in my eyes. “Talk to me.”

He let out a huge sigh. “Salena is engaged to Tarun.”

“What? How do you know?” I knew he didn’t talk to her anymore, so I was confused about how he’d know that. Was he bothered that Tarun was involved or that his ex-fiancée was taken?

“Someone sent an untraceable photo of her in engagement clothes,” he said, sounding almost detached.

---