Power: Power Series #1

by Victoria Woods

  “There’s not much on him, either. Just old information and photos like with Tarun. Their IT team did one hell of a job concealing them. He died not too long ago, and obviously, nothing new has surfaced on him since then.” He had taken out his phone and searched through it as he spoke. “Here.”

  I took it from him. It was a photo of a brown-skinned man, bruised and bloodied. He looked to be about Jai’s age, late twenties. His face was round, like in the old photo of Tarun that I had seen, but it wasn’t as full. He was missing the birthmark that Tarun had on his neck. The eyes were also close-set like Tarun’s, but they were closed. He was dead.

  “Scroll to the next one.”

  I swiped my finger and another photo appeared. It was another Indian man but with lighter skin, and even heavier set than the last one. This man was alive and not beaten. He had light-brown eyes and looked different from the previous man that I had seen. The only thing that was the same were his narrowly set eyes.

  “What am I looking at now?” I asked, confused.

  “That’s also Tarun’s brother.”

  I stared at the picture in disbelief. Prosthetics. He must have been wearing heavy prosthetics in the second photo to change his appearance.

  “The same one?! That’s insane. He looks so different.”

  “He had been working in our network in New York in disguise. We stripped his prosthetics after he died to see what he really looked like. Then we took the first photo you saw. The second photo is one we captured when he was alive and in disguise. I was hoping we could get a hit using either of these photos, but we had no luck with older versions of facial-recognition software.” He took the phone back from me when I offered it to him. “They are already uploaded to our shared cloud for your use. Since your software has higher accuracy for people of color and accounts for cloaking, I know we’ll have a higher chance of finding Tarun using it.”

  It all made sense. We just needed someone to take a current photo of Tarun and compare it to photos of his brother with and without prosthetics for hits. The photo captured would carry the coordinates of where the photo was taken too, so we would be able to track him down. It sounded simple, but Tarun was an expert at hiding.

  “How did his brother die?” I asked Jai to piece together more information about our enemy.

  Silence. He just stared at me, but his eyes conveyed everything I needed to know.

  “Never mind,” I said, dropping my gaze and shaking my head. I didn’t need to hear the words to know that Shyam and Jai had killed him.

  He lowered his voice to a more serious tone. “You know what we do. We’re not spoiled corporate chumps who spend our time on the golf course or sailing yachts. We’re dangerous men who work hard for our money. You need to come to terms with that if you’re going to be Shyam’s girlfriend.”

  This was the first time he had addressed my relationship with his brother. I didn’t know how much he knew about our intimate relationship, but I assumed brothers talked.

  “I’m not sure we’re together in that way, so to speak.” I didn’t feel comfortable sharing much, so I didn’t elaborate any further.

  “Really? Because he kept you his little secret when you started here. He’s never been shy about his other women, but he’s been surprisingly tight-lipped about you.”

  "His other women?” I repeated quietly. For all I knew, he could be seeing other women in addition to me. We had never discussed being exclusive, so it would be fair if he slept with other women, but the idea made my stomach drop.

  “Well, the other past women. I haven’t seen him with anyone else since you came around. Except last Friday, with that stripper.”

  Last Friday? That was the night he had told me about his parents and then taken me completely. Was he with another woman when I called him from the bar? He’d fucked me without protection after her. I felt sick to my stomach. I tasted bile in my mouth.

  Jai’s phone buzzed with a text. He focused on his screen, seemingly oblivious to the tears of anger that threatened to fall from my eyes.

  “Oh shit. Gotta go, love. Drug-dealer emergency.” He rushed out of my office to sort out whatever needed his attention, leaving me alone to stew in my dread.

  XVIII. Shyam

  Ten fucking crates of product—all intercepted. My men prepared the shipment and loaded it onto the cargo ship for delivery. When the cargo arrived at the port in Barcelona, our crates had been emptied, leaving only the computer hardware we used to hide our product. We were able to hack into the video security system used at both ports, but nothing suspicious was discovered from the footage.

  Our client was livid. They assumed that we were responsible for the loss and were taking advantage of them, but I had had my most trustworthy men work this job, so I knew they weren’t responsible for what had happened. Someone had sabotaged our shipment, and my gut led me to one culprit—Tarun.

  We couldn’t continue doing business like this. Every shipment we sent out was at risk of being stolen or destroyed. We had lost our client in Barcelona because of it. They had been our major distributor in Spain, and our stronghold within the country was now destroyed. No doubt they had already moved on to sign a contract with Tarun and his men. This shit would keep happening until we destroyed Tarun. There was absolutely no way we could both continue to conduct business while the other was alive, and I had no plans on dying anytime soon. I was impatient, and I needed Jai and Amelia to locate him now.

  Jai entered our suite at Nirvana just after I had finished getting details about the raid. It was daytime, so the club was closed to the public, and our employees had yet to clock in to start prepping for the evening. The suite was more private than my office at Sethi Tech to discuss our next steps.

  “What took you so long?” I barked at him.

  I was fed up with his tardiness whenever shit hit the fan. I had always excused it before because he was a genius. Without him, our business wouldn’t have thrived the way it had before Tarun started meddling in our affairs. But Jai was aware of his brilliance too, and his ego made him think the world revolved around him.

  I was the opposite. I was always prompt to meetings, if not early. I hated waiting on him, and with how much rage was bubbling in me right now, I wasn’t too shy to kick his ass to teach him a lesson.

  “Relax. I’m here now,” he shot back. He took the seat across from me, facing my desk.

  “Our business is up in smoke and you’re waltzing in here like it’s no big deal.” I was annoyed and ready to strike at anyone in my line of fire. It was probably a good thing we were here instead of at the office, where I’d probably have lashed out at innocent employees.

  “Shut the fuck up. You know I care. Why else would I be here now?” he said in an attempt to placate me in his immature, brotherly way. “I was with your girlfriend at the office.”

  I knew who he was talking about. My curiosity was piqued; I felt a pang of desire whenever I heard anyone refer to her at the office. However, when my brother mentioned her, it was usually to get a rise out of me, and I never let him down. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  His eyebrow raised with skepticism. “You sure about that? You seem to be overly sensitive when it comes to her.”

  “She’s vital to locating Tarun. That’s all. It’s not like I can depend on you to do it on your own.” I knew it was a low blow, but he had pushed a button, and I was not in the mood to be harassed.

  “I don’t know why you won’t just admit that you care about her. You damn near ripped apart her office when you saw me talking to her on her first day.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, brushing him off.

  “I get it, man,” he continued. “She’s beautiful, smart, and has a sweet personality.”

  “Sweet? Since when do you use the word ‘sweet’?” I mocked.

  “You know what I mean. She’s innocent. I get the appeal. Hell, if you weren’t with her, I’d try to hit it.” He leaned back in his chair, flashin
g his cheesiest lover-boy smile.

  I growled at his statement. I didn’t do girlfriends, but she was mine to be whatever I wanted her to be until I was done. “Drop it,” I snarled.

  “Fine. But it speaks volumes, how worked up you are right now. I’ve never seen you this way over a woman. Not even Salena.”

  I knew he’d bring Salena up. She was the daughter of a former distributor. Our fathers had made the arrangement for our marriage. I never wanted to get married, but I didn’t have a say in the matter, until my father passed away. Breaking the contract that our fathers had set in place had angered Salena’s father and caused him to place his loyalties with Tarun. We fell out of contact after I broke things off.

  I sighed in resignation. “Look, we need her if we want to take Tarun down before he destroys our business any further.”

  “You don’t love her, do you?” he pressed, disregarding my denial.

  “What?!” I nearly fell out of my chair. He had to be joking. I didn’t do love. I had always admired my parents’ marriage. They had had an arranged marriage but had developed feelings for each other as the years had carried on. The fact that they had loved each other so much, right up to their dying days, had shaped my view of marriage as something that was to be taken seriously.

  I didn’t love Salena when we were engaged, but I thought it would come with time. I soon found out I wasn’t made for that type of commitment. I was the biggest criminal in North America and liked to fuck whenever and wherever I wanted. I had too much respect for the sanctity of marriage to tarnish it with my lifestyle. If I were ever to settle down, I would respect my significant other too much to put her through what my mother had endured while she was married to my father. His lifestyle had killed her. She hadn’t deserved the death she had received.

  I lusted after Amelia. She had a way of disarming me. It was why I had shared my past with her, and for her to understand why I needed her help with tracking Tarun. I had never told another woman about how my parents had died and my need for revenge, but I had felt that it was necessary to share my past to get her invested in our cause.

  I had thought that if I fucked her once, I’d have my fill and get my need out of my system. But instead, I wanted more. I had never tasted pussy like hers before. So sweet and smooth. Thoughts of her coming around my dick and screaming my name distracted me at the office. I was hard anytime I thought of her. I couldn’t resist her lips when I saw her during the day.

  But I refused to ever be that man who settled down with one woman. I had had that arrangement once before, and I had sworn I would never do it again. I planned to continue my life in the underworld until the day I left this Earth. I would fuck around as much as I wanted. I would never do that behind a girlfriend or wife’s back. I wasn’t a cheater, and I refused to sneak around behind my woman’s back to get pussy.

  So, no, I would never love Amelia.

  Seeing my shock, Jai replied, “Okay, okay. I see from your reaction that I’ve hit a nerve. You should probably let her know that you don’t love her, if it’s really true.”

  “Why?” I was confused.

  “When I was with her, I mentioned that stripper you were cozying up to last week and she freaked out. She thought I didn’t see, but she was about to cry when I told her.”

  “What the fuck, Jai?” This was worse than I had anticipated. I hadn’t fucked Tara, but Amelia probably assumed I had because of my brother’s big mouth. We had never discussed seeing each other exclusively. I had thought it was understood that this was just a casual thing, but I must have misled her by treating her tenderly and letting her sleep over after our first night together. Now, I felt like I had to explain myself to Amelia. This was exactly why I didn’t want a monogamous relationship. The frustration was giving me a migraine.

  “How would I know she’d react that way? I didn’t think she was in love with you or anything.”

  “Do me a favor. Stay out of it from now on. And stop running your mouth with her. Her only role that concerns you is ‘employee,’ nothing else.”

  “Yes, bhaiya.” Big brother. He used to call me that when we were younger out of respect. Now, he used it whenever he felt like I was lecturing him too much.

  “Now that we’re done with the girl talk, we need to discuss saving our business.” Tarun was going to die.

  *****

  Jai and I spent the rest of the day strategizing. We conference-called our men in India to fill them in. Our men would be ramping up security on pending shipments and chaperoning the shipments until they reached our clients.

  We couldn’t hold off any longer on finding Tarun. I needed him gone. The next step was a meeting with Amelia to discuss the facial-recognition software.

  Amelia. Jai’s words from earlier were seared in my mind.

  I needed her for her programming skills, but I couldn’t continue a sexual relationship with her if she was in love with me. This had to remain casual or we could have nothing at all. I wouldn’t lead her on.

  After finishing up at Nirvana, I texted her, saying that we needed to talk.

  When she didn’t reply, I called but reached her voicemail instead. I knew she was at home because she used the driver that I had arranged for her. I was livid that she was ignoring me, so I had my driver take me to her apartment.

  In the car, I loosened the knot on my tie to ease the tension festering inside. I was angry at Tarun for everything he had done to sabotage my family and business. I was angry at Jai for running his mouth. I was angry at Amelia for ignoring me. I balled my hands into fists on my thighs, ready to punch something in my fury.

  We pulled up to her building. It didn’t have a doorman or a lobby. I didn’t like the idea of her staying in a building without good security.

  I knew the access code from the information I had found in her file from my men. I punched it in, unlocking the main door. I nearly yanked it off its hinges.

  I stormed up to her door. The rage inside of me was spilling over. I banged on her door with my fist so loud that I was sure her neighbors had felt the floors shake.

  I heard rustling inside and then footsteps approaching the door. The sounds paused for a moment. I knew she was looking at me through the peephole.

  The locks clicked and then the door opened. Amelia stood in the doorway with her hand on the knob, ready to slam the door in my face. Her face said it all. She was just as pissed as I was, but for different reasons.

  Her beautiful red hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head and her mascara was smudged. I could tell she had been crying because her eyes were red and swollen. She wore a thin white t-shirt with no bra underneath, and black yoga leggings that clung to her full hips. My cock stirred at what I saw through her shirt. Her nipples stood at attention underneath, as if her body were turned on at the mere sight of me, despite her heavy emotions.

  “When I call, you answer the fucking phone. Understand?” My voice roared like thunder.

  Her jaw dropped in shock. She was raging like a hurricane. “You have some nerve to come over here and yell at me,” she hissed.

  I was sure her neighbors had a front-row view of our confrontation, and I wasn’t in the mood for an audience. I grabbed her waist with both hands and lifted her off the floor.

  “Hey! Put me down!” She flailed her body to get me to loosen my grip.

  I carried her inside and kicked the door shut. Her apartment was small, so her living room was the bedroom. I threw her down on the full-sized bed. She landed on her back with a bounce. I noticed the way her tits shook from the impact. She quickly planted her feet on the floor and righted herself, glaring at me, even more pissed than before.

  “Where was your phone?” I had steadied my voice, but my anger was still evident.

  She scoffed at me and put her hands on her hips. “Why do you care? Are your strippers not entertaining enough?” As if with satisfaction at her own scrappiness, she grinned. I admired her more when she was feisty. I liked it when she fought me.
<
br />   “Actually, no. They’re not.”

  She was surprised by my response. She must have expected me to raise my voice and deny her implications, but I was an expert at winning arguments. I changed my tactic. The element of surprise always gave one the upper hand in a disagreement. “Are you jealous of my extracurricular activities?”

  I knew the answer from the way her face reddened. Jai was right. She might not necessarily love me, but she did have feelings for me, or she wouldn’t have cared.

  “No.” Her reply was laced with untruth. I had to play this carefully. I needed to make her understand that this was a casual relationship for me. Nothing more.