“Don’t ever speak of any of that again.”Fear laced the man’s words.“Our children’s and grandchildren’s lives depend on it.”
“I’m talking to you, stupid man. And if ghosts haunt this godforsaken place, I hope they take mercy on us hearing my words. And I hope they choke the life out of Sir, Arun Joshi, and those corrupt diamond Patel brothers. Let’s add the other jerks to it too. They all deserve to die.”
“What has come over you? Do you have any self-preservation left?”
“No. I know Sir is hiding the Circle’s buyers list. I’m going to hand it over to Dani. She’ll know what to do with it.”
“You are making assumptions. There is no proof he’s part of it.”
“I can’t believe I stayed married to you for so long. Thank God our children got their brains from me. As Jayna would say, grow a pair of lady balls or get out of the way.”
“Your language is completely disrespectful.”
“I’m a woman in my sixties. It’s time I said what was on my mind. Now get out of my way so I can open that panel he thinks no one knows exists. Are all men this stupid? He has to realize the people who run his house know where everything is.”
“Don’t lump me with him.”
“Oh, so now you agree he isn’t some innocent?”
“Woman, stop putting words in my mouth. I never said he was innocent.”
I would have laughed at the crazy banter between the couple if only I could wrap my mind around all they’d revealed.
A panel slid open near my face, and immediately I froze. Then came a shuffle of papers.
“Oh dear Lord, some of these records are over thirty-five years old. I don’t understand what this means. Is this what he negotiated with Joshi? That poor child. Tell me that he isn’t evil. All of these men are pure evil.”
“Kala, we need to leave this room now. Put everything back.”A panic lit his voice, telling me whatever he’d seen was worse than they expected.
Now I knew who the couple was. It was Kala, the Shah family chef. And her husband was Nimesh, Shah’s butler for the last twenty years.
“I’m so happy Dani and Jayna escaped this place. I have no doubt he would have forced them into this. He would have sold them to one of these criminals. That one, Skylar Anton. He was here only two days ago. His son—this is so horrible.”
Now we had the name of the last member of the Circle—oil billionaire, Skylar Anton.
“Why won’t you listen? Someone will find out we came in here.”
“Give me your phone. I have to send this to Dani. She’ll know who to contact. At least Dani can stop the next one.”
“Are you crazy? Sir pays for this line. We can’t risk him finding out we know.”
“Then what are we going to do? I won’t be able to live with myself knowing I stood by and let him or that group continue to do this. We were trapped before. We aren’t anymore.”
“We’ll come back.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I promise. The corruption is beyond anything I expected. I know who to contact.”
“Who?”
“First, put everything back. Then, when we are in our quarters, I’ll tell you.”
She sighed, and a few seconds later, the panels closed. Then, the door clicked and the hardwood creaked, telling me the couple had left this wing of the house.
Who would have believed a last-minute recon job would turn into an information windfall?
For weeks, I’d endured dinner after dinner with endless conversations about Neil and me producing the next generation of Joshis. And all I’d needed to do was crawl through a tiny space meant for a child and eavesdrop.