She was never allowed to have a pet back in India because her parents always said that animals in the house were bad luck. After she moved to the U.S., school, marriage, getting her business off the ground had taken up so much of her time that all she could do was play with the puppies at the shelter periodically. There had also been Robert’s allergies. Now that he was going to be out of her life, and she was starting over, she’d finally get that dog she always wanted.
With images of warm snuggling dogs in her head, Raj grabbed her bag and opened the front door. She almost ran straight into her ex-husband. Robert stood on her stoop with a fist raised, ready to knock.
“Is there a reason why you’re knocking on my door during the workday?”
His mouth pursed. “Is there a reason why you’re home during a workday?”
“I don’t believe that’s your business anymore.”
He leaned forward, peering into the house. “And you’re alone? You’re usually swarmed with assistants and staff.”
“Not your business, Mr. Douglass. Your turn.”
“I’m on my way to a client meeting nearby,” he said as he ran a hand down his silk tie before adjusting his Windsor knot. “I decided to stop here to get the last of my boxes. Raj, you are keeping the company, the house, and most of the money. Surely you can afford to also retain the housekeeper to open your door.”
“Don’t be salty, darling,” she said, flipping a lock of hair behind her shoulder. “You knew the terms when you signed the prenup. My business, my money, my property. Besides, you will be receiving a nice little settlement.”
He rolled his eyes. “A tenth of our joint savings is nothing and you know it.”
“Well, good thing you have your trust fund, then.” She patted his cheek and stepped aside so that he could enter.
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Yes,” she said. “But you know that. I’ll be nice, though. How do you like your new life, your new apartment?”
He looked around the foyer as if he hadn’t seen it a million times when he’d lived in the house with her. “It’s actually more to my taste than I imagined. I’ve only been there for a few days now, but I have to say, the view from Battery Park is definitely a beautiful sight to see in the morning.”
“I envy you. This brownstone feels more and more like the investment we originally purchased it for. You said you left some boxes here?”
“Yes, and since you were so hasty in changing the keypad codes for the doors, I had to knock. I’m missing a few things that I’d packed away from college. Do you think Kaka can get them for me and bring them out to my car?”
Raj shook her head. “Kaka is busy. He’s leaving for India in a few hours.”
“Again?” He blanched. “Christ. I know that you grew up with him helping you in your family’s house, but he’s taking advantage of you.”
“My house, my rules.” She hated when he criticized the way that she treated Kaka. Robert would never understand how Kaka had protected her and continued to do so even though he was in his seventies now.
Her ex-husband held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll get the boxes and get out of your hair.”
She stepped to the side and waited while he and his driver crossed the foyer and descended the spiral staircase to the lower level. They returned two minutes later. Robert held one small filing box, while his driver had three stacked on top of each other.
Raj held open the door for them to exit, hoping there would be no more small talk, but she wasn’t that lucky. He paused and leaned against the doorjamb.
“Oh, before I go, my assistant got a call from your brother a couple days ago.”
Raj froze. “My brother?”
“Yes. I don’t know how he got my number. Probably those mob connections of his.”
Raj rolled her eyes. “Not everything my family does is mob related.”
“Yeah, try to sell that to the next idiot. Either way, I didn’t speak to your brother directly. I just know that he’s been trying to get in touch with you, and he can’t get through.”
That was because after the last time he’d visited, she had blocked him on pretty much every phone line she had. Guru must’ve been desperate if he reached out to Robert.
“Just ignore any other calls you get from him. I’ll handle it.”
“Sounds good. I never liked him or the rest of your family.”
“I doubt they care since they didn’t like you, either.”
Robert grinned. “A relief, if you ask me. Now if only you’d stay away from another Indian family.”
Of course he’d bring it up. “If you’re fishing for information . . .”
“I saw the way you looked together last weekend,” he said. His tone was as grumpy as that of a child who’d been denied a favorite toy. “People saw you leave the hall together.” Color flooded his cheeks as he scowled at her.
“We were having a conversation that was none of your business.”
“Well, it’s become my business if you want to lead the Gen One Foundation. My name is going to come up, Raj. I work for WTA now, and if you’re involved with Bharat, our relationship, past and present, will be dissected.”
She knew he was right, but in that moment, she couldn’t care less what people said about her or her sham marriage. “See you in three months, Robert.”
He let out a sigh. “Fine. Be that way. See you soon, Raj.”
She watched as he handed the last box over for his driver to put in the trunk before he ducked into the backseat of the black sedan.
“Three months,” she said again. Three months and then her divorce would be official. It wasn’t fast enough, in Raj’s mind, but it would have to do.
Raj was still thinking about her conversation with Robert when she arrived at the Thai place downtown. What could her brother possibly want from her now?
She’d gone to extremes to separate herself from her father’s drug-trafficking empire. It was a lucrative business in Punjab where there was a drug crisis, but that wasn’t the life Raj had wanted to live.
Now that she was on the verge of a divorce and looking into pursuing a philanthropy career, Guru could come back into her life and do so much more harm to her reputation. She’d have to figure out his motive, his angle, and effectively cut him off. He’d bested her the last time he visited by giving her ultimatums, and when she wouldn’t agree, destroyed all ties between Raj and the rest of the family, including her mother.
The driver had pulled to a stop in front of a charming building with arched windows.
“Here we are,” he said.
“So soon?” she mused.
He gave her a startled look over his shoulder. “Ma’am, it took us twenty minutes to get to Midtown.”
“Ah. Okay, well, I’ll text you when I’m done. It shouldn’t be more than an hour or so.” She slid out of the car, and a few steps later, stepped into a dimly lit restaurant. The seating area was filled with deep violet loveseats clustered in groups of two and four. Long white marble tables matched the crystal and white chandeliers. Most of the lunch crowd had left, but a few suits were lingering over empty dishes.