Page 30 of Empowered

Our lips moved together saying everything else that we wanted to say to each other, but couldn’t wait any longer to say. I tasted his masculine flavor mixed with my salty tears. Our tongues welcomed each other again as lovers, exploring territory that had been neglected for too long.

Shyam pulled away first, causing me to groan in protest.

“Did I hurt you?” he asked, touching the bandages on my cheek.

“Not at all.” I smiled to reassure him of my honesty. “Maybe just a little bit with this,” I said, pulling on his short beard.

He chuckled. “Not a fan of facial hair?”

“Not usually. But on you, it’s sexy.”

“Don’t worry, it’s going away.”

“Why?”

“I refused to shave when I thought you died, then I sort of promised myself not to do it until I found you,” he replied.

I laughed. “That’s an interesting promise to make to yourself.”

He chuckled. “I was a little too preoccupied to care about my looks.”

“You still look like heaven, though,” I teased, winking playfully.

He kissed my forehead. “You need your rest,jaan.”

I felt a little tired, but I wasn’t ready for him to leave me alone just yet. “Will you stay with me?”

He kicked off his shoes and undid the buttons on his shirt. Laying back against the pillows so I could tuck into his side, he said, “I was planning on it.”

Chapter XX

Shyam

Reorganizing the business after Tarun died was giving me a chronic headache. He was our major competitor, so with him gone, it meant that we now ruled the empire.

After Amelia killed him, Zayn retrieved Salena’s body while I carried Amelia out of the venue. Jai detonated the rest of the explosives and narrowly escaped with the rest of our men, leaving Tarun’s palace in ruins. Most of his men were killed, and those who weren’t were executed. We couldn’t risk any of his men with inside knowledge being free to associate with the rest of the drug network while we rebuilt our business.

The takeover of Tarun’s clients was successful. Distributors didn’t have much of a choice as to where their supply came from anymore. Clients were more than eager to bend over backward to be in my good graces again. In the drug trade, clients were rarely unconditionally loyal. Loyalty could be bought using enough money and an ounce of deceit. I would do business with them but would never forget how easily they had defected. Though, just the news of Jai and I taking down Tarun was enough to scare the shit out of the underworld. I didn’t anticipate having another issue anytime soon.

Whenever Amelia was sleeping after taking her pain medication, I spent most of my time holed up in my office with Jai, going over accounts and making calls to coordinate shipments. Since Jai was a tech genius, it was easy to run our business from India instead of New York. We were able to access all the files that we needed and teleconference with our men who were running our factories in the States. Jai had to set up new accounts on our server for the new clients we had attained from Tarun.

Zayn also helped in the field to convert all Tarun’s factories to become manufacturers for our products. It was a massive endeavor, but I couldn’t be happier having the Sethi name as the major producer of product in the world. The dynasty finally belonged to us, and it was time to clean up shop.

Behind my desk, Jai was busy on his laptop, manually adding new accounts. It was a tedious job, but we didn’t have access to Tarun’s software to import any of the information we needed. Meanwhile, I was busy reading through files on new clients. I had my men run extensive background checks on clients who were strictly from Tarun’s original network—the network his father had intended for him to run without encroaching on mine. I was combing through the files to familiarize myself with the bullshit Tarun was involved in with them and memorize anything I could use to bribe them in the future if needed.

Jai stood up from his chair and stretched his arms overhead. He walked to the bar and busied himself with a drink before offering me a glass of scotch of my own.

“Thanks.” I took a sip, thankful for something to wet my throat. I placed the glass down on the coffee table and returned to my reading.

Jai took a seat across from me. “You have a farmer’s tan on your face,” he said, pointing his glass toward my freshly shaven cheeks.

I smoothed my hand over my jaw. The Indian sun had tanned my skin except where it had been covered by my beard. My skin tone would even out in a matter of days with how strong the sun was. “Shut up. I still look better than you.”

He chuckled. “What does Amelia think of it?”

“She prefers me without the facial hair,” I said, thumbing through another file.

“How is she doing?” he asked.

---