Page 16 of The Ex Factor

“Don’t get too comfortable. Your first meeting is in fifteen minutes. I hope you are prepared. Do you need Vaishali to sit in with you?”

“She owns the codes, so yes, I want her here. Make sure she brings the notes from last week.”

Devi nodded and began to walk away. “How was you meeting last night?” she turned at the door and asked.

“It was alright,” I said with my eyes deliberately planted on my computer.

“You think she’ll be open to negotiating on the rent?”

“It’s a difficult call. We’ll see what happens. She’s coming here at six.”

“She’s cominghere?”

I nodded, still pretending to be deeply engrossed in my screen.

Devi closed the door and stepped back in. “I thought you were meeting her at Marco’s, that you were going to use food as one of your bargaining positions.”

“Change of plans,” I said solemnly. “She’s coming here. And email her office the address.”

“But I’ll be gone. I have Katya’s violin recital today, I told you.”

“I won’t need you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Email them the address.”

She hesitated at the door but left without another word.

At five minutes to six,Aarti’s tall figure appeared outside my door. I promptly got up and invited her in.

She wore a knee-length skirt like last night, a deep blue against yesterday’s black, with a light blue silk shirt and a stylish McQueen blazer. Obviously, I would’ve never known this if not for my brand-savvy sister-in-law and her frequent insistencethat I go shopping with them. One of her many attempts to get me out of the house after my breakup.

“This is a very nice office!” Aarti said as she entered and scanned the tastefully decorated space.

“Thank you, long years of sweat and hard work to come up with just the right furniture, the right art.”

“Or money, a lot of it,” she countered matter-of-factly. “And a fantastic interior decorator.”

I killed a chuckle as she looked over my shoulder to gaze at the city lights behind me, glimmering against the darkening sky. I realized why she had asked to meet in my office instead of the restaurant. She wanted a peek at the space, and now that she had, she knew exactly what it was worth.

Impressed and intrigued, I invited her to take a seat on the plush leather couch away from my desk. I lowered myself to a chair across from her.

“I hope you’re not thinking of evicting us so you can rent out this place for a higher price, now that you know how spacious these offices are.”

She shrugged elegantly, placing her bag beside her. “That’s one option,” she said, crossing her legs. She appeared more somber this evening.

“Let’s talk about the numbers you’ve sent us,” I said promptly.

This was a business meeting and the sooner we established this connection, the sooner we’d get over the weird one that linked us currently.

“We are not charging any more than the going rate in the area,” she replied coolly and unhurriedly. It was a perfect power move to my impatience.

“But it’s three times the amount we’re paying,” I countered, now matching her tone. “Three times what we’ve paid for the last several years.”

“Walter was soft. He lowballed the rent for all his properties, initially out of inexperience but then out of the goodness of his heart. And look where that’s gotten him. He let his emotions run his business into the ground. He’s had to sell three of his toniest buildings.”

“To you?”

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