Take a Chance on Me Read online

  Take a Chance on Me

  By Sapna Bhog

  First published in India in 2016 by Aarahan Publishers

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

  © 2016

  The copyrights of the contents in this book rest with the author.

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN : 978-93-8591-7080

  “Life without Love, is No Life at all”,

  − Leonardo da Vinci

  Preface

  The characters of this book came to me fully formed one day. I had never in my wildest imaginations ever thought of writing a book, let alone publishing one. But once the characters settled in my mind, they refused to go away and one day, I just opened my laptop and started to write and slowly but surely a story emerged. I have always been a lover of romance novels. They are happy books and have always made me smile. So when I reflect, it’s just natural that I have written a romance book.

  This book is truly a work of love and would have been impossible without the support and encouragement of some very special people.

  First off I would like to thank my husband Romel. His unwavering belief in me made it possible to take this book forward. You truly gave me my wings!

  My sister, Kiara, who read every revision without hesitation and gave her honest opinion each time. Archana, Navneet and Anu who were among the first to read this book and encouraged me to publish it. And finally, my friend, editor and publisher Nirja without whose support this book would never have seen the light of the day.

  Thank you all!

  Chapter 1

  “Damn, I am so late today.”

  Keya Karia swore softly to herself, tapping her hand impatiently on the steering wheel of her BMW X6, waiting for the signal to go green. The quarterly management meeting was scheduled to start at ten in the morning and she was already forty five minutes late. Being Technology Chief of Sehgal Systems, she was scheduled to make a presentation in fifteen minutes and she needed to rush. This meeting was extremely important and though they might forgive her the late coming, she surely wouldn’t be forgiven for missing her presentation slot.

  “Oh God, what a mess,” she said aloud.

  She had returned to Mumbai late last night after attending a successful business meeting in Vienna. The long hours she had put in the previous week, to ensure that the meeting was successful, had started taking their toll. She had woken up late, oversleeping, despite the shrill ring of her alarm. She had even skipped breakfast and driven as fast as she could in the chaotic, Monday morning, Mumbai traffic. But despite her best efforts she hadn’t yet made it to her office.

  The signal turned green and Keya pressed down on the accelerator, zipping as fast as she could till she finally entered the gates of the Sehgal Corporation and parked her car in the first available slot she found.

  Keya entered the lobby of her office building and rushed to catch the elevator just as the doors were about to close. She quickly pressed the button for the top executive floor and glanced at her face in the elevator’s mirror. This one quick glance was enough to confirm that a trip to ladies room was a must. Her hair looked unkempt and was all over her face. Shoulder length and dark, she usually tied it into a top knot, while at work. But today being the scuttle that it was, she had barely had time to run a comb through it. She could not go in for a meeting looking like she did!

  She exited the elevator in a half run and flashed her access card at the entrance door which swung open as she pushed. The board room was directly in front of her. She could see through its glass doors that the meeting was in full swing. She dashed down the left, towards the rest rooms, the sound of her heels muffled by the plush carpeted floor beneath her feet.

  As Keya rounded the corner, she walked straight into a human wall. The air escaped with a whoosh from her mouth and a second later she was falling backwards. Her eyes widened in panic knowing there was nothing she could do to stop her fall. But before she could hit the ground, strong hands reached forward and gripped her waist to steady her. She was now firmly held and realized that she was pressed against a very virile male body. She looked up to find herself drowning in eyes the color of molten honey and a face that could be on the cover of any glossy magazine. Her eyes widened in shock.

  This guy was simply gorgeous.

  He was fair with features so chiseled; it felt like they were carved out of rock. His dark hair was cropped and spiked as per the latest trend. On second thoughts, he must have been on the cover of a magazine, because she was certain that she had seen him before. Before she could consider that thought, his luscious and full lips were curving into a smile.

  It was obvious that she was staring. Belatedly she realized his hands were still holding her and she was pushed up against his chest.

  Suddenly she felt the strangest of sensations enveloping her body and mind. Every inch of her body that was in contact with his was growing warm. She shook herself out of this unknown reaction and stepped back from him.

  “I am sorry,” she told the stranger.

  She gave a regretful smile and a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I am in a hurry and I just didn’t see where I was going.”

  “No damage done,” he replied, smiling back at her.

  “Well, thanks for stopping my fall. I really need to rush now.”

  She gave him another smile and disappeared from his sight, as she turned the corner ahead of her.

  Kabier Sehgal was zapped. He couldn’t believe that his body had reacted so spontaneously to this unknown woman who had collided into him. She was about five-four, five-five max, with dark eyes, dark hair, and a creamy white complexion on a heart shaped face. She was definitely pretty, although not the type of woman he was normally attracted to. But, he thought with a wry smile, her body had curves at all the right places.

  Who was she and more importantly what was she doing on the executive floor of his company? Perhaps she was one of the assistants of the managers now currently in the board room.

  Well, there was no way he could know who she was! After all, he had just returned from London a month back, succumbing to pressure from his grandfather to take his place as the managing director of the Sehgal Corporation.

  His grandfather Janak Sehgal had started this company from scratch forty years ago and had built it to be one of the most successful business empires in the world. They had a foothold in several businesses starting from real estate, to hotels, automobiles, telecom and media and also IT. They had a presence in several countries. He himself was heading the US and European offices until recently, operating primarily out of London and New York.

  The ringing of his cell phone jolted him back to reality. After all, it was to answer this call that he had left the meeting! He checked the number on the screen and walked quickly towards his office which was in the left wing of the executive floor. The right wing being used by his grandfather. He shut his office door and stood facing his desk. He pushed the button on his cell to answer and said “Yes.”

  “Mr. Sehgal, I am calling from the investigative agency you…”

  “Yes, I know. Do you have the information I asked for?” Kabier said cutting off the guy.

  “Yes sir, my agency has gathered preliminary information that a woman was involved in the last two failed contracts with ACC.”

  “Do you have a name?” Kabier asked.

  “We suspect a woman, Keya Karia; she works as the Technology Chief in Sehgal Systems.”

  “What proof do you have that it was her?”

&nbsp
; “We have photographs which show her dining, recently, with the owner of one of your competitor organizations, Fortuna International.”

  “That’s not enough evidence to prove that it was this woman, Keya, who had passed on the necessary information,” Kabier said coldly.

  “True. But since the first contract was won by Fortuna International, the suspicion does pile up. Also, a source from the other competitor, Eclipse Systems, has confirmed that there was a woman involved, from Sehgal Systems, who gave them the information regarding the price that you were offering. Since Miss Keya is the only woman with apparent access to such information in the office, we are presuming it’s her.”

  The man paused to give Kabier time to digest this latest news before continuing.

  “Additionally, Miss Keya’s personal account shows two payments of fifty lakhs, one before the first transaction failed and the second after the second transaction failed. We haven’t yet been able to verify from which accounts the money was transferred.”

  Kabier was silent. The woman was getting paid extremely well for passing on sensitive information. But that was natural, he thought, since the contracts were worth multimillions of dollars for the organization that won them.

  He thought for a while. “What else do you know about this woman?”

  “She has a degree in software engineering from a reputed institute in Mumbai and has over the years studied and completed a part time course in Business Management while working with Sehgal Systems. She has grown very fast and very high in your organization. Being in the position she currently is in, gives her easy access to a lot of confidential information.

  Furthermore, she is only 27 years old, and from her photographs, appears to be very good looking.”

  The man hesitated. “There is one more thing, sir, rumor has it, that Miss Keya is involved with a very senior member of your organization.”

  “Who?” Kabier questioned, staring unseeingly outside, through the wide glass wall on one side of his office.

  “Mr. Janak Sehgal.”

  Kabier couldn’t believe what he had heard.

  “What? You do know what you are insinuating, right?”

  “Yes sir, in fact, if you check with your HR, you will see that Miss Keya was hired, five years back without any prior work experience, on the insistence of Mr. Janak, without even a formal interview round.”

  The man continued. “Miss Keya’s immediate family is a younger brother studying in England, whose education is being paid for by your grandfather.”

  “Additionally, she drives a latest model BMW car and has a plush apartment in Bandra. Both of these bought and paid for by your grandfather.”

  Kabier couldn’t believe he had heard the man correctly. What the hell was going on? Bandra was considered the most up market residential address in Mumbai. His own family home was a sea facing mansion in Bandstand, Bandra. Kabier had grown up in that house and though he had lived abroad for so many years, this house was and always would be home for him.

  His grandfather had built this house and had moved out, leaving it to his eldest son’s family, on the death of his beloved wife, some fifteen years back. His reason being, that every wall and corner of that home reminded him of his wife. Now he stayed in an apartment close by. Kabier smiled thinking of his grandfather.

  To overcome the loss of his wife, Janak Sehgal had put all his energy into his work, making his organization one of the most successful businesses in the world. Overnight, he had changed his lifestyle from family man to someone who worked hard and partied even harder. He realized that life was too short and he wanted to enjoy every minute of it. Hence, his affairs became legendary. Though he was old, Janak Sehgal had in no way lost his charm or charisma. He was tall, had high cheek bones, and a fair complexion now weathered by age. He was a dashing man despite the fact that his once dark hair was sprinkled with an abundance of grey. It was obvious that money was not the only thing that attracted women to him. He was extremely active on the Mumbai social scene and attended every event with a different woman on his arm. His women came and went and the only thing they had in common was that they were extremely beautiful and quite young.

  The older lot of Kabier’s family were embarrassed by his grandfather’s rather public display of his affairs. But, Kabier loved the old man to the core and he knew that all the partying and women were just a social front for a very lonely man.

  Two things did not fall into place here though. In the past his grandfather had never ever spent so much money on a woman and the second was that he couldn’t believe his grandfather was involved with one of his employees. He knew for a fact that, as a matter of principle, his grandfather never dated any of his staff.

  “Sir, are you there?” The voice on the phone interrupted his thoughts.

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll send the evidence that I have to your office by tomorrow.”

  “Fine.”

  “Is there anything more that you need from us?”

  “Not for the time being,” he said and ended the call.

  Over the last several years Janak Sehgal had taken a personal interest in only his software and media businesses. Though, he was chairman of the entire corporation, he had handed over the reins to his grandsons, Kabier, Sameer and Rishi. Kabier personally looked after the telecom business, apart from the European and American operations of the company. Now on his grandfather’s behest he would be taking over the software business too. This was the reason why he had been specifically asked to attend the quarterly meeting today. As far as he knew his grandfather hadn’t yet announced his decision regarding the media business. He was still at the helm of things there. The media business was extremely large, second only to the telecom business and everyone assumed that Kabier would take it up eventually, but his grandfather had yet to involve him in it. His cousin Sameer looked after the real estate and hotels part of the business and Sameer’s younger brother Rishi was involved in the automobile business.

  Each of them had been trained since childhood to excel at what they did and hence stepping into their respective business roles had come naturally to each of them. The three cousins were extremely close and looked up to each other for support and guidance whenever they needed it. Kabier smiled fondly, remembering his cousins. The two of them were extremely excited about Kabier taking over from their grandfather.

  Kabier had learnt of the two failed contracts, with ACC, last year during a board meeting of the Sehgal Corporation. They were both important contracts and losing them was a big blow to the software company’s financial estimations. It had been assumed that they would be winning these again, especially since these were renewal contracts with the same company. But his grandfather in his usual style had brushed them off saying, “you win some and you lose some, that they had bigger fish to fry and that’s what the software organization would work towards.”

  However, last month, Rishi had gotten a tip that there was some fraud involved in these two cases. On further investigation Rishi had found that the contracts were lost because the competitors were offering a better price.

  Being in the business for so long, Kabier knew that the rates that they offered for providing software services were incomparable to others so he was very surprised and suspicious. Therefore he had hired an investigative agency to dig deeper.

  He was now glad that he had. His suspicions were confirmed. Someone was selling sensitive information for a very high price and jeopardizing his company. Kabier had to tread carefully and find out what was going on.

  First things first. The foremost being, who the hell was Keya Karia? What influence did she have in his grandfather’s life? Why had he not heard of her or seen her in any of the newspapers/magazines that regularly flaunted the old man’s affairs?

  Ever since returning back to India last month, he had been meeting the key people in all his companies, as advised by his grandfather. But he hadn’t met Keya yet. Was his grandfather deliberately keeping her away from him? br />
  Today’s meeting was intended to present the quarterly report of the software arm of the Corporation namely Sehgal Systems. The entire management team of this company was here. Being the Technology Chief, Keya Karia had to be there to present her report. But he was introduced to all present in the meeting and she was most definitely not one of them. Where was she and why was she not there for the meeting today? He had to learn more and soon before she caused any more damage. He walked out of his office, shut the door and returned to the board room.

  Keya entered the restroom, feeling flushed. She couldn’t believe that she had managed to stay calm despite her rapidly beating heart. Thank God for that. She rolled her eyes. No, this was not the time to think any of this.

  She picked her brush out of her hand bag and brushed her hair. She quickly tied it back and secured it with a rubber band. That was the best she could do in the time she had. She put the brush back in her bag and walked back to the board room, refusing to pay any more attention to the encounter she had earlier. However, the thought that he seemed familiar was at the back of her mind and it nagged at her, as she could not place him.

  Sighing deeply, Keya pushed open the door of the board room and walked into the middle of an on going presentation. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. She raised her hand up. “Sorry for being late. I hope I didn’t miss much.”

  Her boss, Munir, caught her eye with his arm extended and his finger pointing to the watch on his wrist, indicating how late she was. She gave him a wry smile in response and mouthed a “Sorry” to him.

  Her eyes darted around the oval shaped table to find a place to sit. Almost immediately she heard, “Welcome Keya, we thought you will not make it today.”

  She turned her head towards the source of the voice and smiled. Janak Sehgal was sitting at the head of the table and smiling warmly at her. She walked towards the vacant chair next to him and sat down. The presenter was asked to continue his report. Almost immediately the door opened again and the guy Keya had run into earlier walked in and paused staring at her.