Adultery The Things You Do For Family by shiprat

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Have we met before?" he asked.

"No."

"There's something very familiar about you. I know you're not one of the working girls. But... I have seen you somewhere."

"I don't think so."

I had always hated doing those interviews with news channels as the "face" of the company. And appearing on magazine covers. It didn't exactly make me a celebrity but did make me recognizable to people who watched the news regularly. Which this manager fella probably did.

Maybe I should've worn a burqa. Thankfully the lift door opened and I walked in.

"Mr. Sebi is in room 304."

Even through my utter loathing and revulsion for Goyal, I couldn't help but smile at his sense of irony in picking a fake name. Sebi... or rather SEBI. Securities and Exchange Board of India.

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"You leave me no choice. I have to go to SEBI then." Goyal got up from the chair in my office. This was in the middle of the day a week ago.

"Wait! SIT!" I said in a loud voice. He complied.

"Don't yell at me." he said brusquely. "You can't play boss lady in this situation anymore."

"Come on, Goyal! Be reasonable! I have already agreed to give you the money."

"And I appreciate that you didn't haggle with me about that."

"That's enough money for you and your next few generations to live on. In fact... I will double it!"

"That's very gracious of you, but my original demand stands. You can't negotiate or threaten your way out of this. Maybe you'd like to watch the clip again."

"No, I wouldn't."

But he swiped his phone screen and started that damn video again. From the party.

"You're kidding!" Hirani said.

"I am not. It's almost a done deal." my dad responded, downing what must have been his eighth scotch of the night. "The Germans will be signing the contract on Thursday. We're doing it hush hush in Goa."

"Your company's stock is going to go through the roof!"

"That's the hope! But you have to keep this to yourself, Hiru."

"My lips are sealed. I still remember the trouble you had two years ago."

My stupid stupid STUPID dad. Smart in so many ways, but dumb dumb DUMB when it came to this stuff. And he hadn't learned! Even after all the lawyer's fees and bribes and deals we had to make to keep him from a criminal conviction that time.

And of all the people he could have blabbed to, it had to be that sleazebag Hirani. He had absolutely no scruples.

Sure enough, the next day a collection of several investors picked up a lot of stocks for our company. There were murmurs in the market. And I had a suspicion that someone had inside information. Hirani knew how to cover his tracks. But after seeing this video, I knew it had to be him.

"I love this video! I could watch it all day!" Goyal said and grinned.

I sat in silence. The fight almost went out of me. I tried to appeal to his conscience. If he even had one.

"Please Goyal uncle... "

"Uncle!!" he said and cackled.

"I am a married woman. And I am willing to give you as much money as I have. Please just don't... "

He got up. Put the phone in his pocket.

"We are going around in circles. You have my terms. They are not negotiable. If you want to keep your father from being finally jailed for insider trading, you know what you have to do. The SEBI has been trying to nab him for years. I am sure I will get a very generous reward either way."

I stared at the desk, sighed and nodded.

"Consider this my resignation from the company. You will get an email about the next steps."

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