"IN CONCLUSION, ALL the data indicates an upward sales trend for the vitamins because the reviews have been positives and people have already begun purchasing refills." Everly said, placing down the clicker on the boardroom table.

Nyla nodded. "Did the news of the bombing affect any of the sales?"

Everly shook her head. "No, in fact it created an even greater hype. Distributing bottles to beauty influencers has been essential because their audience have started purchasing the products, especially after we gave them promotion codes and affiliate links."

A few more questions were asked by George and other senior members before the meeting we disbursed. Nyla watched as most of the members left, leaving only her and Everly in the room.

"You did good for your first presentation."

Everly's eyes glowed. "Thank you, I was nervous, but it seemed to go well."

"It did." She stood up and looked her in the eyes. "The only thing I would change is remove all the words and add more graphs. It's easier for people to grasp visual representation rather than words."

Everly nodded, accepting the feedback. "I'll be sure to do that for the next one."

"Good." Nyla said before exiting the meeting room.

She smiled as she walked towards her desk. All was well in her life. The vitamins were doing extremely well, better than both her and Darius forecasted, but the rest of the business was also doing well. Her and Darius were stronger than ever, often spending time at each others condo's or relaxing at home together. Nyla felt lighter than she had in months.

As she was about to enter her office, Hyeon came rushing forward, almost toppling over in her heels.

Nyla reached out a hand to steady her. "Slow down, what's the rush?"

"I was waiting till your meeting ended. Security called; a boy tried entering the building saying that he had an appointment with you. They thought he was crazy, so they tried moving him away, but his parents are nowhere near him."

"I don't have any appointments with children," Nyla said slowly.

"I know," Hyeon replied. "Security just wanted you to be on your guard, because, you know after the whole bombing incident..."

Nyla nodded. "Call a social worker and get them to deal with the situation. If it progresses, contact me. Until then, I'll be in the office, looking over the forecasted sales for the next quarter."

Hyeon nodded and Nyla collapsed on her chair before opening the folder Everly gave to her. She had a lot of work to do.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla grabbed her coat and purse before exiting her office. Although it was the beginning of February, New York City was still a chilly place. She had a lunch meeting with one of the other young women she was mentoring. The young women was trying to create a law clinic that would service low income families and those who didn't have much representation however, she was struggling with finding a viable business plan for it. That's where Nyla stepped in.

Although Nyla had never practice law, she'd been around enough lawyers to get a general idea of what worked in the law world and what didn't. She was hoping that she could push the young lady in the right direction.

Nyla nodded to the security team and she stepped out of the elevator. They had increased their security after the bomb threat and although a couple of people were dressed as regular security guards, Nyla knew they were the members of the FBI. Agent Tessa had placed a team with Nyla, and she was grateful to the women. It made her feel safer.

She stepped outside of the building, only to hear her name being called.

"Aunt Nyla!"

Nyla froze for a moment before she turned around. The voice who had called her name was a young boy who looked to be about eight years old. He was wearing a light sweater but no coat. It took a moment for Nyla to recognize the face.

"Ramesh?" she asked in disbelief.

The boy's face lit up in a smile. "So, you do remember us! Ma was wrong to say that you forgot about us."

Nyla had a thousand questions running through her mind, but she blurted out the first one. "What are you doing here? How did you come all the way from Pennsylvania?"

Ramesh laughed. "I didn't come all the way from Pennsylvania. We are here in New York for a while."

Nyla watched as he shivered in his light sweater. Realizing that her nephew was cold, Nyla gently ushered him towards the Renne building. "Let's go inside and talk."

Ramesh didn't move from his place. His feet were firmly planted on the sidewalk. "I'm not going inside. One of the men threatened me when I went inside to ask for you."

Nyla frowned; a bit annoyed. She knew that security was doing their job, but it seemed like she needed to have a chat with them as well. Sending kids out in the cold was not the way she wanted to handle matters.

"It's okay, they won't say anything now that you are with me."

Ramesh still looked a bit hesitant, but Nyla smiled encouragingly and held open the door for him. He walked in, still looking at the security guards in the corner of the building but as Nyla predicated, they didn't say anything.

Nyla ushered her nephew to the lobby couches. She would have taken him upstairs to her office, but she didn't want to overwhelm him in anyway.

Her phone buzzed and she looked down to see a message from Anthony.

Where are you? I'm waiting for you outside.

Nyla quickly typed back a reply.

Sorry, something else came up. I'll let you know if I need you though.

Next, she sent a similar message to the women she'd been meeting for lunch. She hated to cancel on anyone but seeing her nephew after five years really trumped that.

Smiling at Ramesh, she put away her phone in her purse. "Sorry about that, I just had to change around a few things so I could speak to you."

"I've read a lot about you on the internet." Her nephew blurted.

Nyla's smile slipped away for a few seconds, but she merely raised an eyebrow. "Anything interesting I might learn about myself?"

Ramesh's gaze moved around the room. "I know that you are the boss of this company and that you are very rich."

Nyla laughed and shared a smile with her nephew. "Being your own boss isn't always wonderful. I'm not sure if the internet told you that."

"It didn't."

"Sometimes, it's terrible making all the decisions by yourself. People's lives depend on you and it can be scary and stressful."

"Is that why you never talk to us anymore?"

Nyla's heart clenched as she looked into Ramesh's brown eyes that were so much like hers. She didn't know what to tell him, so she settled for a version of the truth.

"No," Nyla began. "I love you and your brother a lot, but your mother and I don't get along anymore. I moved and we lost touch."

Ramesh studied her for a moment. "Why don't you get along?"

Nyla sighed, not being able to meet his eyes. "We just had different views of life."

There is silence between them and then Ramesh's stomach grumbled. Nyla laughed at the sound. "Are you hungry?"

He nodded his head.

"What do you like eating?"

Her nephew shrugged his shoulders. "Are burgers and fries okay?"

"It has to be a vegetarian burger."

Nyla nodded her head. Once upon a time she'd been a vegetarian as well but as she explored the world, her viewpoints changed and having such a diet no longer held any appeal for her. She dialed the nearest fast food place and requested delivery for them.

Once she was done, she fixed her gaze back on Ramesh. "So, how did you convince your mom to let you come over here?"

Ramesh was quite for a while. Although Nyla wasn't around children much, she did have a pretty good idea of how to read people and it was clear that her nephew was hiding something.

"She does know, right?"

Ramesh shook his head before tears began pooling in his eyes. "No, she wouldn't let me come see you, so I found your address and came here."

Nyla's jaws tightened. She didn't want to be harbouring a child—especially her sisters. She knew that she would blame everything on Nyla.

"Please don't call her, she's going to be so mad. She'll take away the new ps4 I got for Christmas."

Nyla whipped out her cellphone and held it out to Ramesh. "Dial her right now. She is probably so worried about you."

He still didn't want to call her, but Nyla insisted, and he dialed the number. Once it rang, he quickly passed it to Nyla who wasn't expecting it.

"Didi?" The words came out of her mouth before she had a chance to process what she said.

There was silence on the other line and then the sound of her sister's voice came through. "Nyla is that you?"

Nyla cleared her throat. "Yes. I'm just calling you because I have Ramesh here with me right now."

There was a sigh of relief on the line. "Oh, thank God. I've been looking for him since the morning. I was about to call the police."

"Well he just came to visit me—"

"Did you invite him without my permission?" Meena's accusatory tone made Nyla flinch.

Beside her, Ramesh's eyes were wide, and Nyla was sure that he could hear parts of their conversation. "No, I did not." she said calmly. "I was about to leave for lunch, when I found him standing outside the Renne headquarters."

"Well make sure he stays there."

Nyla rolled her eyes at her sisters' tone. She was always bossing Nyla around but this time it really irked her. Of course, she wasn't going to let her nephew out of her sight.

"Do you need the address?" Nyla asked politely.

"Yes."

Nyla rattled off the address and shut of the phone. Meena had promised that she'd be there in twenty minutes, but Nyla knew the traffic would take her much longer.

"Was she really mad?" Her nephew asked.

Nyla felt pity for the kid but what Ramesh had done was very dangerous. Travelling alone in New York City was not a smart idea, and for a kid, it was even more dangerous.

"Sorry, she sounds pretty furious with you." She watched as her nephew's face fell. "But she won't be here for another thirty minutes. So why don't I give you a tour of my office?"

Ramesh's face lit up and she got up before extending a hand to him. He grasped it lightly and they walked towards the elevator. Nyla knew her sister would not be happy that her son was exploring her business, but frankly, she didn't care.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

"Ms. Malhotra, there is someone named Meena Singh waiting for you downstairs?"

Nyla scrunched up the burger wrapper before tossing it into the garbage can with a whoosh. Ramesh's eyes widened.

"That was amazing, doing it again!"

Nyla laughed and there was a small cough. Hyeon still stood at the doorway but there was smile upon her lips. "What would you like to do about Meena Singh?"

Nyla shrugged her shoulders. "Buzz her in and let her know that she can meet me in my office."

If Nyla was going to have an argument with her sister, she preferred it to be in her own space.

"I can't wait to tell Arush all about this place." Ramesh gushed.

"Did he like the Christmas present I sent?"

Ramesh frowned. "You sent something to us?"

Nyla's heart dropped. Surely her sister wouldn't be so cruel. "Yes, I sent him a car and for you I sent the PS4."

"Mama told us that it was a gift from nana ji and nani ji."

Nyla didn't know what to say. It was one thing for her sister to block contact with her nephews, but it was another to lie about who was sending them Christmas gifts. Luckily, she was saved from saying anything else when there was a knock on her door.

Nyla stood up, stiffer than normal, knowing who stood on the other side. Sure enough, her sister Meena stood in the doorway, looking as perfect as ever. It was hard to believe that she was a thirty-three-year-old mother. Her black hair was tied into a fancy chignon, and she was wearing a white dress with Louboutin heels.

Ramesh ran up to her and hugged her tightly. Nyla watched as Meena bent down to hug her son.

"You scared me," she whispered. "Don't ever do that again."

"I won't." Ramesh promised.

Her sister than rose up to her full height and she looked around the room. "So, this is your office?"

Nyla nodded stiffly and they stood in silence before Ramesh spoke. "Aunt Nyla gave me a tour of the building! Did you know that there are twenty-five floors and hundreds of people in here? Isn't this place amazing."

Meena gave her son a self-indulgent smile. "Yes, it does seem like an amazing place."

"So, can we stay here for a bit more?" Ramesh pleaded. "We could bring Arush to meet Aunt Nyla. He's never seen her before."

Meena shook her head. "We have to leave now; you know Papa will be done with his conference in a few hours."

Ramesh's head dropped and Nyla's heart felt heavy. "I'm sure I'll see you again before you guys leave for Pennsylvania."

Meena's eyes snapped to hers. "Ramesh, can you go outside and stand with the lady by the desk. Me and Aunt Nyla need to have a few words."

Ramesh didn't move and that's when Meena snapped. "Now."

The two of them watched as he stepped out of the office and Meena shut the door. "You have no right to make promises to my son, especially those you don't intend on keeping."

Nyla rarely got mad, but she was fired up. "How do you know if I was going to keep the promise or not? And you shouldn't be talking after lying about the Christmas presents."

Meena paled.

"That's a shitty thing to do." Nyla laughed, but it was a hallow sound that echoed through the room. "I expected a lot of things from you, but I didn't think you would stoop so low."

Meena opened her mouth to speak but Nyla interrupted her. "You've made your position clear and I understand. I won't bother you family and for the record, I didn't do anything to influence Ramesh to come here. Maybe if you stopped lying to him, incidents like today wouldn't happen." Nyla walked towards the door and held it open. "I hope you have a great life."

Meena glanced at her once, her brown eyes, like Nyla's held a hint of sadness. Then before anyone could say anything else, she grabbed Ramesh's hand and walked towards the elevator. Nyla stood there, watching their retreating figures for quite some time. 

-------------

So we finally meet Nyla's estranged sister. What do you think about Meena keeping her children away from Nyla?