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“Who is fact checking those documents?” Agastya’s voice cracked like a whip in the silent room.
Three hands rose into the air in response to his question.
He leaned his hands on the table in front of him and stared at the three in question. “Find me the proof that it is false and find it now.”
“Sir,” one of the aides quavered. “I asked a handwriting analyst to look at the signature and he claims that it is Kodela Garu’s signature only.”
Agastya raised one eyebrow at the shaking man. “I asked you to find me proof that it is false. Does this information do that?”
“No, Sir.” The aide looked like he was going to faint.
“Then don’t talk to me until you have what I want.”
He turned away from the other man, leaning against the desk and facing his seated father.
“Tell me everything you know.”
“Chaitanya is doing this on purpose,” his father groused about Veda’s father, who owned the news channel that had broken the news. “He forever has some bee in his bonnet about me.”
“Try and stay on track,” Agastya murmured, his eyes on his phone as he scanned the news. The coverage was damaging but nothing that couldn’t be handled. They just needed something to hit back with, something concrete. “This isn’t about the news or your frenemy. This is about the scam.”
“What can you tell me that will help me?” he asked his father, his gaze still on the room full of headless chicken that was apparently their team.
“I don’t know,” his father sighed. “I honestly don’t know. I have never seen those documents in my life but saying that isn’t going to help.”
No, it wouldn’t. Agastya’s fingers tingled even as his brain turned over the solution that it had presented earlier in the day. His entire being revolted at the idea but he had a feeling he was staring down the barrel of a gun here.
“Think Nanna,” he murmured. “Think.”
“We could talk to Chaitanya,” his father muttered. “Request him.”
“He won’t pull the story on a request.” The other man thrived on bringing down the most powerful men in the country. His channel was known for always being the first to break a scandal that destroyed reputations and unseated the Kings of modern India. A request would not cut it with him. And Kings didn’t request.
“The money trail,” Agastya growled. “Who is tracking it? If we’ve stolen this money, where is it?”
“Sir, it shows a bank account in the Caymans with Kodela Garu’s name on it. We will prove it’s false but…”
But it would take time. The other man left that part unsaid. And time, Agastya knew, they didn’t have.
They had to hit back and they had to do it now. He could feel the claws of his mental strategy wrapping around his throat, slowly tightening around him, squeezing the breath out of him.
“Does anybody in this room have anything for me?”
The barked question had everyone feverishly doing more of what they were already doing, running around in circles.
Nothing. They were going to find nothing now. Whoever had done this had been exceptionally smart. It would take time to dig through the layers of the conspiracy and the perpetrator was gambling on Agastya’s father having to relinquish his seat by then. They would find proof of his innocence but by the time they did it would be too late. For in the court of public justice, perception was everything.
“Sir.” Anand Anna held his phone up. “Commissioner Sir wants to speak with you.”
His father held out his hand for the phone, knowing it wasn’t a call he could refuse. It was a short call but his father’s shoulders slumped at the end of it. Agastya’s blood simmered, rage igniting like lava inside him. They would pay. Whoever had done this would pay.
But in the meantime…
“Call Chaitanya Gadde,” he commanded, his gaze on his clenched fists. Slowly, one by one, he unclenched his hands, allowing his fingers to straighten and flex. “Tell him Agastya Kodela would like to talk to him.”
Anand Anna nodded, his lips pressed into a tight line. He dialed the number and placed the ringing phone on speaker on the table.
“Is this wise?” His father leaned forward. “Let us gather some information first. We don’t want to open ourselves to anything.”
