21. Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Mira
I walked into Beau's house, my heart light, excitement buzzing under my skin. I'd done it. I'd landed the job at Savannah Lace, and because of it I felt like I was on solid ground. I couldn't wait to tell Beau. This was my chance to prove I could be more than just someone taking care of Pari. I could contribute. I could stand on my own two feet.
The door clicked shut behind me, and that's when I noticed the tension hanging in the air like thick smoke. The house was too quiet, too still. I glanced around, I knew Pari would be in bed, but I expected to see Roxy humming while she tidied up, but there was nothing except Beau. He stood in the center of the living room, his back to me, hands clenched at his sides. My excitement fizzled, a cold unease creeping up my spine.
"Beau?" I called out softly, stepping closer. "I-I got the job. Nina hired me."
He didn't turn around.
"Beau?" I repeated, my voice trembling just slightly. I walked to him and put my hand on his back. "What's going on?"
He stepped away from my touch and, when he finally faced me, his eyes were cold. Dark. His jaw clenched tight, his expression unreadable, but underneath it, I could feel the rage simmering just beneath the surface. My heart started to pound.
"You need to get the hell out of my house," he said, his voice low, dangerous.
The words hit me like a slap. "What?"
"You heard me," he snarled. "Get. Out." He pointed to a black trash bag. "That's all your stuff. Take it and fucking leave, now."
My breath caught in my throat, panic rising. "Beau, what's going on?"
His eyes narrowed, and there was no warmth in them, no trace of the man I had come to know. "You think I'm a fool? You think you can live under my roof, take care of my daughter, and keep secrets from me?"
"Secrets?" I whispered, confusion crashing over me in waves. My mind raced, searching for something, anything, to make sense of this. "I…I don't understand."
"Oh, don't play dumb, Mira." His voice was sharp, cutting through me like a knife. "Your parents told me everything."
The floor seemed to tilt under me. "My parents?" I barely got the words out, my voice shaking.
Beau's lips curled in disgust. "They told me about the CPS report, Mira. The investigation. They said you hurt Pari when she was a baby. Shook her. Neglected her. That CPS had to intervene to protect her. And you never told me."
The room spun. I stumbled back, my hand reaching out to the sofa for support. "No. No, that's not true. I never…never would hurt Pari."
He crossed his arms, his expression implacable. "Really?"
"Really, Beau."
He dropped his arms and picked up some papers from the coffee table. He threw them at me. I caught a flying page and glanced through it.
"I've never seen this," I told him.
CPS had talked to me, and they'd said there was no issue. My parents kept complaining about me to them until they'd told my parents to can it. "Did you talk to CPS? My case worker?"
"I don't need to. The reports say it all. CPS thought you were dangerous. Negligent. And you just...what? Thought you could hide that from me?"
I was shaking now, my heart thundering. I couldn't breathe. "Beau, please, listen to me. CPS cleared me. They looked into it, and they found nothing—nothing. I would never hurt Pari. I swear to you."
But the more I tried to explain, the deeper I felt myself sinking. His eyes were locked on mine, but there was no mercy, no understanding. He didn't believe me. He thought I was lying.
It was happening again. I still remembered talking to another CPS caseworker all those years ago and being told, " Little girl, it's wrong to make up such ugly stories about your parents because they won't buy you a doll. "
Asha had told me I'd been foolish to complain. " Anil Sen is a pillar of society, you think they'll believe us? No one in the Indian community will, and neither will his CPS cronies ."
I stared at the printed page in my hand, nausea running through me, making me feel sick.
"You're pathetic," Beau spat, the venom in his voice made my stomach hurt. "Take that trash bag and get out. You're done here."
"Please...." The word came out broken, and I barely recognized my own voice. My vision blurred with tears as I stumbled toward Pari's room, desperate for one last moment with her.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" He grabbed my arm.
"I just…can I say goodbye. Please ."
His jaw clenched, and he pushed me away from him. I stumbled toward Pari's door. I opened it, my heart shattering as I looked at her small, sleeping form. I knelt by her bed, my hand trembling as I brushed a stray curl from her forehead. My sweet girl. The only person in the world who made me feel like I was worth something.
I whispered in Bengali, my voice cracking. " Ami tomake bhalobashi, Shona ." I love you, my golden girl.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, trying to hold back the sobs threatening to tear me apart. This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to lose her.
As I stood, I turned back to Beau, who lingered in the doorway like a stone wall, immovable.
I walked out, closing the door softly behind me so Pari wouldn't wake up.
I went to the living room and looked at the black trash bag. My things were trash. Just like I was. I was foolish to have thought I'd have someone as beautiful and pure as Pari in my life, someone as wonderful and loyal as Beau. Garbage like me didn't deserve good things.
I turned to Beau. "I'll go. I just…please, Beau, no matter what, never leave Pari alone with my parents. Promise me, Beau," I begged, my voice ragged. "Please, never—"
He cut me off, his face cold. " You're the liar, Mira. You're the one who's been playing me this whole time. I trusted you with my daughter, and you betrayed that trust. I'll take care of Pari. You're not needed here."
He wasn't listening to me. He would never believe the truth, no one ever did. Asha and I were the only ones who could understand what we'd been through.
"Go, Mira, now ."
My legs gave out beneath me. I dropped to my knees, my hands clasped together in front of me as I pleaded. "Please, Beau. Please, I'm begging you. Never leave her alone with my parents. Promise me that. Just that, and I'll go away. You'll never have to see me again."
I thought for a moment that I saw something in his eyes, a flicker of hesitation, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He took a step back, his voice ice-cold. "Get out."
I collapsed, my sobs breaking free, wracking my body. "Just one promise. That's all."
He stared down at me, unmoved. "I'll make sure Pari's safe. That's all you need to know."
He left me there on the floor, broken and empty, as he walked away.
When I finally found the strength to stand, I pulled out the phone he'd given me from the tote bag and left it on the coffee table in the living room next to Pari's Duplo blocks.
I dragged my things in the black trash bag out to where my car was still parked. My limbs felt numb, like I was walking through water, everything was sluggish, heavy. I couldn't think, couldn't process what had just happened.
I drove away, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly they hurt, but it didn't matter. I didn't feel the pain. I didn't feel anything. My mind was a blur of images—Pari's face, Beau's cold eyes, the sound of my own sobs echoing in the silence.
I had lost everything. Every dream, every hope I had built up, the life I had started to imagine—it was all gone.
Tears flowed freely as I drove aimlessly through the darkened streets of Savannah, the city alive around me, but I was disconnected from it all. I was falling apart, unraveling piece by piece, and there was nothing left to hold onto.
I had nothing.
But then…I'd always known that I deserved nothing.