Chapter Fourteen
You got this.
Krish was not as confident as Sejal was, especially after his mother had thrown a bomb of insecurity into his brain.
He glanced over at Sejal, asleep in the passenger seat, curled up in a ball. The morning sunlight draped over her like a cape,
making her deep brown skin glow from within. He was glad she’d taken off that wig. Her hair was standing up from running her
fingers through it.
She’d swapped her dress for a pair of joggers and his gray sweatshirt when they stopped at a rest area overnight. The soft
cotton looked as good on her as the dress had. Though it was loose, it clung to all her curves.
Stop noticing her curves.
She’d been mostly quiet after they’d gotten in the car, but that was understandable. They’d driven through the night, switching
off twice so they could both sleep. Funny how he’d trusted her to drive them now when he hadn’t just a couple of days ago.
A few days ago, you didn’t know her. She was a sack of potatoes to be traded, not a person you kind of . . . like?
Why her? Why now, universe?
There were a billion other women in the world who he hadn’t planned on using to win his brother’s freedom. Why wasn’t he lusting
after them?
Krish flexed his hands on the steering wheel. His eyes were burning from lack of sleep, despite his nap.
A car honked, and he jerked, ensuring that he was within the lane. The noise had disturbed Sejal, though. Out of the corner
of his eye, he watched her stretch, shoving her hair out of her eyes. “Where are we?” she said, her already deep voice rough.
“We’re close to Vegas.”
She uncurled her legs and sat up. “Sorry I slept so long. I told you to wake me up after an hour.”
He wished she’d snored, so he could find something to make her unattractive to him, but he bet he’d even find her snores cute.
“You needed the sleep.”
“This car is really comfortable.”
It was also funny how he’d had to carefully examine her in the beginning, to figure out if she was lying, but he’d learned
her tells so well, now he could hear something amiss in her voice. It carried an underlying tension that unnerved him.
“Better than the last wheels we had, for sure.” His mother had given them a tank, a big black Escalade. It wasn’t unobtrusive,
but he definitely felt safer driving it than he did the small sedan he’d previously rented. He didn’t know where his mom had
gotten this car from so quickly. Perhaps she’d paid someone all cash for it, or maybe she’d already had it in her garage.
He wasn’t worried that it could be traced back to Aarthi. She had more LLCs than the most crooked of businessmen.
Krish switched lanes to get around a slow-moving car. Ahead of them, the glamour and glitz of Las Vegas glinted in the sun, like a seedy spread of gold. “Can you tell me where we’re going, now that we’re here?”
She gestured to the phone in the cupholder between them. “I can look up the exact street address. May I?”
“Sure.” His mother had given him one phone when they left, which told him more than anything that she didn’t trust Sejal.
There were probably about a dozen burners in her desk drawer.
Krish felt a little bad about the way things had ended between them. Sure, Aarthi had confronted Sejal, but had he really
expected anything else? The reason his mom thought something was off about Sejal was because something was off. Though he
hadn’t told his mother exactly what he was doing, he’d told her enough that she could come to the conclusion that he was utterly
unqualified for this particular venture.
You are not your brother. No shit. Painful words now that he could think about them. At the time, he’d only been concerned about cutting his mother
off before Sejal somehow overheard and learned about his impersonation.
Krish didn’t want to be his brother, but he’d spent his whole life being measured against the man and coming up short. He
wasn’t as handsome, or as charming, or as fast, or as good with a gun or his fists. He didn’t have the right training, he
hadn’t gotten the right job.
I see my failure in his face every time I look at him.
Telling words. His face reminded his mom of failure. Her failure, but failure nonetheless. No wonder he couldn’t measure up.
Still, despite his annoyance and hurt, he’d texted his mother when they stopped for gas.
Thank you for everything. I’ll keep in touch.
Her reply had been immediate.
I love you. Please be careful.
She did love him. He and Avi were her universe, and after their dad had died, she’d dedicated herself to making sure they
could have every skill she thought they might need to survive in an often dark world. But she’d cut Avi off at the first suspicion
of a mistake, and doubted Krish’s abilities.
She was frustrating and he loved her, and at some point they were going to have to have a long talk, but now, over text, wasn’t
the move.
Sejal took the phone and typed something into it. “Do you mind if I text someone?” she asked, head lowered.
His first instinct was to say yes, but he was trying to be as careful as possible. “Is it someone who could compromise our
whereabouts?”
She hesitated. “Yes, he could. Not on purpose. Only if Alexei has realized we’re still connected.”
He. Krish wouldn’t ask. He didn’t need to know. Ah, damn it. “Who is he?”
She put the phone back in the holder in front of them, the map open. They were only twelve minutes from their destination.
Krish should have been asking where they were going and what mysterious errand she had to do, but learning about the people
in her life was far more interesting.
At her silence, he glanced over. She picked at a hangnail on her thumb.
“I don’t really know what to call him,” she finally said.
“He was Alexei’s driver, Ken. The first year Alexei and I dated, Alexei was really good to me.
Took me shopping all the time, showered me with attention.
Then he started to get busier and busier, working with some pretty bad dudes.
Plus cheating on me. I spent a lot of time waiting in the car for him and hanging out with Ken. We became friends.”
Her face softened. “He was older, like my dad’s age, and married to this sweet guy. They had me come over for dinner all the
time, without Alexei. And when Alexei got more and more controlling, and started pushing me around—”
Krish didn’t mean to interrupt, but he couldn’t stop himself. “He hit you?”
She frowned. “Shoved. And then, yes. A few smacks.”
He’d like to shove Alexei into a brick wall, face first.
“Ken was the one who started talking to me about getting out. Even offered to hide me. When I thought I was pregnant, Ken
was the one who drove me to the pharmacy to buy tests.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” Her words were low and fierce, but her hand was clenched tight. “Turns out I wasn’t pregnant, thank God. I never
really wanted kids, but Alexei did, he thought it was his life mission to populate the world. When I cried about missing my
period, he proudly told me that he’d messed with my birth control.”
“Jesus,” Krish muttered. “Is this guy like a cartoon villain or something?”
Her laugh was a rough bark. “They have to draw inspiration for those guys from somewhere, right? Anyway, I realized on that
drive that I was low-key terrified of him, and I really did need to get out. Ken quit his job and helped me formulate a plan
to leave.”
“Where are they now? Ken and his husband?”
Her lips curved down. “Kevin passed away. Kenneth is in an assisted living facility in London. I haven’t seen him since we
moved him in a couple years ago, but he seems mostly happy. He came to America when he was a kid, but he always said he wanted
to retire to the UK, so I tried to make it happen.”
Krish drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Why haven’t you seen him in a couple years?”
She lifted a shoulder. “We call and text.”
“Take the next exit,” the GPS intoned. Krish obeyed, his brain working through the timeline.
“You haven’t seen him since your mom popped back into your life.”
She crossed her legs. “I guess so.”
“Since she kidnapped you?”
Sejal didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to.
“That’s why you’ve been hard to find lately. You weren’t just hiding yourself. You were trying to keep Ken safe.”
She blew out a large breath. “Maybe.”
He didn’t know when he picked up her hand, but they both looked down, surprised. Instead of dropping her like a hot potato,
he linked their fingers together. “That’s good of you.” Even . . . admirable.
Oh, God.
The truth was, he hadn’t managed to come up with a better plan in his mom’s safe house. He’d left there hoping he’d have a
light bulb moment at some point on the way to Vegas, but that hadn’t happened, and wouldn’t happen.
He wasn’t going to be able to go through with this at all, was he? His foolish, wild plan to use her to lure her aunt out of hiding. It was dead, buried.
Fuck. Now what?
Gosh, but she really loved hand-holding.
Sejal’s first instinct was to leave her hand where it was, grasped by his, but that would be entirely foolish. It felt so
good. Almost as good as his lips on hers, and somehow more intimate.
Argh. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about her surrogate dads. Why was talking to Krish so damn easy?
Krish’s thumb rubbed her skin again just as the GPS spoke. “In one hundred yards, your destination is on the left.”
Honey, you’re hoooome. She stiffened and removed her hand from his. He peered ahead at the sign that read happy storage.
“A storage facility?”
She rubbed her leg. Her first feeling at the sight of that sign should have been elation that this whole Alexei thing was
almost over. Not disappointment.
Because making it to Vegas meant that a betrayal was on the horizon. They’d be parting ways soon.
But it also meant she’d have Alexei off her back soon, too! She should be happy about that.
This place will never let you be happy.
They were on the seedier outskirts of the city, far from the tourist traps and the residential area she’d grown up in, but