Chapter Nineteen #2
“I’m a person,” Sejal said, and her voice was low, but shook with rage. “Not a lead. Not bait. Not a pawn.”
Krish inhaled. Correct. God, he hated the betrayed hurt in her tone. He wasn’t sure when he’d become so attuned to her emotions,
but hurting her felt like hurting himself.
He dipped his head in acknowledgment, shame pricking him. “You’re right. I initially saw you as nothing more than a tool to
get my brother out. I didn’t think about you as a person at all. I didn’t even consider whether you would get hurt, so long
as I got what I needed. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry, but?”
“What?”
“You’re sorry, but . . . what? There’s always a but.”
“A but would make that apology an excuse. I’m not excusing my behavior. I’ll explain why I did what I did, why I felt like I had
no choice, but I’m still sorry.”
She stared at him for a long, excruciating minute. “Fuck you.”
“I deserve that,” he said quietly.
“Your plan was goofy.”
“That’s a valid criticism, but I might note that I was desperate.”
“I’m so pissed at you.”
“I understand.”
“Stop validating everything I say. Fuck.” Sejal launched herself out of the chair. “A librarian. I’ve been running for my
life with a college librarian.”
Okay, now. He deserved some credit. “A librarian who kept you safe. Who, most recently, escaped Cobra trying to choke me out in the hallway.” He was surprised by how confident the words sounded, but he felt every ounce of that confidence.
He was capable of more than his family expected of him, damn it.
She stopped pacing. “What? How do you know it was Cobra who tried to strangle you? They identified themselves?”
“No. I assumed, by what they said, that it was Cobra.”
Sejal didn’t move or change expression, but he caught the way her eyes sharpened. “What did they say exactly?”
“‘Stay away from Sejal, or I’ll make your brother pay.’”
“You don’t know that was Cobra. It could be Alexei.”
“Alexei doesn’t know I have a brother. It has to be Cobra.”
“He could have found out by now,” she argued. “How would my aunt even know we were here?”
“Cobra has eyes everywhere, yes?”
“Yes,” she allowed, reluctantly. “However, my aunt’s not the strangling type. She’s more the frying pan type.”
“Not even to keep you safe?” Because I destroyed a vehicle and risked bodily injury to keep you safe.
She bit her lip. “Okay. Possibly to keep me safe.”
There was a brief silence between them. “I have to find out what happened to my brother. But like I said, I’d already decided
that I didn’t need to involve you.”
“And how will you find my aunt without me?”
He had no clue. He, who was used to plans and catalogs and research, was truly without a blueprint here. “I don’t know. I’ll
figure it out. After we get Alexei off your back.”
She blinked. “You still want to help me with Alexei.”
“Yes.” It was like a weight was lifting off him. His cards were on the table. This felt right and good.
“Why?”
Did she have to press?
“Because I—” He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to get that real. What could he even say? Because he wanted to kiss her again?
Because she’d brought him a salad? Because he couldn’t get the taste of her out of his mouth? “Because I think I like you.”
Sejal gaped at him, rendered silent.
A knock came at the door, interrupting them. “Sejal. I found something! Come here.”
Sejal inhaled, then exhaled. There was still anger there, but there was something else, too. Maybe the something else that
was also sending him into turmoil. “My family doesn’t need to know about any of this stuff. They have enough to worry about.”
“I won’t say a word,” Krish assured her.
Neither of them had to say a word. Mira’s gaze bounced between them as soon as they joined her, her husband, and Sunil in
the living room. Sejal’s sister scowled. She could obviously sense the tension between them. “Everything okay?”
“Yup,” Sejal said grimly. “What did you find?”
Mira looked like she wanted to press further, but she turned the computer to face them. “This dodo Alexei stole millions from
some really bad guys, and Dad was able to document it pretty thoroughly, line by line.”
Her sigh echoed Krish’s. “Great,” he said. “Then we have what we need, right?”
“That’s not the only thing on here.” Mira pulled up a photo. Then another one. And another. And another. They all showed a young, dark-haired man, who Krish presumed was Alexei, meeting with various other men, mostly older.
Sejal leaned closer. “Oh my God.”
Naveen and Sunil came to crowd around them. Naveen looked as confused as Krish felt. “Are we supposed to know who those people
in those photos are?”
“You would if you spent any time in this city,” Sunil said. A big smile spread across his face, and he clapped Sejal on the
back. “Never say your father didn’t love you, Sejal.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Sejal opened more photos. “Are these doctored?”
“Not doctored,” Sunil cut in, with some degree of authority. “Hoo boy, is that kid in for a surprise. I hope Vassar didn’t
show his hand before you can.”
“I don’t understand the significance of these,” Krish said slowly.
Sejal clutched his arm, which surprised him. Perhaps her excitement over this discovery was temporarily trumping her justified
anger at him. “Mobsters and Vegas have a long history, and a solid present. These are photos of Alexei meeting with various
leaders of crime families. People who have some, shall we say, competing interests with his own rather dangerous and territorial
father and brothers.”
“Insurance on insurance,” Sunil murmured. “Vassar always did believe in doubling up.”
Sejal looked at her sister. “You still have that hacker friend, right? Can she get me Alexei’s address?”
Mira was already shaking her head. “I’ve had her on it since before we left for the storage unit. The man’s a hermit. She
was able to track down his driver’s license and a bank account, but the address on them was bull.”
“Bank account, huh?” Sejal steepled her fingers together. “Can she clone me a debit card or a credit card of his?”
“Probably,” Mira allowed. “Might take her a minute.”
Krish turned to face her. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we can’t wait for Alexei to put another bag over our heads. If we can’t go to him, we lure him out. Lay a trap,
show him what we have, and then get him off our backs once and for all.”
Krish’s immediate response was to say hell no, but then he thought about it. She was absolutely right. They had to get this over with, and far better to be on the offensive
than the defensive. “Let’s do it.”
She hesitated for a beat, and he wondered if she was going to tell him to fuck off again, but she turned to her uncle instead.
“Sunil Uncle, can you loan us some of your security guards and some surveillance equipment?”
“Of course. Anything.”
“I also need you to get out of here. All of you.”
Mira straightened. “I’m not leaving you to face this on your own.”
“You have to. You have a daughter now.”
Naveen took a step toward his wife. “Sejal’s right. Sunil has a safe house set up for us. I’ve already sent Isha home, so
she’s safe. We have to go, Mira. Think of the baby.”
“I’ll be okay,” Sejal assured her sister.
“You could get in trouble again,” Mira said fretfully.
Sejal’s face fell, a fleeting expression that Krish caught. Nobody knew better than him how much it sucked to be underestimated.
Krish cleared his throat. “Sejal is actually quite capable. She’s a magician, you know.”
Mira squinted at him. “What do you mean, a magician?”
He waved his hands. “I mean . . . a magician. She can make cards disappear. She can get out of locked cuffs.”
“She can?”
“He’s making a bigger deal out of it than it is.” Sejal’s cheeks had darkened. Praise was not something she was accustomed
to.
Too bad. Neither was he, but maybe that wasn’t a good thing. “I’m not. She’s extremely wily. I would bet on her over every
mafioso in this country.”
Sejal shifted her weight. “We’ll get rid of Alexei and give you a call when we do.”
Sunil took hold of Mira’s arm. “We’ll head out now. Keep us updated, Sejal.”
The flinty look in Mira’s eyes mirrored the one her sister often displayed. “Keep my sister safe, Krish.”
Krish nodded. Sejal might stay pissed as hell at him, but that wasn’t going to stop him from protecting her. “Understood.”