He nodded. “Yeah, she’ll be fine, I hope. Thanks for your concern.”
Caroline nodded but didn’t say anything else, so Nikhil walked straight into the showers. He was so, so close to never coming back here again.
By the time he was at his car, he had a text from Esther. The publicity team was meeting now to discuss options. She said she’d call him when they were done.
He’d been driving for about ten minutes when his phone rang. Why wouldn’t people just leave him alone? He answered it on the car’s speakerphone. It was his sister, who, as a plugged-in nineteen-year-old, had probably already seen the gossip about her older brother on TikTok.
“I can’t believe you cheated on a movie star,” Nalini said.
Nikhil sighed. “I can’t cheat on someone I’m not dating.”
“Are you saying Lily Lavenderlied?” There was mischief in his sister’s voice.
“Nalini, stop. I could use some sensitivity here… Someone took our picture at Marley’s doctor’s office. It’s a huge invasion of her… ofbothof our privacies. You want to be a doctor—you should know how wrong that was.”
“Yeah, it’s very wrong.” She sounded sincere now. “Did photographers follow you from work?”
“Maybe. But the gym location is kept a secret. Somehow someone got Marley’s address, though. Very few people know I’m living there.”
“Have you had any other leaks of personal information?”
“No. Other than Arjun somehow getting my new unlisted number. Mom probably gave that to him, though.”
There was silence on the other end. Finally, Nalini said, “Shit. I think I know what happened.”
“What?” He was at Marley’s house by then, so he pulled up in front of it. He didn’t get out of the car, though.
“A couple of weeks ago, Arjun came home for a bit. They called it day parole,” Nalini said.
“No one told me that!” Then he remembered his father had mentioned it a while ago, but Nikhil had said he didn’t want to hear about Arjun.
“It was while you were in California. Dad told us not to tell you, because you didn’t want to see Arjun. I didn’t want to see him, either, but Mom insisted I stay. I couldn’t find my phone while he was here. I found it in the den after Arjun left, and I swear I hadn’t been in there all day.”
“Shit. And my phone number was on your phone.”
“Yeah, and Marley’s address from when you gave it to me to pick up your iPad. I’ve been using Mom’s old phone since my last one broke, and the lockscreen is disabled. Do you think Arjun would have told someone where Marley lives?”
Nikhil remembered that call from Arjun last week. It was a few days after Nikhil had come back from LA, so it would have been right after Arjun had the day parole. And Arjun was asking questions about Marley. He even knew Nikhil was living with her. “I have no doubt our brother would have given information to the gossip pages for money.”
“I’m sorry, Nikhil. This is my fault.”
Nikhil exhaled. Nalini’s ADHD had always made her scatterbrained and disorganized. He couldn’t believe that their brother would exploit that.
“Say something, bhaiya,” she said softly. “Are you okay?”
Nikhil’s heart tugged at Nalini using the term she used to call him when she was a kid. “Yeah, choti behen, it’s okay. It’s not your fault—it’s Arjun’s.”
“Is Marley mad?” Nalini asked.
“Yeah. I’m about to go talk to her.”
“Tell her I’m sorry. I really like her. She always manages to find something nice to say about thoseBachelorgirls. No one should be that nice.”
Marleywasthat nice. “I have to go, Nalini. I’m waiting to hear what the studio says, and what the fallout from all this will be. Don’t tell Mom and Dad about this.”
“I got you. And I’m sorry again.”
“Thanks, Nalini.” He disconnected the call.
