“We already talked about it. Mistake. Stress. Won’t happen again.”
“Ah, not that. I meant my mom.”
Right. The mom. “You mean why your mother has a safe house?”
His response was sharp, and telling. “It’s a regular old house.”
“It’s very clearly a safe house.” She gestured around her. “It’s impossible to get to, I noticed multiple cameras on the outside when we came in, and there were at least seven locks on the front door. There’s nothing personal in this room. No photos of you or your family anywhere that I saw. The drawers and closets are almost empty.”
“My parents have always preferred to live off the grid as much as possible.”
Sejal could see the mom living off the grid. Patrick, though? He’d talked her ear off in the short time he’d shown her to the room. “Your father seems pretty friendly for a hermit.”
“Stepfather,” Krish corrected. “My mom remarried when we were in high school.”
“We?” She pounced on the tidbit of information like a hungry cat.
He paused. “My brother and me.”
A brother. This was interesting. “Younger brother,” she guessed.
He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Yes. How did you know that?”
“You have strong big-brother vibes.”
“Do you also have strong big-sister vibes?”
“Probably not.” Sejal looked away. Vibes didn’t survive whenthey lay dormant for years, did they? “So what have you told your mom? I am happy to lie to anyone, but I need to know what I’m supposed to be lying about.”
“I told her about Alexei, so she could be on guard.”
“What did she say?”
“She was perturbed that we were wrapped up in the Ivanovitches, but I stressed that you were young and didn’t know why he was after us, and she promised to help.”
Aarthi knew who the Ivanovitch family was, which was odd for a layperson. Sejal filed that away in the little mental file she was creating. Like, what kind of mom had an empty piece of property in the middle of nowhere Wyoming? A place so off the grid that an FBI agent felt it was the safest place they could go? “Cool. And why did you tell her we were dating?”
“I thought it would make her more likely to help us. And less likely to ask questions.”
“You thought announcing me as your girlfriend instead of, say, your coworker or your friend would have your mom asking youfewerquestions about me?” Sejal shook her head. “Boy, you really don’t understand women, do you?”
“I’ve never had great luck in that category, no.”
The admission surprised her. False modesty? Because, yes, occasionally he was dense, but he did have those pretty eyes and big muscles.
“I thought, she’s always nagging me to settle down... it seemed like a good distraction. I can’t let her suspect who your parents are. She won’t help us if she knows you’re connected to Cobra, if only by blood and not actions.”
“Why?”
He studied her with unreadable eyes. “Because Cobra is bad, Sejal.”
Oh. Of course.
Cobra was bad, and as the daughter of Cobra, so was she. Obviously a childish oversimplification, but one she needed.
Look at his healthy family. Look at the love his parents have for him.Of coursehaving sex with you was a mistake.
Why do you care? You never care who likes you.
