“I’ll figure something else out. I don’t want to use you.”
He didn’t? Because he’d seemed real fanatical about it a few days ago. “What brought about this change of heart?”
“Because I... Don’t worry about my case. I’ll figure out something else.” He made a shooing gesture. “I free you from helping me.”
“But you’ll still help me. What do you get out of it?”
Krish stuffed his hands in his back pocket. “I’ll also get Alexei off my back.”
“This seems—”
“Do you want my no-strings-attached help, or not?”
She’d be foolish to decline it. “Fine. Okay. I’ll take your help until we’re done with Alexei. And then... then we’re done.”
“Yes. We’re done.”
She was getting everything she’d wanted. Protection and assistance dealing with her terrible ex, and then for Krish to leave her alone. So why did she feel... hollow?
Already on the new mission, he studied the empty space like answers would appear. “Who had access to this unit? Who could have emptied it out?”
Right. She breathed in deep, trying to root herself in the present. She had to think, not wallow. “My aunt. But like I said, I’m not going to lead you to—”
“Forget your aunt. Who else?”
Whoa. He wasn’t going to jump at any excuse to get to Rhea? Maybe he was being genuine. “My sister.” Who she really didn’t want to go running to. “If I knew that she had it, we could break into her house, but it’s a long way to go on anif.”
Krish cast her an odd look. “I was thinking more of a phone call. Of course we’re not going to break into her home and steal things.”
Sejal thought about the text she’d sent Mira, when Viktor had been about to kidnap her from the diner. She wondered if her sister had ever gotten it, or if it had even been sent. “I have her number, but I don’t want to call her.”
“Why not?”
He didn’t know her and Mira’s history. “Has your little brother ever had to rescue you?”
He scratched his upper lip. “No. But I hope he would, if he could. That is what siblings do, whether they’re older or younger.”
Because Krish was a proper sibling.And you’re a failure, Sejal, like the rest of your family.
“Before I went to my dad for help with Alexei, I went to Mira. We hadn’t seen each other since I’d left home. She was incollege. I found her dorm. She was there with her roommate.” Sejal remembered everything about that room. How clean and tidy and normal it was, with a poster of Van Gogh’sStarry Nighton the cinder-block wall. How proud she’d been that Mira had gotten into such a good school.
How Mira had looked at her, with barely suppressed resentment and annoyance.You’re just like Dad.
How Sejal had felt then, like she’d been slapped. “Mira wasn’t pleased with me, to say the least.” She managed to keep the forlorn tone out of that last sentence and deliver the words matter-of-factly.
Krish’s eyes narrowed. “That was a long time ago. You’re both adults now.”
And Mira had already had to rescue her once as an adult, too. Sejal shook her head. “No. We can’t bother Mira.”
He must have sensed the finality in her tone. “Okay. Nobody else? What about an old accomplice of your dad’s?”
She squinted at Krish. “Huh.” She paused. “Oh.”
“What?”
“There’s someone here who might know where the stuff is.”
“Who is it?”
