Another reason Sejal wasn’t into having kids was because she knew she’d probably smother the hell out of them and never let them leave her sight. “It’s not a common occurrence, no.”
Mira gestured to the seating area. “Why don’t we all have a seat. Do you guys want anything to drink?”
Krish shook his head, but Sejal nodded. “I’ll have a whiskey.” She wiped her hands on her thighs as she sat down on the couch, Krish next to her. Sunil and Naveen sank into the armchairs.
Mira said nothing about it being barely noon. Instead, she went to the wet bar in the corner, grabbed a mini-bottle of probably far too expensive whiskey, and brought it back to her. Sejal appreciated that her sister hadn’t bothered with a glass. One draw of the fiery liquid was enough to steady Sejal’s nerves.
“So what is going on?” Mira said, and sat on the arm of her husband’s chair.
“Someone’s after us. It’s okay,” she said, when Naveen half rose, as if to go fetch his daughter. “I’m pretty sure we’ve thrown them off our trail.”
“Who?” Naveen asked. His eyes had grown watchful and dark.
Good. Her sister should have someone protective on her side. “Alexei Ivanovitch. That text I sent you, Mira, it was right before one of his men tried to grab me.”
Sunil tsked. “You’re involved with the Ivanovitches again?”
Mira adjusted her shirt. “Who is Alexei?”
“An ex. He... he’s who I was running from when I came to see you in college.”
Mira’s mouth turned down at the corners. Sejal assumed it was at the reminder of that past annoyance. “That was ages ago. What does he want now?”
As she rubbed her nose, Sejal realized she was still holding the mini-bottle of whiskey. One sip had steadied her nerves, any more and she’d be asleep. She set it down. “From what I can understand, Alexei believes I stole some money from him.”
Sunil frowned. “Can you pay him back?”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“Pah. I’ve thrown money at more problems than I can count, simply to make them disappear. Give it to him.”
“First of all, I don’t know how much it is, and second, I don’t have the kind of money that would make a guy like Alexei send someone to chase me across the country.”
“You don’t, huh?” There was an odd tone in Sunil’s voice, and he had a watchful expression she hadn’t caught until now.
“I don’t.”
“So you didn’t come into a windfall recently?”
Oh, he must be talking about the inheritance from her aunt. “Yeah, Rhea Auntie left us some jewels. I can’t use them for this.”
Krish turned to face her. “Your aunt left you jewels?”
“Yes.”
“A buttload of them,” Mira interjected. “For both of us. We liquidated ours and put the money away in a fund for Ananya. I agree with Sunil, Sejal. Maybe you should lob a few rubies at this Alexei guy and get rid of him.”
“I can’t,” she repeated. Sejal grimaced, hating that she had to reveal something so personal. “I sold most of them to pay off some steep debts for a friend of mine, and the rest is earmarked for his long-term care.”
Krish’s eyes warmed into a dark green. She hated it. Not the warming part, the part where he saw something real about her. Where they all could see it! “Ken?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah.”
Mira rested her hand on Naveen’s shoulder. “That’s kind of you.”
Sejal squirmed. “Anyway, this came out of nowhere. I haven’t even thought about Alexei since I got him off my back the last time.”
“You mean when your father got him off your back for you,” Sunil corrected her.
