There was a long silence for a moment, and then Mira bowed her head. Naveen came to his feet. “I’m going to let you three talk. I’ll, uh, go downstairs and see if Emi needs any help. Just one thing?”
“Yes, dear?” Rhea folded her hands over her plump belly.
“Did you know that Mira and I had dated when you contracted my grandfather to do your will?”
Rhea beamed at him. “Yes. Of course I did. I could tell Mira was sad when she broke up with you, and I wanted to give you a second chance. Call me an old romantic. Did it work?”
Naveen squeezed Mira’s shoulder. “I think that’s our business.”
“What a considerate man,” Rhea said approvingly as Naveen walked away. She sat cross-legged. “I’m glad I got to meet him, Mira.”
There was so much to process, Mira didn’t know how to wrap her brain around it all. “I don’t know what to say.”
Rhea’s smile faded. “I’m not surprised your father did this, but I wish he hadn’t. That was our dynamic for our whole life, I’m afraid. Me hoping he’d make different decisions for your sakes. I suppose that’s why I kept up the facade about my job for so long. I wanted you to have at least one good role model.”
Sejal hauled herself to a seated position. The drug was wearing off, Mira hoped that meant. “You genuinely didn’t know he was on a job that would net him hundreds of millions of dollars?”
Rhea shook her head. “I understand your skepticism, but no. I did not. Vassar only told me he was working on something big before he died. Had I known it was with her, I would have cut ties with him right there.”
“You would have cut him off?” Color her cynical, but Mira didn’t think there was anything that would get Rhea to not protect and defend her little brother.
“Yes. I am well aware of the risks of biting off more than you can chew. I did it far too often.” She rested her hands in her lap. “There comes a time in your life where you realize that money isn’t nearly so important as people. I know I reached it when I walked into our local FBI field office to turn witness. I’m sure your father reached it when he realized he’d risked his life and gotten in bed with someone dangerous enough to hurt his daughters. I bet, if he’d been alive, he would have protected both of you.”
Mira may not have seen Sejal in a long time, but the glance they exchanged was as familiar as her own arm.
Rhea noticed their skepticism. “You don’t believe me? He left those diamonds in a place you could find.”
“Those diamonds don’t even access the crypto fortune.” Sejal hooked her arm over her knee. “He didn’t care about us.”
Rhea set her lips. They were painted a deep maroon in her signature shade, Clinique Black Honey. “He loved you both. He was looking forward to your weddings.”
Mira snorted. She believed that part of her father’s email hadn’t been a clue, now, but it was still ridiculous. “That’s possible, but showing up to a wedding isn’t what makes a person a good parent.”
“Also what if we never get married?” Sejal said impatiently.
“Then you’d still have gifts from him. That’s why he created a dowry chest for—”
The light went on above Mira’s head. There was too much familiarity in Rhea’s voice when she talked about that chest. “Aha.”
“What?”
“You put that chest with all those clothes in the storage unit for us, didn’t you?”
Rhea opened her mouth, then closed it again.
“Don’t lie,” Mira warned. “I’ll be able to tell.”
The sheen of tears in her aunt’s eyes surprised Mira. “Yes. I did.”
“I know he was your little brother, Rhea Auntie, but you don’t have to protect him forever.” Mira looked directly at Sejal. “You have a right to live your own life and be happy and not feel any guilt over that.”
Sejal raised one thick eyebrow, but didn’t speak.
Rhea sniffled. “You both have trouble with relationships because you think you come from bad people. Maybe I do defend him too much, but I loved you so much and wanted you to feel loved by your father.”
Oh, fuck. How could she be mad when her aunt put it that way?
Rhea dashed her tears away, then checked her phone. “Harold says the cops have a ten-minute ETA.”
“Well, that’s my cue.” Sejal struggled to her feet. She was even bigger and taller than Mira remembered, but that didn’t mean she was invincible.
“You’re leaving?” Mira asked, and rose as well.
“Yeah. Cops and I don’t play well together.” She surprised Mira with a hug. Mira nearly stumbled back a step, but she returned and savored it. It was quick and fleeting, gone before she could truly appreciate it. “Thanks,” Sejal whispered into her ear.
“Wait,” Mira said, desperate to get out the words she’d been holding in for years. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you all those years ago when you came to my dorm. I should have.”
“Makes sense why you didn’t.” Sejal pressed her lips tight together. “I’m sorry, too. About leaving you when we were kids. I had to get out.”
“I understand.”
“No, I mean, Dad made me get out. He kicked me out.”
Mira frowned. She remembered Sejal and her dad fighting the night before Sejal left, but all their fights had been loud and explosive. “I . . . I didn’t know that.”
Sejal looked down. “I’m sorry I left you with him.”
“What should you have done, taken a minor with you? You were my sister, not my mom.” She cast a glance over her shoulder, at the room where their biological mother lay unconscious. “Though you were a better mom to me than she would have been, no doubt.”
Sejal wiped the back of her hand over her forehead. A bit of blood came off, but she seemed uncaring of it. “Be well, Mira.”
Naveen came back into the room, just as Sejal walked out. Her sister only gave him a terse nod and left.
Rhea sighed. “That young woman is full of anger.”
“Can you blame her?”
“No.” Rhea dusted off her jeans as she rose. “You both need to leave as well. I don’t want you tied to this.”
Mira licked her lips. “My name is on this hotel room.”
“No, it’s not. Sunil saw to that. And we’ll wipe everything down. You two were never here. Go on, go to that storage unit and clean it out. In case it comes across law enforcement’s notice, I’d rather you’d have already claimed what you want. And I hope you take that chest I painstakingly put together for you. If you see Sejal again, share it with her. The items in it are . . . some good things, from me to you. Nothing shady or misbegotten about them, okay?”
Mira nodded. She wasn’t sure she’d entirely processed her aunt also being a criminal. Again, she made a mental note to look up a therapist. “Okay.”
Rhea’s eyes glinted. “I’m sorry, Mira. For your childhood, for your father, for everything.” Rhea tucked Mira’s hair behind her ear. “Be happy, dear.” She rested her cheek against hers.
Someone coughed, and Mira raised her head to find Emi at the door. “The cops are on their way, Harold’s got the recordings from this reunion if you need them. I’m bouncing before it gets hot.”