“Because it’s society. Girls get the short end of the stick. It happened so long ago, people won’t take it seriously now. Especially coming from me.”
“He needs to get taken down. He has no place being a high authority figure in a religious organization, leading a community. Men can’t keep doing these things and getting away with it, and on top of that, ostracizing the victim!”
“I’m so tired of it, Preeti. I’ve fought my entire life. I can’t fight anymore.”
“Okay. Okay…What did Jay do?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I cried, the pain in my chest unbearable. “He didn’t even come after me when I left.”
“Shhh,” she cooed and caressed my hair when I laid my forehead on her knees and wept. “He was probably stunned.”
“That’s never stopped him before. Let’s face it. It’s over. Mukesh won. Even if Jay didn’t believe him, he wouldn’t want this drama.”
“Has he called?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t looked at my phone.”
“Check it.”
“Why bother?” I sniffled.
“Because he could be looking for you. You have to go to him.”
“When he didn’t come to me in the moment I needed him?”
“What are we going to do, then?”
“Eat more ice cream?”
Preeti continued to caress my hair as I sobbed on her lap, hiccupping and wheezing. A void clawed itself open in my soul, and I shoved tear after tear into it. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough to fill that gruesome hole.
I’d never cried so much, so hard, not since Mukesh distorted the truth all those years ago. I was empty, hollowed out, by midnight.
Liya Thakkar might’ve lost this one, but she would not stay down. No matter how much this hurt, no matter how long this would hurt, even if I had to stumble and crawl, I would rebuild my life. Elsewhere.
Chapter Thirty-One
Jay
Didn’t Liya hear me call after her? She’d run out so fast that I couldn’t catch her because I saw red. Bloodthirsty rage. Reason and logic weren’t even in my vocabulary right now. The most aggressive level of indignation seized control of me, to the point that Jahn used his entire strength to hold me back from beating Mukesh’s ass (he did not deserve the respect of being called Uncle anymore). Even Ma’s touch couldn’t soothe me, help me see reason. I grappled out of Jahn’s grip and went after Liya when she stormed out, but her father and Mukesh stood in my way. Her father had even snatched his wife’s arm when she tried to go after their daughter.
“You better move,” I warned.
“Let her go,” her father said.
“How could you let this happen?” I yelled.
“I’m sorry. It’s not something a parent tells a prospective suitor from the beginning. What would you have done?”
I clenched my jaw. “I would’ve believed my daughter.”
“She’s a known liar,” Mukesh insisted. “You understand this was hard to do, to tell another soul after we decided to put it behind us so long ago.”
“You worthless asshole. And you.” I glared at Liya’s father. “The worst thing you can do is not believe your child about being molested. And siding with her accuser? Why? So you can save yourself from having him turn the community against you? Pathetic.”
“You don’t know what kind of child she was, what sort of woman she turned into.”
“The problem is that you have no idea. You missed out on an amazing person. She already told me she was molested, why she turned to sleeping with guys, how many she’d been with. It still didn’t matter. You both should feel lucky you weren’t dealing with me. I’d have kicked your ass long ago, old man, and thrown you in jail. And I would’ve disowned you as a father.”
I went for the door when Mukesh touched my shoulder. I had my fists around his collar and his back against the wall before anyone could stop me. “Touch me, or her, or anyone else, and I will dismember you,” I growled, baring my teeth. “Don’t even look at or think of her, or get near her or my family, or I will open an investigation and find every dirty detail from the day you were born. I will have you behind bars so fast, you’ll be a sniveling old man in the blink of an eye. Even if she doesn’t let me unleash the justice system on you, because your fate is in her hands, then just know that whatever fear you put Liya through, I will make you drown in it every day. Do you understand me?”
He gulped and nodded, his hands up in defense. “You’re making a mistake, son.”
“No, you made a mistake when you did this to Liya. You messed with the wrong woman and crossed the wrong lawyer, because guess what? There is no statute of limitations in Texas, and I will personally open up that case and have you in jail. And by next week, everyone at mandir will know what you did to a child. You will lose every privilege and respect that you have here. You are not a role model and don’t deserve to be looked upon as one.”
“You’re going to destroy this community,” he barked.
“Make no mistake, you did this to our community. You are responsible for what happens now. You are the only person to blame. I am going to shred you apart.”
Jahn pulled me away, but Liya’s father didn’t bother making a move.
I ushered Ma out first, then Jahn. I approached Liya’s mother and pressed my palms together in a sign of reverence. “I apologize for all the things you’ve gone through. This is not a reflection of you, and if you need anything, my mom and I are here. And I promise you that Liya will be in good hands with me, and if we ever have children, they will be an extension of you, not your husband, and we will never let anyone touch them and get away with it.”
“Thank you,” she wept.
I wished she could’ve left with us, or had followed Liya out, but I knew she would do neither. I knew it was beyond my reach to take her. But before I turned away, Ma’s arm brushed past me. She took a hold of Liya’s mother’s hands and said, “Chalo. Let’s go.”
Of course, Liya’s dad tried to stop his wife from leaving, but we were here and she wanted to leave.
Then it clicked. Liya’s mom was deathly afraid of her husband. It was in her eyes, in her trembling lips, in her submissive body language. Ma would never have let Dad dismiss us if we claimed something so terrible. Even if she disagreed with him, she would’ve backed us up with the ferocity that only mothers had to protect their children. Unless that fierceness was severed by a domineering husband…
“It’s okay. Let’s just go for a walk,” Ma said gently, glaring at both men.
Liya’s mom brushed at her tears and gave her husband the coldest expression ever. Dynamics were shifting. The women walked out ahead of me.
I paused beside Liya’s father and said, “If I even think that you’ve hurt her, I will come for you.”
“She is not my daughter anymore,” he said, convinced in his beliefs.
“I mean your wife.”
He startled.
Then I left, having forgotten that we were in the middle of a wedding reception. The music was loud, the movement roaring, but nowhere did I see Liya. I searched everywhere, but the crowds were so big and the temple grounds vast. Would she have left her best friend’s reception? After all that? Dumb question.