Page 33 of Empowered
“Maybe a couple weeks, until we straighten out some of this mess. I’ll head back to New York to take care of Sethi Tech until Shyam gets back.”
Shyam and I hadn’t discussed what would happen next. It made sense that we’d return to New York eventually, but now that my job was over at Sethi Tech there would be no need for me to continue working there. I had negotiated a letter recommendation for my work so I could use it at my next job to further my career, but truthfully, I didn’t want to leave Sethi Tech or Shyam. I didn’t know what would happen next in our relationship. He said he loved me, but we hadn’t discussed the future yet. Had his views on marriage changed? Did he want to marry me? Did he even want children? Uncertainty was swimming in my head.
“You okay there?” Jai’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you wanted to stay here forever or something,” he teased.
I shrugged my shoulders, trying to avoid seeming too desperate to keep things the way they were. “I miss New York, but India isn’t so bad.”
“Really?” he asked. “You haven’t even experienced it yet and you like it?”
I liked the intimacy that I had with Shyam here. I didn’t like thinking about the unknown that would greet us when we returned to New York. “I mean, I get to lounge around all day in this huge palace and the people who work here are nice. So far, not much to complain about.”
Jai saw through my words. “I take it you all haven’t discussed the future yet?”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“I talked to Shyam and he seemed quick to brush the subject off.”
That was news to me. Avoiding talk of our future wasn’t a good sign. “I see.”
“It’s not like before,” he said, trying to keep me from spiraling into the web of anxiety that I was creating in my brain. “He doesn’t seem like he’s afraid to commit to you. He just feels guilty.”
I was unsure why Shyam would feel that way. “Why?”
He let out a deep sigh. “He really should be having this conversation with you, but I’ll give you the short version. He blames himself for your kidnap and subsequently getting hurt.”
Why did that surprise me? I should have known he’d feel that way. He had felt so broken that his mother died because of his father’s career. He probably felt like he was just repeating history and that I could easily meet the same fate as his mother. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? If you didn’t know us in the first place, you wouldn’t be halfway around the world right now.”
“You have a point,” I replied. But things happened for a reason. If I hadn’t met them, I wouldn’t have met the love of my life. It was a fucked-up story but wasourstory.
“I love you all together,” he said, putting his hand on my knee to comfort me before continuing. “You’re good for my brother. But our world is dangerous, and this won’t be the last time that someone tries to target the people that Shyam loves.”
I felt helpless in this situation. “Am I just supposed to move back to New York and move on without him? Because I can’t do that.”
“I don’t know what you’resupposedto do. But I just think you should consider your safety when thinking about the future. Would you really be able to live a life looking over your shoulder? Waiting for the next bad guy to take you or even your children and use you as ransom?”
My stomach churned thinking of anyone touching my children.
He squeezed my knee. “I’d love for you to join our family and be my sister more than anything. But as yourbrother, I fucking love you too, and I don’t want anything to happen to you again.”
I smiled. We really did feel like family. “You’re a fucking softy, you know that?”
He chuckled. “I won’t kick your ass for saying that unless you tell anyone else. Can’t let the ladies know I’m soft inside.”
I threw my pillow at him and laughed loudly when it smashed into his face.
“Why are you two always giggling when I walk in on you together?” Shyam had returned, and judging from his expression, he was less than amused at our pillow fight.
Jai threw the pillow at Shyam, hitting him harder than my poor excuse of an attack. “Because we think the way you look is hilarious,” Jai joked.
Shyam rolled his eyes as he set the pillow back on the bed.
Redirecting his attention to me, Jai said, “So, since you’re all better, we should go out for a celebratory dinner.”
That was a wonderful idea. I was excited to finally break out of this bedroom and join the real world again. I wanted to explore the country and try all the food that I had heard about over the years. However, before I could fervently accept his invitation, Shyam interrupted, “No. Absolutely not. She still needs to rest.”
Jai argued on my behalf. “Oh, come on! She’s been locked up in a cell for weeks and now you’re going to just lock her up in a room all day?”
