“I willnot.” I feel my voice shaking—I have never defied him this way. It is frightening and it hurts my heart, because he is my Pappa, after all.
“So be it.” His voice is hard, now, in a way I have never heard before, turning to Hindi; I answer him in kind. “Youwillcome home, one way or another.”
“Oh? You will send your men to take me back to Jiwan by force?”
“I will do what I must. You are promised to Jiwan, and to Jiwan you will go, whether you like it or not. If you will not obey, you will learn the hard way that I do not suffer disobedience.”
“Pappa, please.” I decide to try reason. “If you can promise me I will not be made to marry Jiwan, I will think about coming home and discussing with you what life I wish to live, and how I can do so and still have you and Mamma.”
“There will be no discussion.”
I switch to English. “Then I will not return home.”
“I know where you are, now.” In Hindi, still. “Colorado. Your little rebellion is over. If you will not come on your own, I will bring you home. And if your Mr. Sutherland gets hurt? Well. That will be on your conscience, not mine.” His voice becomes a sharp, cold blade. “If he has touched you, Anja?” The threat is there, so even I cannot miss it. “Jiwan has friends in many places. You will be home by tonight.”
Terror shredding through me, I end the call with a quick stab of my thumb, and shove the phone at Kane. “You must go.”
He frowns. “Ido?”
“He knows who you are. He knows where we are. Jiwan knows. They are coming, Kane.” I feel my eyes burning, my throat tight. “You are in danger. I do not know what they will do or what they are capable of, but you have been through enough. I will not allow you to suffer any more. Not for me.”
Instead of throwing his leg over the seat, he puts the phone into his back pocket and wraps me in his arms, pulling me tight against his chest. “Ain’t goin’ nowhere, babe.”
“Kane, youmust.”
“You think I’m afraid of a few thugs?” He laughs. “Not a chance, darlin’.”
“I think—I think Jiwan is a dangerous man, Kane. I think he would kill you for spending this time with me. He considers me his own.”
Kane pulls back, cupping my face in huge rough hands. “You want to go with him? With your dad’s guys?”
“No.”
“You want to marry that guy?”
“No!”
“Then you’re not goin’ and I’m not leaving you to them.” He pulls the phone from his pocket, walks away from me to a trash can with an ashtray in the top, throws the phone into the trash. “They traced the call here. Not likely they can keep tracking the phone, but I ain’t takin’ any chances. I’ll grab another burner before we skip town.”
I’m shaking, still fighting tears. “Kane, I will not let you get hurt. Just leave me here and go back to your life.”
“Ain’t got a life, honey.”
“You have friends, in Las Vegas.”
“Yeah. Friends, a job, a brotherhood. But that ain’t a life, not like you mean.” He curls a hand around the back of my neck. “There ain’t a chance in hell I’m abandoning you, honey.”
“Why?” I look at him.
When it was an adventure, I could understand. The fun, the road, the exploring of new places and the exploring of my body, of his…it was all I could want. But if Pappa and Jiwan send their men after me, Kane will get hurt.
“Why?” He repeats the question. “Wasn’t it you who talked about our connection? You pulled the story about Della-Marie out of me, Anjalee. I haven’t told asoulabout that. Not one fuckin’ person on the planet knows about that. Fuckin’nobody, Anj. I toldyou. Now you got your dad and his buddy sending some half-rate thugs to force you into a marriage you don’t want, and you think I’m gonna turn tail and leave you to it? Fuck no.Fuckno.” He’s angry, and maybe even a little at me. “I don’t think you comprehend the kind of man I am, honey. Your dad and this Jiwan character don’t have enough men to scare me and those men theydohave don’t mean shit. They won’t even fuckin’ touch me, much less lay their eyes on you. And babe, that’s just me. If I call my boys back in Vegas and tell ‘em I need their help? Shit’s fuckin’over.”
“Your friends, they are like you?”
He grins, and it is not a nice thing, that smile. “Stone-cold fuckin’ killers, honey. Good men, each of them. Good men who don’t take kindly at fuckin’ all to women being forced to do shit they don’t wanna do. And each one of those men I call my brothers are stone-cold hard-ass motherfuckers, and I’d pitoneof ‘em against an army. And there’s six of ‘em.”
“I should not have brought you into this.” I lean into him. “I am sorry.”
