To Have and to Heist(68)

I didn’t have to look at Chloe to know what she was thinking. She was everything that was good in the world. There was no way she’d agree to continue our wedding planner charade.

Not with the Mafia involved.

Not when Bella loved someone else.

Not even if it meant she’d go to jail.

Nineteen

By the time I got home that evening, the gossip mill had done its work. My parents were still up and waiting for me at the kitchen table with Nikhil. I knew right then it was going to be bad. They only trotted my older brother out when I was really in trouble because they knew he would always back them up.

Usually, I’d sit quietly and endure the tirade, but after what had happened at the wedding dress shop, I wasn’t in the mood. I had more important things to worry about than family drama.

“This is what happens when you wait too long to get married,” my mother shouted only seconds after I’d walked in the door. “You start working for the mob.”

“I don’t think that necessarily follows.” I knew I shouldn’t have gone to Satya Auntie’s store with Bella’s wedding dress, but the bridal shop couldn’t accommodate the extensive alterations necessary to make the dress less revealing in the short time before the wedding. I knew Satya Auntie could do it, but I had to give Bella’s name, and of course, she’d looked the family up. That meant no stone had been left unturned.

“Of course it does.” Dad let out a long breath. “If you were married, you would have a house and a mortgage and a steady office job to help pay for it. You would be coming home every night to cook a nice dinner for your husband. And you would be having babies to keep you busy instead of running around working for criminals.”

“To be fair, I haven’t seen any criminal behavior,” I said. “They haven’t done anything that made me think they were anything other than a nice, normal family.”

“Satya Auntie said they were going to throw you into the ocean to be eaten by fish.” Dad couldn’t get an idiom right to save his life. He’d come to America when he was twelve years old, and it was the only aspect of the English language he couldn’t grasp. He was a literal thinker. Rain was water, not cats and dogs. Nothing was rocket science except rocket science itself.

“She’s overdramatizing.” I put my bag on the counter near the door in case I had to make a quick getaway.

“You will stop this at once,” he said. “Tell them your father said you can’t work there anymore. If they give you a hard time, I will speak to them. I won’t have my daughter getting involved with organized crime.”

Wouldn’t that be special. My dad driving up to a mob boss’s mansion to tell him he didn’t want his daughter working with his family. At least the fishes and I wouldn’t be alone.

“I’m almost thirty, Dad. I can handle my own affairs. Why don’t you trust me to make my own decisions? You were never involved in my life growing up. Why do you care now?”

“He always cared,” Nikhil said in the faux sympathetic voice that always made my skin crawl. He was the spitting image of my dad but younger and with my mother’s thick hair. He’d taken to wearing a hideous mustache and beard that looked like something had died on his face, but I kept that to myself.

“I don’t recall asking your opinion.” I couldn’t look at him. He just loved coming home to see me squirm.

“You haven’t been yourself lately.” Nikhil shook his head and sighed. “You’ve gone off the rails. We just want you to go back to being who you were—sweet, good, quiet, respectful. Listen to the people who know what’s best for you.”

“Shut up, Nick.” I was sick of him and his officious, condescending attitude, sick of him thinking he knew anything about me. Where was he when I was struggling at school? Where was he when I needed a big brother, or even a friend? “Why are you here anyway?”

“To make sure you do the right thing.”

“And that would be what? Telling the head of a Mafia family I’m going to bail on his daughter’s wedding? Do you know how much money he’s paying me to see it through? You can’t even count that high.”

Nikhil swallowed hard. He couldn’t stand being bested in any way. “We’ve found a perfect match for you. He’s a dermatologist and he’s looking for a wife. The family all agrees this is the best thing for you.”

“Single and has a job. That’s a pretty low bar,” I said. “Personality. Interests. Political views. Sense of humor. Pets. Hobbies. Character. Intelligence. Values. None of those matter?”

“Not when you’ve lost all sense of who you are.” Nikhil leaned forward. “Not when the family honor is at stake.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. “Did I go to sleep and wake up in the wrong century? The family honor? Since when does our family have honor? And in what universe did you ever think I would agree to something like this?”

It struck me at that moment that Bella and I were in the same position. I wasn’t going to marry a man I didn’t love, and I couldn’t let her do it, either.

“I’m leaving.” I grabbed my bag. “Don’t wait up because I won’t be back.”

“Simi, wait,” Mom called out. “Nikhil went too far. He’ll apologize.”