Secret Passions (10 page)

“Sorry, maybe you can focus on the items, so I can focus on the crowd.”

She nodded, “Have you seen anything yet?”

“No, but there are too many people here to really tell. Let’s go over here, they have great bread.” He pulled her to another booth.

He came to the farmers market every week since he enjoyed the fresh food. He also enjoyed the people he’d come to know and trust over the last ten years of living close by.

“Mitchell!” Rachelle, one of his favorite bakers, who ran the best bread booth in the market, came up and hugged him. At one point shortly before he’d met Suzanne they had tried to date, but the relationship had not sizzled and they had ended up good friends.

“Rachelle, this is Sandi. She’s staying with me for a while.”

He waited as the two women shook hands and sized each other up. He could tell instantly that they liked each other. They began talking about cakes and other items as he tried to scan the crowd. He still hadn’t spotted her father, but that didn’t mean he didn’t believe she’d seen him.

“Mitch?” Sandi was pulling on his arm.

“Hmm?”

“I was just telling Rachelle that we would love to have dinner with her tonight.”

“Hmm, yeah, sure.” He turned to lean against the table and that’s when he spotted the man. He was less than half a block away. “Stay with Rachelle.” He shouted over his shoulder at Sandi as he started running after the man. Instantly the man took off at a fast walk, dodging between people in the crowd, until Mitch reached the spot he’d last seen him. Spinning around, he realized the man had easily disappeared in the crowd. He knew he’d had a slim chance of catching him. Honestly, he didn’t know what he would have done if he’d caught him. Maybe shake some sense into him?

At this point, he scanned the crowd again and came up empty. Heading back to Rachelle’s booth, he was shocked to see the table tipped over and Rachelle sitting on the ground with people hovering over her.

“Are you okay?” When she nodded and started dusting herself off, he asked. “Where’s Sandi?”

“There,” she pointed in the opposite direction. “He took her there. Be careful,” she yelled after Mitch as he took off running. “He had a knife.”

He didn’t care if the man had a knife or a gun. He was determined to get Sandi back alive.

“I
’
m not going anywhere with you!” Sandi tried to pull away again, only to get nicked in her ribs from the sharp blade her cousin held against her.

“Don’t worry, we just need to make it back to the car.” Sandi saw him nod towards the black sedan he’d been in a few days ago. They were quickly approaching it, since he was dragging her with him at an alarming rate.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, trying to dig her heels in and slow them down. She knew Mitch would be right behind them, all she had to do was stall.

“You know why.” He yanked her arm and had them moving quickly again.

“Anish, we used to be friends. Why?”

“
We’ve heard you’ve made quite the name for yourself. You probably have a load of money hidden in some bank somewhere. You need to repay your family for all the trouble you’ve caused us since you left. Did you honestly think we wouldn’t have to pay the Mahabir’s back? Everything! Including taxes. It broke us. I’m going to make sure I get everything you’ve ever taken away. Before your punishment.”

She tried to swing around as he approached the car, but Anish grabbed a handful of her hair. She cried out as he pulled it hard, until lights exploded behind her eyes.

Then he was being yanked from her so fast, she lost her footing and landed on her hands and knees. Looking up, she watched as Mitchell plowed his fist into her cousin’s face. Anish must have learned how to fight somewhere. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been a skinny kid who couldn’t defend himself. Now however, he was holding his own against Mitchell. She stood up, holding onto the car door to steady herself. The two men circled each other. Anish held the knife out, slashing the air, holding it ready to strike. Just when she thought Mitchell was in trouble, Anish took off running down the street. People scurried to get out of his way as he yelled.

Mitch didn’t follow. Instead he came to her side, running his hands over her. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, shouldn’t we go after him?”

“No, it’s just what they wanted. Your father was a distraction so your cousin could get to you. I should have seen it coming.” When he moved his hand to her side, it came back wet with blood. “Damn!” He pulled her jacket aside and untucked her shirt.

“Mitchell!” He was practically undressing her in public. People still stood around, wondering what was going on after the fight they’d just witnessed.

“
It’s not too bad. You won’t even need stitches.” He was bent down in front of her, looking at her side.

“I could have told you that. If you’d asked.” She pulled her shirt back down and grabbed her jacket from him.

Just then Rachelle came running up. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yes, I think we’re both fine,” Sandi said, brushing her jacket off before putting it back on.

“Okay, good. Now…” Rachelle turned on Mitchell and pointed a finger at his chest. “Talk!”

“What?” He was busy wiping a small drop of blood from his mouth.

“What was that all about?”

“Why are you asking me and not her?” he pointed towards Sandi.

“Because I know you better than most. We’ve been friends for almost eight years. You’re always getting into messes. Besides, I just met Sandi and she’s so sweet, no one could possibly want to hurt her.”

“
Actually, Rachelle, it was my family that did all this.” Her eyes went to the ground. “It’s all my fault.”

“No,” Mitchell walked over and put his fingers under her chin until she looked at him. “We’re in this together.”

She nodded and smiled slightly at him.

“Well, I’ve got quite the mess to clean up. I’m glad everyone is okay.”

“Rachelle?” She turned and looked back at Mitch. “I’m sorry about all this. I think we’ll skip out on the dinner tonight.”

Rachelle nodded and turned to walk back to the market.

“What now? It’s obvious they’ve found us.”

“Well, first things first. We need to get as far away from here as possible.” He took her hand and pulled his cell phone out as they walked to hail a cab.

A while later they were setup at a hotel across from Central Park. Several suitcases were delivered from Mitchell’s apartment shortly after they arrived in the lobby. It was all thanks to Carter.

“Do you think we were followed?” she asked as they walked into the single room.

“No, I had the taxi driver take the longest route possible and we both watched for cars following us. Unless they were hovering over us in a helicopter, I think we’re safe.”

He sat on the bed and removed his jacket and shoes. Then he leaned back on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head. She stood there unsure what to do with herself. She would have never thought her father and cousin would want her money, let alone be after her.

Anish had talked about hard times her family had fallen on after she’d left. She had never thought about what it had cost them for her to disappear like that. She’d always assumed her father and mother had missed her, but never that they would lose everything. A huge wave of guilt hit her, causing her to lean back against the door. She tried to close her mind to it, to the questions she had about her mother, but when she leaned her head back against the cool wood, she couldn’t block the images her mind conjured.

Images of her mother, cooking over a small pot in a shack with a thin tin roof, her fingers burned and scarred from the hot stoves. Dirty drinking water, diseases, clothes hanging off her frail body.

She’d seen it all firsthand that first night when Ethan had whisked her away from her emerald palace. Children had played in sewage, coughing, sick, and rail thin. Trash everywhere you stepped. Raw sewage running down the middle of the street. No one should live like that.

The trek through the slums had been one of the main reasons she had donated so much of her income to the shelters. Women and children weren’t the only ones getting something from her. Men were being trained for higher paying jobs. Learning different languages so they could work in call centers so they could care for their families. Or being schooled as mechanics so they could work physical labor jobs.

She’d never imagined how wonderful it would make her feel to give so much back to her people. She’d also donated to the local women’s shelter that had helped her when she arrived. She hadn’t been back there since the first year, but she could only imagine the good they did with it.

Was her mother benefiting from her donations? For the first time since leaving India, she desperately wished to go back and see how her mother was doing.

“Sandi?” Mitchell’s voice broke through her mind.

She opened her eyes and realized he was standing in front of her.

“Let me have a look at that cut.” He held up a bottle of antiseptic. “Come over here and sit in the light.”

She followed him to the bed and removed her jacket. Her shirt and jacket were cut where Anish’s blade had sliced through them.

Mitchell lifted her shirt until the wound was exposed and winced. “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head. “Everything is dull.” She meant it, too. Her problems seemed small compared to what her cousin had hinted at.

“What is it?” His face was close to hers. His green eyes searching her own.

“Something my cousin said. Mitchell? Do you think my family suffered when I left?”

He thought about it as he gently cleaned the wound with a cotton ball and antiseptic. “In what way?”

“Financially? Emotionally?”

“Well, I can’t say on the emotional level, but I do know they fell on some hard times after you left.” She closed her eyes and a tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. “But not by much. Sandi, from what I learned when I was researching your family, they had to pay back your dowry. But as far as I can tell, that was the extent. They didn’t lose their house or anything major. Your father’s businesses were secure. The harshest thing that happened was when your uncle was found guilty, here in the US. Apparently he had sent stolen items to your father in India and your father’s house was searched. The items were seized. But all of your uncle’s properties and belongings were seized, leaving your father to care for your cousin.”

“What about my mother?” She was desperately searching his face, hope in her eyes.

“As far as I know she’s fine. She is still living in your childhood home.”

Sandi closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sandi, your cousin is warped. He wants to get at you any way he can. I’ve read hundreds of stories about what men have done all in the name of honor. None of them justified, in my eyes.”

He ran his hand over her cheek, wiping the tear away with his fingers. “Don’t let him get to you. You did what was right. You stood up for yourself. Many women have never had that chance.”

She took his face into her hands and kissed his lips. She tasted the salt from her tears on her tongue. “I owe everything I am, everything I will ever be, to you. I know you would never demand payment, but I want you to know that you have my gratitude, and my life.” She kissed him again.

He leaned over her, his arms holding him up on the bed as she leaned back against the headboard. She wanted to show him what she felt, but didn’t know the way to express herself. Funny, she could paint her thoughts, her feelings, but when it came time to show them, she was blocked.

Just then there was a knock on the door. Mitchell jumped up and put his finger over his mouth, signaling her to be quite. Walking to the door, he looked out the peephole. “Yes?”

“Room service. You ordered dinner for two?”

They
had
ordered food at the front desk when they checked in. She relaxed against the headboard as Mitchell cautiously opened the door. The young woman walked in, pushing the cart with two large silver domes covering their plates. Mitchell tipped the woman and locked the door behind her.

When the savory aroma hit her, Sandi realized she was starving.

Mitch sat in the room listening to the shower running in the bathroom. His imagination was hard to turn off as he listened, straining his ears to hear every sound. She’d moaned when she’d stepped into the shower, which had set the fantasies starting in his mind. Her. Naked. Water dripping down her sleek body, making her skin glisten as it dripped down her slowly.