You're Invited(102)

“I have something for you,” Amaya said, pulling out a box.

“What’s this?”

“Open it so.”

It was a box of photographs of us from when we were younger. I hadn’t seen most of them in years.

“Thanks, Ams, these are great.”

“Thank Seetha. She’s the one that hoards everything like her life depends on it.”

I laughed.

“I’m going to post a throwback album of these on Insta. You mind?”

She looked at her watch again and shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

In a way, it was kind of nice having her back in my life. My mother, however, disagreed vehemently, even when Amaya and I explained the truth about what Spencer did to her. I think she still thinks that Amaya will swoop in and insist on taking Nadia away someday. Amaya has assured me that she wants nothing of the sort. She never wanted children, she said. She wanted Nadia to be safe, of course, and she knew the best place for her was with my family.

Still, I could hear my mother audibly release the breath she was holding as Amaya hugged me, gave her an air-kiss, and wheeled her suitcase away.

“You think you could hold in the celebrations until her plane takes off, at least?” I asked, rolling my eyes. A porter was watching me, though, so I gave her a big smile to tone it down.

“Don’t you think you should be nicer to me, after everything that happened?” she countered.

I sighed.

It was only a matter of time before she rubbed this whole thing in my face. I knew it.

“Keep your voice down,” I said, making sure I was still smiling. “Let’s go to the Airport Garden Hotel and have a drink.” She was smart enough to agree. There was no telling who would overhear us if we spoke at home.

The hotel was about ten minutes away, and it took about another ten minutes for our drinks to show up. My mother was quiet the whole time. Quiet and smug. Waiting for the right moment to strike.

“Well?” I asked.

“Well what?”

“You have something to say, no, so say it.”

“I think you’re the one with things to say, Kaavindi. Like how about thank you, Amma.”

“Oh please.” I rolled my eyes. “You were saving your own ass as much as mine.”

“Language, Kaavindi. And I did save your ass, by the way. Your plan was abysmal. You should be keeping flowers at my feet and worshipping me for what I managed to do.”

“So you managed to get me a gun, Amma.” I snuck a quick peek around, but no one was within earshot. “Thank you. There, are you happy now?”

“I had hoped for a little more gratitude than that.”

I suppose she was right. I mean, she got me into this mess, but she sure as hell got me out of it. Call it mother’s intuition, but she guessed I would try to run the night before the wedding. Or maybe she planned on getting rid of Spencer ever since she heard he was broke and his dad was in jail—who knows? I had just made it out of my room when I found her, waiting for me, hands on her hips and absolutely livid.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you.”

“I couldn’t believe how stupid you were, getting Amaya tangled up in all of this.”

“Yeah, I didn’t realize how volatile she was. It was a long shot, anyway, but I figured she could be a backup plan. In case Mr. Ananda didn’t show for some reason. She was the only one who figured things out and showed up at the beach, after all.”

She sighed.

“Still, it was stupid to involve someone else.”

The truth was that if I was good at compartmentalizing, I was excellent at planning. I’ve said a thousand times before, I always, always had options. And once again, luck came knocking on my door. Amaya helped me “hatch a plan” and was fully ready to go along with it. And it wasn’t the worst plan either. I would say Spencer was abusive and leave.

The hardest part of that whole thing was getting him to come down to my room. To act as if everything was okay. To kiss him. To feel his disgusting hands on me. I thought he got suspicious a few times, especially when I “accidentally” scratched his face while he was feeling me up. But men think with their dicks, so he wasn’t distracted for too long.

But after Amaya helped me destroy my room, gave me a massive shiner, and left, I changed my mind. This wouldn’t work. It made me out to be a victim—a weak damsel in distress. Not a great narrative at all. And besides, Spencer was oily enough that he’d probably find a way to slither out of any accusations. And what if he leaked the images of my dad out of spite?

Could you imagine what that would do to my reputation?

No, I needed a better plan. One where I came out on top, like I always did. And that’s when my mother showed up. She all but laughed at my ideas and gave me a better one. Then she convinced my father not to call the police right away, telling him that it would ruin our family name, and had him use a third-rate security company instead. Thank god, because there was no way this whole charade would have ever held up under a serious investigation. She also pretended she had no idea who Mr. Ananda was during her interview, so that he wouldn’t get called in for questioning instead of showing up at the beach. She even managed to get me a gun, though it was touch and go for a while there.

Amaya was my backup in case Mr. Ananda didn’t work out. In case he didn’t respond to my message and meet me at the shack on the beach. That’s why my recording was so ambiguous. I hadn’t quite decided who the true villain was yet. No way could it have been Spencer. At least, not to the real world. I could picture the headlines now—Groom Attacks Bride the Night before the Wedding. I’d have been a fucking laughingstock. Everyone always blamed the woman for letting it get that far. Why wasn’t she a better judge of character? Why couldn’t she just leave? If only things were ever that easy.