You're Invited(66)

With everything that was going on, I had forgotten that Seetha was going to the wedding. Apparently, Mrs. Fonseka had asked her to help and she couldn’t say no. Why would she? She was probably happy to see Kaavi get married, like any normal person would be.

I checked my watch. 7:47 a.m. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad thing if she wasn’t around. Maybe today will be a better day.

As if on cue, my phone started to ring.

“Mahesh,” I said in way of greeting, turning my back on Seetha and hoping she’d take the hint. I heard my door shut softly but still took care to keep my voice down.

“Amaya Akki, can I come to your place now?”

Finally.

Plan C wasn’t my favorite plan, but deep in my heart of hearts I knew it would come to this. From the moment I saw the post on Instagram I knew—things had to finally come to an end. People didn’t just get to do whatever it was they wanted. There were repercussions for their actions. No matter how delayed.

I splashed some water on my face. My mascara had smudged into giant raccoon eyes, and it wouldn’t really wash off. My hair was in tangles. I pulled off my dress from last night and put on a T-shirt and jeans, but they were so rumpled from my suitcase that I looked like even more of a disaster. I didn’t care. There was only one thing on my mind now.

I thought about how I felt when I threw Kaavi’s wedding dress into the fire. How I finally felt powerful, how I finally felt in control after years. I got lucky with the dress. No one saw me and I doubt I’d get caught. What I was going to do next wouldn’t be the same. But it was a price I was willing to pay. I knew that from the moment I heard about the wedding. That I had to stop it. Even if it meant being locked up.

Mahesh was red in the face when he arrived and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Amaya Akki, if you’re in some sort of trouble, you would tell me, right? I’m family, you know. I could help you.”

I nodded again. I had to lie. There was no way he would ever understand.

“Amaya Akki, I—I’m really sorry. I couldn’t it get for you.”

“What?” My voice came out a little louder than I hoped. How could he do this to me?

“I—it’s just. We have a family rifle on the estate, but that’s only for use against wild animals on the property. It would raise so many questions if it was found in Colombo. And an untraceable gun is just—look, you know, this isn’t America, right? The penalty for a gun without a license is prison—look, it’s not that I don’t have the connections, but if you were caught, well, I couldn’t risk that.”

“I can’t believe this, Mahesh.”

“Please just tell me. Tell me what you need this for.”

“I told you. I don’t feel safe.”

“Safe from whom? Tell me.”

But I stayed quiet. I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t tell anyone.

“Amaya Akki, you don’t look well.”

“Well, that’s what feeling unsafe does to you, okay, Mahesh?” I was snapping but I didn’t care. What on earth was I supposed to do now?

“What’s making you feel unsafe? I can take care of that. Look, I can ask Piyadasa to come and stay here in the nights, if that’s what you’re worried about. Or we could easily arrange for some security, or—”

“It’s not that, Mahesh. Come on.”

“Then what, Akki? What? Please tell me? Let me help you.”

I sighed. He couldn’t help me. I was in this alone.

I had done everything I could to prepare for this. I’d gone to the shooting range, back in LA, and practiced once a week since I made the decision to come down here. I knew I had to be ready for when the time came. But now I had to go off script. I needed a different plan.

“Look, if you need anything else, absolutely anything else at all—anytime, anyplace—you call me, and I’ll come. No questions asked, okay? I promise. You call me and I’ll be there.”

“Okay, Mahesh. Sure.” What else was I supposed to say?

He left pretty quickly after that. Thank goodness.

But what in the world was I supposed to do now?



* * *



—

I KNOW THAT Kaavi had disinvited me from the wedding, but she couldn’t stop me from being a guest at the hotel. It took about forty-five minutes of being on hold, but I managed to change the reservation for my room—I was booked into the new wing, but I wanted a room in the old one, beachside, on the second floor, so I’d at least have a half-decent view of the Poruwa ceremony that would take place at sunset on the shore. She could tell me not to come, but she couldn’t tell me not to watch.

I made sure I kept a low profile while I checked into the hotel. The last thing I needed was to bump into Mrs. Fonseka. I didn’t know if she had heard about my fight with Kaavi last night, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I declined the services of a bellboy and carried my small suitcase into my room.

The first thing I did when I got in was throw open the balcony doors and go outside. I had a splendid bird’s-eye view of the Poruwa itself—the stage, which was already set up. Florists swarmed around it, fussing about with handfuls of flowers. If Mahesh had actually come through, I wondered if I could’ve just taken a shot from my balcony. That would have been so much easier. Wishful thinking, of course. Life was never that simple. You always had to end up getting down and dirty if you wanted something done. I had brought along a knife from my kitchen. It felt almost comical, smuggling it out here. It was no gun, of course, but maybe it’d still do if I had the element of surprise on my side? Who knew. And here I was sounding like a deranged person straight out of a badly written movie. Hell, I was a deranged person, and this movie would probably not even get made.