34
Kimi
Present day
Present day
“You’re bleeding,” Kimi said, looking at Rahul’s shoulder.
He ignored her and looked at her monitor. “Your numbers still normal?”
She hated being in a hospital bed with electrodes stuck to her chest, especially since she really was fine and all of this was just a precaution. She had only pretended to collapse. It had been the only thing she could think of to cause a distraction. Rahul and Mohit had used it perfectly, moving with the precision of machines. That cop DNA had to be a real thing.
Naturally, Rahul had insisted she come to the hospital and have everything checked out. They had to bring Mohit in anyway. He had flipped Asif’s chair with such force he had dislocated his shoulder and hit his head badly enough to need stitches. They were fitting him for a sling in the next room. Rahul had been going back and forth, switching off between the two rooms with his aie, who had been so calm and loving in the face of all the madness that Kimi wanted to beg her to sit by her so she could snuggle into her. The thought made her crave her own mother. Something that she hadn’t done in nearly a decade.
She had tried to call her mother as soon as Rahul reconnected her phone. But neither of her parents was answering their phone.
Rahul looked as guilty as ever. As though he and not Asif Khan were responsible for everything. But he was here, still reaching for her hand every few minutes, leaving her only to go look in on Mohit. He had held Mohit so long and hard after he emptied the contents of that gun into Asif that he might have done even more damage to that dislocated shoulder.
“That was fantastic. Really stupid, but fantastic,” he kept saying. And then, “I’m proud of you. So proud of you.” And “I’m sorry. So sorry.” It was that last part that had made Mohit break down.
It had been Rahul the way he used to be with her, the way he had only been recently when he forgot to be distant. The way he was being now, his heart in his eyes as he watched her. Mohit had obviously never seen him that way, and he had sobbed like a little boy and forgotten to say nasty things. He had, in fact, been entirely speechless in the face of Rahul’s big, burly affection.
“Rahul, can we have someone look at that shoulder, please?” Kimi said.
“It’s not my blood. It’s Asif’s.” Rahul had shot the man at close range. No chances this time. No pieces of his head left intact.
She stood, dragging all the tubes and wires with her, and yanked his arm.
He winced.
“I can tell when you’re hurt, okay?” she said.
He looked down at his shoulder, plucked a few tissues out of a box, and pressed them into the cut. “It doesn’t matter. It’s just a scratch. One of the ricocheting bullets must have nicked me. “ He pushed her back into the bed and sat down next to her. “I have something to tell you.”
“I don’t want to hear anything until a doctor looks at your shoulder.”
“Kimi, please. It’s time to listen. We have to talk now before I go and take care of it.” His dark as tar eyes were soft with understanding, and she knew things were even worse than she could imagine.
He studied her, trying to decide what to say. How much to say. Trying to manage this for her. She’d had enough of people managing things for her. No more.
It was time for her to stop acting like she was made of glass. Papa had lied about her surgery. Asif Khan had run a black-market organ ring. She wasn’t stupid. “How bad is it?”
He looked like she felt, as though someone were squeezing him between plates of glass that were about to shatter. “I’m going to have to make an arrest in Jen’s murder case.”
“But you killed Asif Khan. You got her murderer. Who else is there to arrest?”
He took her hand. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be touched. Didn’t want him looking at her this way. Didn’t want to hear what he had to say.
“Your heart—you were right to think that your heart had something to do with why Asif was after you.”
She tried to pull her hand away. He didn’t let it go. Every single time she’d had a bad diagnosis, somewhere in her heart she’d known what was coming. It was that gauge inside that signaled impending disaster. It was going mad right now. And Rahul’s face reflecting all the panic she was feeling only made it worse.
“You already know that Asif was stealing organs from people on Jen’s registry,” he said gently.
She didn’t look away, but she could barely stay upright.
“This is what I’ve put together. We’ll have to confirm the details.”
“Just tell me, Rahul.” If he’d put it together, there was no chance in hell that he’d gotten it wrong.
“When they couldn’t find you a donor, Kirit-sir somehow found out about Asif and went to him to procure a heart for you. Jen was on the organ registry too. Asif had access to the registry and found out that Jen was a match for you. He had her killed so you could have her heart.”
She felt numb. Tears started streaming down her face, but her eyes felt dry.
The image of Jen in Rahul’s arms kissing him filled her head and squeezed the breath from her lungs. She had felt such choking anger and hate.
“I’m sorry,” he said uselessly, as though all his bloody apologies ever fixed anything.
This time she yanked her hand away with enough force that he let it go. “Why is everything your fault, Rahul? Are you God? Do you make people pay for organs, do you make them kill people for you?”
“Kimi.” He reached for her again, but she got off the bed. She wanted to rip off the wires and tubes, but she couldn’t make herself do it. She never disobeyed doctor’s orders. She had sworn never to. And now that she knew Jen had died so she could keep on living, how could she do anything to put it at risk? This heart that was snatched in the middle of a vibrant life, this heart that was a symbol of the cruelty in her genes.
“Have they arrested him yet?” Suddenly, she was scared. “Do you know where he is?”
“He’s at home. He can’t leave.”
“Will you be the one to take him in? Please.”
He didn’t move. He sat there as though he understood what she was feeling, as though he knew he could never understand. “There’s more,” he said.
What more could there possibly be?
“The person who threatened Nikki and sent her after Nikhil. That was him too.”
No.
He tried to take her in his arms. She pushed him away with all the violence gathering inside. “Don’t touch me, please.”
“Kimi, please. None of this is your fault.”
How could she not laugh at that? “Really?” she wanted to say. “Would any of this have happened if it weren’t for me?” But she could barely breathe, let alone make words.
“Let me help you,” he said again, trying to hold her, but she pushed him away again.
“Help me how? Will you let him go? Will you let him get away with it?”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t see if he would do that for her. More mayhem in her name.
“Of course not,” she said, when what she wanted to say was, “What about me? I’m a criminal too. I took the heart.”
For the rest of their lives, she would be a constant reminder to him of a dead friend, of a heinous crime. He was right in thinking that love wasn’t worth it. That it always ended in loss and pain. That the price of getting what you wanted was always too high.
“I want you to go,” she said. “I want you to be the one to arrest him. Will you make sure no one hurts him?”
He nodded. “I owe him that much,” he said before he walked out of her room.
She ran to the door and called after him, making him turn around. “You owe him nothing, Rahul.”
He didn’t respond.
“But you will make sure he’s safe? Please.”
“I promise.” And then he was gone.