“Hey, have some faith,” I told her, injecting a teasing note into my voice as I merged into the fast lane. Traffic was moving at a somewhat decent pace, and the drive had helped clear my head.

Suria’s frustration and her obvious fear was clouding it again, though.

That fear was enough to gut me.

Nobody should have to carry the burdens she did.

“I promise you,” I said, squeezing her hand. “We’re going to help Joelle.”

I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late.

Pushing that thought aside, I put my thoughts on the concrete instead and asked, “When do you think they’ll try to make this wedding happen?”

“In the next few days,” Suria said and shot me a look. “She’ll need a dress, they need food…they couldn’t do any of that until they had Joelle back, but once they had her, they would have kicked everything into overdrive.”

“You’re sure they won’t do it today?” I asked her.

“Not positive,” she hedged. “But pretty sure. The clan likes to make everything into a party. A big party is hard to do in a matter of hours, even if one of the bigger families are calling all the shots.”

“Is yours one of the bigger families?”

She snorted. “Hell, no.” She shot me a dark look, one lightened only slightly by the smirk that curled her lips. “We’re bottom of the barrel. Papa never had much to offer to the clan, and it’s all about power and money to Vano. But he did have something to offer a man looking for a bride.”

“Your sister.”

Her mouth tightened. So did the hand still gripping mine. “Yes. My sister.”

I gritted my teeth, my fingers tightening on the steering wheel. “Damn them.”

She averted her gaze. Softly, she said, “I told Papa I’d do it. I’d marry the bastard if he would just leave Joelle alone. But Papa liked the money I made a little too well, and he wouldn’t risk sharing it. If I were to marry, my husband would get the larger cut instead of my father.”

“Why aren’t you getting the larger cut?” I asked, irritated by the idea even as I understood the cut she was talking about had to do with the money she conned people out of.

“Because I’m a woman.” She shoved a hand through her hair and shot me an edgy look. “It’s not like this with all of the Rom, but my clan is incredibly backward. Women are tools to be used in marriages between the families. We’re bartering chips. It’s like the past century hasn’t even happened. I’ve heard that many other clans are different now, but Vano likes things the way they are. Hell, he’d still be all for marrying thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds off if he thought he could get away with it.”

The very idea turned my stomach, but I kept silent because she was still talking.

“A lot of the people my age can’t read anything over a ninth-grade level. They were homeschooled, and the word inadequate comes to mind. Joelle and I went to public schools, but that’s because Papa didn’t want to be bothered with having us homeschooled, and we didn’t have a mother around.”

“What happened to your mom?” I asked.

“I told you. She died when I was very young. Papa doesn’t talk about it.” She tugged her hand free of mine and reached up to swipe under her eyes. When she linked her hands together in her lap, I let it go although I missed the connection. “I’m the closest thing Joelle has to a mother. Fuck, I can’t let this happen.”

“We aren’t going to let it, Suri,” I said.

She sniffed and rested her head on the padded headrest. After a few moments of silence, she said, “There’s something I want to take care of. I’d like to talk to your mother.”

I tensed. “Why?”

“Because I need to,” she said simply. “I have to fix what I did. Will you take me to her?”

My gut instinct was to say no. Even though I understood her reasons, even though my mother seemed to do the same, my gut wanted to say no.

But sometimes, the gut doesn’t speak the same language as the heart. Shooting a look at the clock, I said, “It will take close to an hour to get to her place from here. That okay?”

She gave me a wan smile. “I don’t have any place to go, Kian. And I mean that…literally.”

Mom was out in front of her condo, working on her small garden when Suria and I approached.

She rose, spying me first, and a smile lit up her face.

Then she saw Suria, and the smile faded.

Another one took its place, the polite, guarded smile she reserved for strangers.

At least it was a smile.

Suria didn’t let it affect her. She edged past me on the sidewalk and approached my mother as Mom rose and took off the gardening gloves. “Hello, Ms. Robson,” she said, her voice level, no longer the quiet, uncertain tone she’d been using with me. “I hope you don’t mind that Kian brought me over without calling first. I needed to speak with you.”

“Is that a fact?” Mom looked over at me, a brow cocked up in an elegant arch. She studied me a moment, then looked back to Suria.

“Yes.” Suria’s shoulders went stiff, as if she were bracing herself. Then she continued, “I want to apologize for what I did. I could tell you a hundred reasons why I did it, but none of them are good enough and I–”

“I know why you did it,” Mom interrupted. She dropped the gloves down on the wrought iron table next to where she stood and folded her hands in front of her. “Kian told me.”

“He…” Suria shot me a look. “He told you.”

“Yes.” Mom angled her head to the side, her gaze insightful.

I knew what it was like to be the recipient of that look, to feel like she could see clear through you. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

Suria looked away, and I could see the hot flush coloring her cheeks.

“Would it help if I told you that if I was in the position you were in, I think I likely would have acted the same way?”

Suria’s head flew back around, and she looked at my mother, surprise all over her face. “You…no. No, you wouldn’t.”

“If I was in your position, I likely would have,” Mom said again. She shrugged and moved over to one of the chairs at the table, sitting down. “I’ve never been in your position, but I know what it’s like to be without resources, to be without choices. It’s not a good feeling. It can make a woman feel quite desperate.”

She flicked a look at me, a faint smile curling her lips now. “And I know what it’s like to have somebody in my life that I’d do anything to protect, Suria. And I’ve been desperate before. If lying, stealing, cheating…any of that would have let me save my brother?” She shrugged. “I would have done it in a heartbeat.”

Suria shook her head. “I don’t understand you.”

“There’s not much to understand. I simply put myself in your shoes and tried to imagine what I’d do.” Mom shrugged, still smiling that same small smile. “And I found that I couldn’t blame you. So…” She held out a hand, and I watched as Suria moved close enough for Mom to take hers. “I forgive you.”

Suria’s shoulders jerked, and panic hit me hard and fast. Please don’t let her be crying.

Mom rose from the chair and wrapped an arm around the smaller woman, hugging her in tight. “It’s okay, sweetheart.”

Pained, I fought the urge to disappear inside the condo so Mom could handle this, but Suria had just sucked up her pride to apologize. I could suck up my discomfort at the sight of a woman close to tears – or maybe even crying – and just stand there like a useless asshole.

A faint sniffle sounded in the air, then Suria pulled away. “You’re very kind, Ms. Robson.”

“It’s Tamara,” Mom corrected. She laid a hand on Suria’s cheek. “Sweetheart, you look exhausted. When was the last time you had a good night’s rest?”

Suria shrugged the question away. “I can sleep when this is over,” she said softly.

She turned back to me, and I held out a hand for her.

As she came to me, Mom met my gaze over her head. “Take care of her.”

I just nodded.

As the two of us walked back to my car, Mom drew her gardening gloves back on and went back to work on her roses and rhododendrons.