Page 60 of Born in Ruin

“You make sure they are.” He heard the conviction in her voice and felt shame slide through him.

“I send them money, as much and more than they need. But I don’t go home.” He didn’t turn his face from the front of her dress, unable to meet her eyes. “I look at him and I remember what it was to go to sleep hungry every night. I look at him and I remember how helpless poverty can make you. I look and I remember that he forced me to grow up and be the parent when it was his fucking job to be one. I can’t stand to look at him and some days I can’t stand to even look at myself.”

She tipped his head up, forcing him to meet her eyes. “I can stand to look at you. I see you, Ishaan Adajania. I don’t think I’ll ever stop seeing you.”

THIRTY-TWO

Mayukhi

When Mayukhi held her hand out for the car keys, Ishaan didn’t argue with her. He just got into the passenger seat, put his head back on the car seat and closed his eyes. Being vulnerable clearly didn’t come easily to him. Mayukhi and Ishaan drove to the hospital in silence. Mayukhi parked and they walked into the hospital together. The silence was strangely comforting.

They looked around but didn’t see Sri or any of Naveen’s friends in the reception area. A few of them had peeled out after the ambulance earlier that night. Amay walked into the hospital waiting room, looking surprisingly bright eyed and rested. His gaze sharpened when he saw Ishaan’s face. Whatever he saw in his friend’s eyes only had his frown deepening.

“Come with me,” was all he said as he led Mayukhi and Ishaan to the elevators that would take them to his cabin on the topmost floor of the hospital.

“How is he?” Mayukhi asked, when the elevator doors shut, leaving them alone for a few minutes.

“The doctors are working on him.”

“Overdose?” Ishaan asked, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. Mayukhi knew it was more mental and emotional than physical.

Amay shook his head. “Looks like whatever he injected wasn’t pure.”

Ishaan snorted, a sound completely devoid of satisfaction and amusement. “Cheap fuckers. Would have figured they’d at least spring for the good stuff.”

“Either that or someone adulterated it.” Mayukhi’s clinical assessment drew surprised looks from both the guys. “What?” she murmured. “You guys don’t watch true crime shows?”

Ishaan cracked a tired grin. “Your brain is endlessly fascinating,” he told her. “I love the way it works.”

Mayukhi smiled, pleased to see a hint of his usual cocky swagger.

“The only people there were his friends,” Amay muttered, interrupting the moment.

“And us,” Ishaan reminded him. “We’re hardly his friends.”

“But he doesn’t know that. Maybe there was someone else there who was a pseudo friend.” Mayukhi shrugged.

“Virat’s digging into it. He should be here in a bit.” Amay led them into his cabin and shut the door. “Now what the fuck happened to you?”

The ‘you’ in question was Ishaan who did his own bit of shrugging. “Long day.”

Amay walked over to a small fridge in the corner of his room and pulled out a bottle of Gatorade. He held it out to Ishaan who shook his head.

“Take it,” Amay said inflexibly. “Or I’ll have you admitted and stick an IV line into you.”

Ishaan took the bottle. Amay scanned his face one more time before sitting down behind his desk.

“Anything else happen at that party that we should know about?”

Ishaan shook his head, opening the bottle and taking a sip. “Nothing worth talking about. Didn’t have the time to get to anything before the dipshit collapsed.”

“Then why do you look like shit?” Amay asked bluntly.

Virat opened the door and stepped in before Ishaan could respond. Mayukhi had a feeling he didn’t plan to respond anyway.

“The girl, Nisha, talked.” A quiet hum went through the room. “One of my boys got through to her. Her father works for Naveen. He’s an accountant who thought he’d skim tiny amounts of money from the firm. When he was caught, Naveen asked for his daughter in exchange for writing off his fraud.”

She saw Ishaan still, his entire body turning to stone. What was going through that head of his now?

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