Page 32 of Kane

“Sorry if that name’s supposed to mean somethin’ to me, it don’t.”

She shakes her head. “No, I do not suppose it would, if you have not heard of my father.”

“So, this Jiwan Varda-whatever. Who’s he to you?”

She’s silent again, this time for a full minute. “The day I ran away…I was meant to marry him.”

I feel the shock hit me, and I know it shows on my face. “You’re engaged?”

“No.”

“Not followin’.”

“Not as you think it. To you, engaged is…a romance thing. A man proposes to a woman whom he loves, and they are engaged to be married. Yes?”

I shrug, pull a face to match the shrug. “Sure.”

“For me, it wasarranged.” Again, the spat word.

I frown. “Like, an arranged marriage? As in, set up for you?”

“Jiwan, he is Pappa’s…friend is not correct. Associate. Business compatriot, perhaps. I have only met him one time, two weeks ago.”

I blink, try to fathom this. “You were supposed to marry him, and you’d never met him?”

“It was arranged. I was given no choice.” She looks at me, reserved, guard up. “It is traditional.”

I nod. “Yeah, I spent a lot of time in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, among other places. I’m sure it’s not exactly the same, but that’s traditional in some of those places too, so I get it, to a degree.” I shrug. “Enough to be familiar with the concept, at least.”

“Jiwan…he is not…” she sighs. “I did not want to marry him. All of my life, I do as I am told. I go where I am told to go, I eat what I am told to eat, I have the friends I am told to have.” She pauses, but it’s clear she’s just gathering steam. I keep my mouth shut and listen. “I am not allowed to actually go shopping. I am not allowed to watch TV, only the movies Pappa approves. I wear the clothing Pappa approves. I did not go to school—I had tutors. I am not allowed to be who I want to be.”

I wait. She’s not done. Just getting warmed up, I think.

“Anjalee Sharma…who is she? She is who my father has decided she will be.” She shakes her head. “Then, six months ago, he informed me that I would be marrying Jiwan. He is very rich. Not quite so rich as Pappa, but close enough it does not matter. He is one of these eligible bachelors. In Mumbai, everyone knows him, and every young woman of marrying age wishes she would be the one to marry him. But, Pappa decided it will be me, and so, I am expected to marry him. It isarranged.”

“You’re shittin’ me.”

“No, I am not doing this shitting of you.” She shakes her head, anger boiling in her eyes. “I tell them and Itellthem, I do notwantto, I willnot. All they say is, it isarranged, Anjalee, it isdone, Anjalee, youwill, Anjalee.” She throws her hands up. “So, they drive me to the place of the wedding. I was not given any input to the wedding at all. I am merely expected to go, like a good little girl.” The word “girl,” in her sexy, sweet, lilting accent, is renderedgehr-UHL.“This is when I decide, no. I will not. They bring me to the wedding place, and I steal the car. It is my father’s car. His favorite. I call it the Monster. It is horrible, and I hate it. But it is very fast, and I am gone before they can catch me.”

“I thought you didn’t have a license.”

“I do not.” She shrugs. “One of my father’s men, Param, he is like an uncle to me. Sometimes, he lets me drive in the car park when Pappa is away. Just for fun.”

“Miracle you didn’t wreck.”

“Truly, you are not joking.” She shakes her head. “Jiwan, he believes I belong to him. My father, he believes this as well. I do not know what they will do, if they find me.” She frowns, shrugs. “Well, no. I do know—they will force me to marry Jiwan. But what will they do, in order to catch me? This I do not know.” She looks at me. “I do not know very much of such things, but I think Jiwan does not always make his money doing the legal things.”

“Like, organized crime?”

She nods. “He has many connections in Mumbai. And his men, they are not like Pappa’s men. Pappa’s men, yes, they carry guns and they do as he wishes. But Jiwan’s men… they are different. I do not know.”

“Good to know.” I consider this, a moment or two. “The question is, Anjalee, what doyouwant?”

“Not to marry him. This, I will not do.”

“But what if that’s the only option? What if your dad won’t hear of anything else?” I sit up, back to the headboard. “How far are you willing to go?”

“How far? What do you mean?”