What the hell was her family getting up to while she was busy baking bread?

“Your turn, Dad,” Saira said. “Tell us what you’re hiding.”

“I wish you had told me about your job, Reena. I would have helped you.” Good. He wasn’t going to mention Saira’s crowded bedroom. “I can ask around to my contacts. It’s high time you had a management role, anyway. I’ll put the word out—”

“No, Dad. I told you, I don’t want your help. I want your honesty.”

Dad sighed, standing. “I’m going to lock the door so we’re not disturbed.” He walked to the front of the empty unit.

Reena took the opportunity to ask Saira what planet she resided on. “I can’t believe you told Dad you had threesomes,” she whispered.

Saira grinned. “Oh, I’m pretty sure he knows. Just like he knows Ashraf and I smoke weed in the garage for anxiety. He’s pretending he doesn’t hear me.”

Reena had been pretty sure before, but this confirmed it: her family was totally bonkers.

Dad returned and sat heavily on his chair.

“So …” Reena said.

“I made a bad business decision and lost money. A lot of money.” He took a breath. “I hired an architect for some late modifications. He cheated me and stole from us.”

Reena blinked. This? This was Dad’s big secret? This wasn’t a secret at all. “I know that. Mum told us.”

Reena had never seen her Dad’s eyes so wide. “What?! Your mother doesn’t know this!”

Saira snorted. “Of course she does. You didn’t know she knew?”

“How in heavens does your mother know about my loss?”

Reena shrugged. “I figured you told her. You are married, after all.”

Dad stared, eyes still wide, lips pinched. Clearly her parents had a lot of stuff to work through. She considered evening the score and telling Dad about Mum’s poker habit, but decided to get back to the matter at hand.

“What does this have to do with Nadim?”

“I needed the money from his father to finish the project. And Shiroz only offered to invest if his son came with the deal. He was concerned about Nadim’s reputation and wanted it … polished a bit. I would not have agreed to hire the man if I had known he bungled the Shah hotel project.”

Reena was learning nothing new here. Dad’s only intel was information Mum had already told her.

“So, you didn’t know about his connection to the Shahs?”

“No. Not until Salim Shah showed that picture on the Facebook.”

“Do you believe Nadim?”

Dad didn’t answer. He stood up and walked toward the front window of the unit. “You know,” he finally said, “so much of what you see here is Nadim’s doing. I would have rented to the first coffee shop who put an application in, but he has ideas about prestige. He believes a restaurant can be an anchor tenant and bring people to the development. The work he has done for this project, research, negotiating with suppliers, tenants, subcontractors … I see no sign of the irresponsible and incapable project manager that they claim him to be.”