“Yes, it is.” Grey frowned, looking past the spruces into the darkness beyond. In the distance, he could see the main building that held the dorms. The first-floor windows were all lit; the front office was still staffed, even tonight. St. R’s took their 24/7 policy very seriously. “Who am I speaking to?”

“This is Rajkumar Kiran Hegde of Karnataka, India.”

CHAPTER 17

Jaya

“Back home, we had a young mango tree,” Jaya said to Caterina after a pause. “It was absolutely gorgeous, with soft green leaves and the most beautiful textured bark. But it kept growing too close to this big banyan tree we already had. My father’s gardeners tried everything they knew—they pruned it back, they tied it, they even considered moving it at one point, even though it was well over thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide then. But you know what they did in the end?”

Caterina shook her head, interested in the story in spite of herself, it seemed.

“They left it alone. They figured if the mango tree really wanted to grow so close to the banyan tree, so close that it wasn’t getting any light for itself, they shouldn’t interfere.”

“And what happened?” Caterina folded her long, pale arms across her green silk-clad torso.

“The mango tree died. It didn’t stand a chance. The banyan was unstoppable.”

They looked at each other. Caterina tried to keep her face impassive, but Jaya could see the muscle under her eye twitch. “I guess I’m the mango tree in that scenario. Great work, Aesop.”

“Caterina.” Jaya put a hand on Caterina’s slender arm, but she brushed her off. “I am so sorry I didn’t tell you what was happening between Alaric and Daphne Elizabeth. I felt caught between a rock and a hard place and I completely misstepped. But I’m not going to misstep anymore. I’m here to tell you that you can’t let Alaric do this to you. Don’t let him strip away everything. You’re Caterina LaValle. Last time I checked, that meant something.”

Caterina glared at her, eyes burning, like she was about to launch herself at Jaya and rip her hair from her skull.

Grey

Grey waited for more from the dude, Kiran, but there was nothing else. “Okay.”

He heard laughter—snuffling, derisive, annoying. “I see. So she never told you about me.”

“Who hasn’t told me about you?” he asked, but somewhere deep inside him, a faint alarm was beginning to sound.

“My fiancée, Jaya Rao,” Kiran answered. “I understand you know her?”

Grey walked a few paces deeper into the trees, his shoes sinking in the mulch. “Your fiancée? I think there’s some misunderstanding here.” There had to be. This was ridiculous. “Jaya never mentioned you.”

“And she didn’t tell me about you. I found out through other means,” Kiran said easily.