“He is. Listen, you and Bram. Everything okay with you?”

Shoban dropped the cigarette. She was about to bend down and pick it up, but Mina put a hand on her shoulder. “Leave it. The stories I’ve heard about what Shree and his brothers got up to here, I wouldn’t pick anything up off the floor. You can share this one. It’s my last one.”

Shoban took the offering, and turned to stare at the ocean. The two moments of peace with this woman had distracted her from the prison she suddenly found herself in.

“You feel like telling me what the matter is?”

Shoban laughed. A perfect specimen like Mina would never understand. Then again, Shoban had seen something sparkle in her eyes when she talked about Shree, so maybe she would.

What would she even say, though? I hate your brother-in-law. He just forced me into a marriage with the help of my father? Rage burned in her throat and she turned away.

“Did you know I was a child star?” Mina took the cigarette from Shoban and leaned into the railing next to her.

Shoban studied her. “Baby Minu? That was you, of course.” Shoban’s ma had loved her films. “Didn’t you win a Filmfare Award?”

Mina’s face was a mask, her beautiful features frozen taut, a kind of deadness Shoban couldn’t reconcile with the smiling woman from before.

“I don’t remember. I don’t remember any of my childhood roles. My therapist tells me it’s PTSD memory loss.” Another drag of the cigarette. “I was forced into them by my father.”

Shoban wasn’t sure if she should reach out and touch her, comfort her in some way.

“It’s okay. I’m fine now.” Mina took one last drag, although nothing was left of the cigarette. “But I do recognize someone in a situation that they don’t want to be in.”

For the next few minutes they stared out at the ocean, watching the fractured moonlight scatter on the waves.

Shoban was the first to break the silence. “You know how you just talked about Shree? I could tell that thinking about him makes your heart flutter.”

Mina smiled, letting the demons go from her eyes. “It does. I’m so glad you get it. You were so quiet during the wedding, I almost thought—”

“I do know what that feels like. But it’s not for Bram.”

“Oh.” Mina touched her forehead. “Dear God. Why didn’t you stop it? Why didn’t you say no? Don’t answer that. You did. Bloody hell. What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know. If I leave, my father has threatened to destroy Omar’s family. I don’t know what to do.”