“Poppy fields? Poppy . . . You’re talking opium.” His stomach twisted. Shit. His uncle had gotten in trouble with the mob because of his drug habit. He would have to call Sri later to find out what Raj’s connections were with organized crime, and if she was connected in any way to the group that had harmed his family. “Does your father still do opium?”

“My brother has taken over, but from what I understand, it’s mostly legal now. They’re a supplier for pharma companies.”

Well, thank the gods, Ajay thought to himself. He wasn’t a fool. He knew the reason it mattered so much was because he wanted her, and her connections to his family were already complicated enough. “I’m assuming it wasn’t always legal, though.”

Raj took a bite and chewed before answering. “This is incredible, Ajay. You’ve surprised me.”

“Thank you, but you’re changing the subject.”

She laughed, and her ponytail slid over her shoulder. She looked so young now. It was a layer of Raj’s personality that Ajay ached to see, and now that he’d witnessed the vulnerability, he wanted to do everything he could to help her. To protect her.

She’d probably knee him if he ever admitted that. Instead, he topped off their wine and waited for her to finish.

“Growing up, things were . . . dark in my home, even if they kept the drugs and guns out of sight from me and my mother. All I was expected to do was finish my twelfth standard and then get married. My parents had been so controlling my whole life. I had security at all times. Going to school, coming home from school, even at weddings we attended. My only escape was books, and I studied hard. I wanted freedom. I never wanted to be at the mercy of someone else’s checkbook.”

“So you convinced your parents you should go to college. Except instead of going home after you finished, you found your escape with Robert Douglass and got married instead.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. “Yes, you could say that. My plan was to switch my student visa to an H visa. I had a few job opportunities lined up that were willing to sponsor my H. I was at the top of my class, and I wasn’t worried about the work. My family, however, worried me. They would fly to the US and drag me home, H visa be damned.”

“Sounds like something my family would do in similar circumstances.”

“Robert’s, too. He screwed around for most of his childhood and then for the first two years of college. They had a very specific life planned for him, too, because they didn’t trust him to make sound decisions on his own. They were worried about their reputation.”

“And Robert didn’t want that?”

“No, darling,” she said with a laugh.