Forgetting Billions | ✓

32 | Forgetting America

"VARUN, SHE'S waking up," Aishwarya murmured. "Should we fix this?"

"Don't ask me. I hate what you're doing. It's wrong and I will not take part in it."

She rolled her eyes. "We've already come this far. This is not the time to back out."

Aditya sighed to himself and laced his fingers together, placing them in his lap. He seemed reluctant to involve himself in this, but protected Jasmine nevertheless. "She won't fight against you two if I tell her not to. Don't drug her again," he mumbled, his eyes focused on the dirty airport flooring as if his life depended on it.

The two adults stared at the boy blankly. Jasmine's father shrugged and left to check in their bags like he would rather be anywhere but next to his psychopathic wife. Aishwarya bit her lip as she mulled over every possible thing that could go wrong by trusting Aditya.

"You have to make sure she doesn't run and you have to keep a tight hold on her at all times, okay?" she whispered.

"Deal," he said after a moment of hesitation, hating the fact that he was letting his aunt and uncle get away with kidnapping their own daughter. He had to keep Jasmine safe though, now that his mother, Shayan, and Karina were out of the picture.

Jasmine's eyes slowly opened. She squinted as she took in her surroundings and when it dawned on her that they were in an airport, she sat up straight, her breathing growing heavy.

"Why are we here, Mom? Where are you taking me?" she asked all in one breath, clinging on to Aditya as if he were the only lifeline she had left.

Her mother avoided meeting her daughter's pleading gaze. "We're going to India. You need to reconnect with your culture and–,"

"And?" she demanded, her voice becoming harsher.

"We'll talk about it when we're there," Aishwarya replied. "It's just for the rest of your senior year. We can move back in September so you can go to college at Harvard like we had originally planned."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she let her head fall into Aditya's lap, no longer in possession of the energy it took to fight back.

"Why are you doing this? Is this because I kissed Shayan?" She looked to her father who was currently weighing their suitcases before adding with a scrutinizing squint, "That seems a bit extreme."

"No. It's because you're no longer safe at home. You have someone trying to kill you and no one knows who it is. I can't take a chance, Jasmine. I can't lose you too, not after Karina."

Jasmine went quiet after that. She stared into the space in front of her, unable to make sense of the situation at hand. Her mother had taken control of her life and had destroyed her freedoms, leaving her with nothing but an empty trust in the people who could hurt her the most.

She didn't think Aishwarya would do anything for her anymore. But maybe, if she asked nicely and reasoned with her, she would let her call Shayan and say goodbye. She reached into her pocket and felt nothing but the jean fabric grazing her fingers.

"Where's my phone?" Jasmine said, her anger boiling to the brim with every second.

"We threw it away in case SS was tracking you. We don't want them to know where we're going." Her mother turned around, paranoid that someone was eavesdropping. She made eye contact with a security guard and flashed him an effortless smile. He smiled back and before Jasmine could nonverbally get his attention, he walked away.

"What about your phone?" she asked, becoming frantic when she remembered that she didn't get to tell Shayan she loved him.

"I got rid of all of ours. All I have now is a pay by minute flip phone with a new number. I'm not taking any chances anymore," she repeated, something unintelligible flashing within her eyes.