Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Her best friend needed Shumi to watch out for her, and for that, Shumi needed to be the closest person in her life.
It had been bad enough when Risha had lived with the Prasads, her room right next to Diya’s. The only thing that had kept Shumi from acting was the knowledge that Risha was a temporary guest, one who’d be gone soon enough.
But Violet…Violet lived in Rotorua, was talking about becoming Diya’s partner. They’d be working together day in and day out.
Her chai latte spilled onto the saucer as she put the double-walled glass down too hard.
No, she couldn’t let this happen, had to act.
Chapter 75
Diya’s sister-in-law stood in the hallway, smoke curling up around her calves as it rose toward the ceiling.
“What?” I shook my head to clear it. “Shumi, there’s a fire! We have to get out!”
“I know.” Pure calm. “I was pulling Diya out. Now you’ve gone and spoiled it.”
I stared at her, my sluggish brain trying to make sense of what she was saying. “Go open the door!” It was still some distance away, this spacious vacation home suddenly too big. “I’ll bring Diya.”
“You’re meant to be asleep,” Shumi insisted. “I put in a double dose to be sure.”
My brain started to catch up with her words, with the way she was just standing there, but it was already too late. Because Shumi had a knife in her hand, a massive thing that she held firmly by the handle. “I had to go to the kitchen to get this,” she said, before coming toward me with the knife raised high. “It’s not how I wanted it.”
Having slid my hands under Diya’s shoulders to drag her to the door, I couldn’t evade Shumi’s first blow. It went right through that vulnerable space beside my shoulder blade, a screaming line of fire inside and out.
“Shumi! Stop!” I shoved her off with that pained cry, but she dug in the knife and twisted.
“You’re meant to be sleeping,” she gritted out, right before I threw back my fist.
It made hard, direct contact with her face, and she tumbled backward, taking the knife with her.
Something splintered, broke.
I couldn’t smell blood, the acrid scent of smoke and fire blotting out all else. Not hearing Shumi move, I hoped I’d knocked her out. I couldn’t go over and check—given the gray soup of smoke, I might never find my way back to Diya. I could barely make out the route to the front door as it was.
Coughing, I pulled Diya up again despite the agony in my shoulder, and began to move.
The knife punched into my back again, and this time, it hit something bad. Something that made the taste of blood fill my mouth and threatened to take the air from my lungs.
“It’s meant to be us!” Shumi screamed. “Me and Diya! It’s always been meant to be us! I’m the one who looks after her!”
Barely able to hear her through the crackle of the flames I could now see roaring to life in the living room, I shoved back with my whole body.
It drove the knife in even deeper, but it also took her to the floor. Twisting, I went to punch her, just get this over with, but, free of whatever drug she’d used to incapacitate me, she was faster, slid away and kicked at my face.
My head snapped back.
“I did so much for her! I do everything for her!” Her voice was hoarse, her words making no sense. “I keep her safe! They never understood her! They didn’t deserve her!”
Coughing, the sound wet now, I felt my hand touch something. The broken leg of the fragile table against which she’d initially tumbled. Picking it up, I rose to my feet, while staying right beside Diya, and swung wildly, made no contact. “You killed everyone,” I managed to cough out.
“She doesn’t need anyone else! She just needs me!” A disembodied voice in the darkness.
Using the sound of her voice to pinpoint her location, I swung again. A fleshy thwack of sound.
Shumi screamed and kicked out, but I somehow managed to avoid it this time. She was coughing now, yelling. “You ruined everything! I won’t let you take her!”
I swung while she was ranting. The contact was solid. A thunk followed by a thud that was her body falling to the floor. My vision hazy and my balance shot, I crashed to the floor on my knees and got my hands under Diya again. “Come on, baby.” Blood bubbled in my mouth. “We’re gonna make it.”
I began to drag and pull, and with each wrench, felt another spurt of blood down my back. I blocked it out, focused on Diya.
My light.
My one good thing.
My salvation.
I would not let her die. Not my Diya.
The taste of wet iron filled my mouth.
Chapter 76