Page 61 of Best Kept Secret

She smiled. "Asha and I were friends. Well, we used to be friends…or whatever you could be with Asha. She didn't get close to people—didn't let them near her."

I smiled uneasily. "I'm afraid I didn't know Asha very well."

"She told me you wouldn't want to have anything to do with a child," she remarked. "I tried to convince her to talk to you, but once Asha made up her mind…she wouldn't change it."

This was all news to me, but if Asha was that much of a hard ass, no way had Mira manipulated her into becoming Pari's guardian.

"Since you're here, I'm assuming that Mira took my advice and reached out to you."

I narrowed my eyes. "Yes, she did."

Suchitra sighed. "Good. Those parents of hers were making a nuisance of themselves. Complaints to CPS until they finally told them to back off. Freaking Mira out by sending legal documents to her, and when they sent a lawyer over who told her she'd lose custody, I thought she needed to contact the father. Even if you didn't want Pari, you could help shut her parents down."

I'd done the exact opposite.

"I met Anil and Seema Sen. They…they told me that Mira had hurt Pari when she was a baby."

A laugh escaped Suchitra. "Mira? Hurting anyone? Right!"

"I believed them," I added.

Her eyes clouded with pain. "Damn it! I should've thought about that. Her parents come across as such pillars of society. In Atlanta, everyone thinks they're such good people…and Mira is the…anyway. You shouldn't believeanythingthey say."

"What can you tell me about all this? Legally, I mean."

Suchitra shrugged. "Everything. Asha gave me permission to talk to you if you ever showed up. I insisted. She never thought you would, so it was an easy get for me."

I nodded, my throat tight. "I spoke with a Kush Patel at CPS. He said…he said that CPS would never let Mira's parents get custody of a child. Can you tell me why that is?"

Suchitra straightened and placed her fingertips on her desk, her gaze steady. "I can see what you suspect."

I was just a little too late in forming my suspicions, and very late in having them verified.

She gave me a sad smile. "Asha and Mira's childhood shaped them. Some of this is going to be difficult to hear, but it's important that you get the full picture."

I shifted in my seat, angry with myself, at the fucking world. I nodded for her to continue.

"Asha and Mira," she began, "were victims of sexual abuse by their father, Anil Sen."

I stared at her. My whole body clenched. I couldn't breathe as I tried to process what I'd just heard. It was one thing to speculate, quite another to have someone tell me.

It felt like the room had shifted around me, like the air had been sucked out. My mind spiraled. I leaned forward, my elbows on her desk, hands clasped together. "When…when did it start?" My voice was shaky.

"Asha was eight. It stopped when she turned fourteen."

I paled, looking up at the lawyer. "Why did it stop?" But I knew the answer. Mira was five years younger than Asha.

Suchitra pursed her lips and kept her face straight. "Asha hadn't told anyone. She'd tried with Seema, but she blamed Asha for it, saying she needed to stop lying and prancing around. Like Asha at eight was some Jezebel."

"And Mira?"

The lawyer smiled, and then it wavered. "She's a fighter, our Mira. She complained but Anil is an influential man in Atlanta. He made sure there wasn't even an investigation. The case worker who came to their home told Mira to behave herself or she'd be sent to an orphanage. After a few years, I think Mirawantedto go to an orphanage. Asha felt guilty for not protecting her sister—for feeling relieved that she didn't have to…. Anyway. She thought it would stop like it had for Asha, but it didn't."

"No one knew?"

The lawyer shook her head. "Asha only told me when she knew she was dying."

I felt bile rise within me. I looked around.

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