“Who?” She stopped chewing and glanced up at him. The pleasure fled from her face as resignation set in. “Your parents?”
She didn’t know. Dev stared into her eyes and knew she wasn’t pretending. How could she not have known? It had been international news months ago. Even if she were in America she would have seen the headlines.
“No,” he said gruffly. “Your family will be there.”
“My family—my mother is at Arjun Studios?” Tina bolted from her seat. “Why? When?”
Dev thought Tina would have been happy with the news. He hadn’t expected this level of panic. He had only met her family a handful of times as Tina had made an effort to keep her family away. He hadn’t thought much about it until now. “What’s wrong?”
She paused and bit her lip. “How did they contact you? Do they know that I’m back?”
“I contacted them. In fact, I’ve been in touch with them since you were missing.”
She winced. “Oh, you have no idea what you’ve done.” Tina clapped her palms against her cheeks as she began to pace. “What did you tell them?”
“What I told everyone. That you were recuperating from your miscarriage. They had no idea where you were. Why couldn’t you trust your mother with the truth?” What had she been hiding that was so horrible she couldn’t even tell her family?
CHAPTER FOUR
TINA BRISTLED UNDER Dev’s question. She saw the disappointment in his eyes. He had no right to judge. She hadn’t been selfish or unkind. She needed to protect herself and she wasn’t going to feel guilty about her decision.
“My mother would insist that I stay married,” she explained as she crossed her arms.
Dev studied her. “So you disappeared?”
Tina felt a sharp twist in her chest. “I did what was best for me.” She wasn’t going to feel guilty. She had taken care of her family for as long as she could remember and this time she had to protect herself.
“By shutting everyone out,” Dev said with bitterness. “It’s what you do best. But I didn’t think you had it in you to turn your back on your family.”
Tina whipped her head around and glared at her husband. “I didn’t! You don’t know anything about my mother or my sisters.” She had made sure of that. She didn’t want Dev to see the family dynamics. He would notice how she was treated differently.
“I know your mother is confused and hurt by the silence she’s received for four months.”
Tina rubbed her hands over her face. The secrecy had been necessary. Her mother wouldn’t have been sympathetic. Reema Sharma was not just her mother, she was also her manager. It was not the ideal situation. For a while Tina had recognized that her mother’s advice was not based on what was best for Tina, but what was best to support the family.
“I’ve kept in contact,” she muttered.
Dev scoffed at her. “Paying their bills through your accountant is not staying—”
“How do you know about that?” She never discussed her salary and expenditures with Dev and she had been grateful that he had never asked. He was very traditional in his thinking that he would financially support her.
“When you first disappeared, I thought you would have returned to your mother’s house,” Dev said as he rose from his chair.
Tina groaned and rubbed her forehead. She tried to imagine the rich and sophisticated Dev Arjun visiting her mother’s home. She was certain the entire neighborhood would have been there to meet him. And knowing Reema, she had charged for tickets. “How much money did my family get out of you?”
“I was happy to help out,” Dev said with a shrug.
“You shouldn’t have done it. They are my responsibility,” Tina said. She hated how much her mother obsessed over money. Tina had been constantly told how much she had cost her mother—the dreams, the security, the husband. She knew she had been a burden on her mother and nothing she did would make up for it.
Dev glanced at his wristwatch. “We should leave for the studios,” he said. “I told your mother that we would be there at nine.”
Tina recognized the vintage timepiece. She had given it to him early in their affair when she had discovered he appreciated those works of art. Tina looked away as she remembered how she had teased him about his inability to be punctual when he had a collection of high-end and technology-advanced watches.
“My mother is peculiar that way.” Tina couldn’t shake off the dread that made her sag her shoulders and drag her feet. “When she says she’ll be somewhere at nine, she really means nine.”