Shattered Relations | Aru Shah AU |

XXIV

a/n: mature language in this chapter. aru FINALLY gets to say 'fuck', bless her. (she deserves it, ok—)

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ARU
To say her father was furious was an understatement. Aru was considered grounded for her entire life, and now she and her father were living in a hotel in New York, waiting for a flight back to Atlanta. 

Over the past few days, Aru saw her father retreat into a shell, and although Aru herself couldn't tell him about Kara, she knew he knew. 

And that made the pain all the more worse. It was a Saturday morning when her phone rang, with an incoming call form an unknown number. 

She picked up, and the mechanical voice of a telephone operator said, "Incoming call from New York State Petentiary..." 

Aru felt herself stiffen. "...To accept the call, press 'one'. To decline all further calls, press—"

She tuned out the words. Only one person she knew was currently confined in there, a person who had caused her so much pain. 

You don't have to pick up, a voice in her head said, echoing in her skull. You owe her nothing, it continued. 

Silence... until, she said, out loud, "I want answers," and with a trembling hand, she pressed 'one'.

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"I was the one who called the cops," the tired voice said, and Aru could see her playing with her hair, nervously, without even being there.

"I figured," she told Kara quietly. "But that doesn't excuse you for what you did." 

"I was trying to help you—" she cried, and, anger rising, Aru snapped, "Shut. Up." 

Kara fell silent, before a sigh crackled at the other end of the line. 

Aru glared at the framed photo on her nightstand. The picture of the happy family spoke a lot of words, but they were all lies. 

She clenched her fists, focusing on the old her in the photo. So much had changed, and it was all Kara's fault. 

"Sure you were. Trying to kill my friends is a great way to help me." she began, before deflating. Instantly, the energy inside her had gone. 

"Go on," Kara said, bitterly. "I deserve it. Continue," 

Aru stared at the photo once more, her eyes flitting from Kara's face to her own. Their bond had changed, corrupted by Kara's lies, like acid corrodes metal. 

"How are Mini and Brynne? And the guys? Aiden and Rudy?" the voice at the other end of the line asked, sounding concerned. 

"I wouldn't know. Mini's been dragged back to Texas, Brynne's uncles have forbidden her to leave her house, Aiden and Rudy were sent back to Atlanta to live with Aiden's mom." 

"You're still in New York?" Kara asked. 

"Yeah. With Dad. And a bodyguard, sent by the NYPD." 

A faint voice at the other end of the line said something, as Kara faintly said, "Okay." Before returning to their call. 

"Aru, Saturday the week after next is Visiting Day," Kara began. 

"So?" she asked, though she knew where this conversation is going. 

"I... want you to come." 

"Hm?" Aru asked, though she had heard the request perfectly well, and was ready to decline it. 

"I want you to come." The sentence was repeated.

"How about no," she responded, flatly. 

Kara took a deep breath. "I'm not going to hurt you," she tried, but by now, Aru's patience had worn thin. 

"Oh, yeah? Tell that to Brynne, who's got a broken nose. Tell that to Mini, who got shot in the fucking leg. You may not try to hurt me, but your 'colleagues' have hurt my friends."

The static at the other end of the line filled her ear, as moments seemed to grow longer in the absence of noise. 

Go on, she thought. Give me an excuse. I'm interested to see what lie you come up with.

"It's about Mom," Kara said, finally. 

"What? Don't give me that shit—" she began. 

"Look. Before I got arrested... Lenguine, copied some files for me. Files about a death in Atlanta." 

Aru froze. Where was she going with this? 

"Aru, don't you find it strange that the curator and owner of a well-to-do museum, the wife of a business mogul would just fall of a bridge, would she?"

"Shut up. Shut. Up." She hissed out, through gritted teeth.

"And wouldn't you find it strange that she fell in the Brunswick Canal?" 

"Stop—" 

"And that she was receiving letters the weeks preceding her death?" 

Aru tried to cut the call, but it seemed as if her limbs had been frozen. She couldn't move. 

"Come the week after the next, Lil' Sis. We've got things to talk about." 

Static replaced Kara's voice, as Aru's phone fell onto the soft, carpeted floor. 

She'd known about all the facts, but not the last one. 

And that she was receiving letters the weeks preceding her death?

Aru's eyes flitted back to the picture, not to her's or Kara's faces, but to her mother's. 

She'd always assumed that Mom's death had been an accident. At least that's what her father had tried to convince her. 

But this seemed more sinister. 

Aru took a deep breath. Before, she had wanted answers, but now she wasn't sure whether they would be good. 

But she had to try. For her Mom. If her death had been caused by somebody, she was going to hunt them down. 

Even if it was the last thing she did. 

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