Unknown P.O.V.
"Are the final preparations for the memorial service being made?"
"They're being completed now, sir."
He nodded in satisfaction.
"Will she be there?"
The young man nodded, the hands that were clasped behind his back shook as he did so.
"Yes, sir, she will be."
"And he'll be with her, I presume?"
"Yes, sir."
The young man let out a shaky breath.
"Is that all you need from me, sir?"
He wove his hand, dismissing the young man.
"Yes, Zak. That's all."
- - -
Ella's P.O.V.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry, watch your head..."
I sat down in the plush leather seat rubbing my head.
"That warning came a little too late," I told Daniel, who was swinging luggage into the overhead compartment above me.
"Technically, I gave you one before that," he retorted, closing the compartment.
"I don't think shouting 'Four!' counts," Jai said, shuffling in behind him with his two duffle bags.
Daniel just shrugged.
"Knock it off, you two," Cain said, entering the cabin of the plane. "Go help everyone else load the rest of the shit."
Daniel and Jai immediately straightened up and brushed past Cain to go back out into the cold, misty night air.
"You need to get some sleep," Cain said. "We've got about an eight-hour flight to Mumbai ahead of us."
"I'm not very tired," I told him, watching as he put his bag in the seat across the aisle from me.
I felt a slight pang of disappointment watching him plan to sit so far away.
Why doesn't he want to sit next to me?
"I don't bite," I told him.
"I do," he said, without skipping a beat.
He looked at me, seemingly astonished that he had said what he did; it was like it had just slipped out.
I fought back laughter.
"Did that amuse you?" He asked incredulously.
I snickered, my hand covering my mouth as I tried to keep from laughing.
"That shouldn't have been funny," he said, a smile creeping up on his lips.
"But it was," I said.
"That's a twisted sense of humor," he remarked, taking his seat across from me.
"Seriously?" I asked him. "You're really going to sit all the way over there?"
He sighed, his face turning serious.
"Ella, we've been over this," he said.
"You said it yourself, we have eight hours of a plane ride to Mumbai. This would be a perfect time to be able to talk about things," I argued.
"In a cabin full of people?" he asked rhetorically.
I huffed.
He's just making excuses now, I thought.
We sat in an awkward silence until everyone started to fill in.
I assumed the private plane that we were on belonged to Cain. He, myself and his group of men and women were the only people on it. It was spacious enough to be comfortable, but smaller than a commercial airliner.
The pilot came onboard, dressed in all-black like everyone else.
"We'll be taking off shortly," he informed Cain as the door was closed.
Daniel and Jai wandered around the cabin of the plane, Daniel still looking for space in the upper storage compartments and Jai looking for somewhere to sit.
He spotted the empty seat next to me and walked over.
"This seat taken?" he asked.
Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Cain look up from the tablet in his hand.
"Go for it," I told Jai, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Thanks," he said, taking a seat next to me. "So... have you ever been to Mumbai before?"
I shook my head, desperately just wanting to be left alone to wallow in my own self-pity and not have to entertain someone with small talk.
"I think you'll like it," he told me.
I could have done a happy dance when I saw him pull out headphones from his backpack.
I leaned my head against the window and looked out to stare at the lights that glowed along the wing of the plane.
Cain was putting as much distance between us as he could without pushing me totally away and Zak had left me here alone to deal with it. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was being held at an arm's length.
Cain was going to have to decide between me or what was comfortable and safe. I desperately wanted to make the decision for him, but I knew I couldn't do that.
Convincing him that I was the right choice would only lead to resentment later on if he happed to realize I was the wrong choice. But I didn't want to be the wrong choice. I wanted to be the only choice. And I think that is what frustrated me. I didn't want to be the one making the decision for him. I wanted him to be able to make it on his own, to choose me.
These thoughts terrorized me for the duration of our entire eight-hour flight.
This made it nearly twenty-four hours since I had gotten any sleep. My grouchy mood was solid, supportive evidence of this.
"Can I help you with that?" Daniel asked, reaching for the luggage that was in my hands.
"No," I said, yanking it out of his grip. "I've got it."
The limp that I walked with as I tried to use my right leg as a support for the heavy duffle bag was proof enough that I, in fact, didn't have it.
It was clear to all of the six-foot tall, muscular men that watched me struggle.
I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't a wimp and I could take care of myself. But the truth of the matter was: I was incredibly weak. I hadn't eaten after turning down food from Dr. Zosak and neglecting to eat on the plane ride over.
In addition to the fact that I was extremely low on any kind of nutritional energy, I was also jetlagged. The four-and-a-half-hour time difference was killing me slowly. All I wanted was a mattress and a blanket.
As we stepped off the plane, I felt my luggage being taken from my hands.
I turned, ready to pinch the head off of whoever was trying to take my bag. I stopped short when Cain brushed past me, holding my duffle bag.
"Just because you're pissed doesn't mean you have to be stubborn," he mumbled to me in passing.
I followed him across the concrete tarmac.
The glare of the sun beating down on the bright concrete made me squint, giving me an instant headache. The warm climate, however, was a welcome change.
I was nearly sweating as we walked over to a group of men who stood waiting for us as the end of the runway.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Alpha Sovereign," the man standing in front of everyone else said. "My name is Dinesh, I have been assigned the task of transporting you during your stay here in Mumbai."
Dinesh and the men standing behind him all bowed their heads in reverence.
I turned to give a confused look to Daniel who, when I caught his eye, gave me a subtle wink.
"If you'll follow us, please..."
Dinesh gestured inside a large terminal and I practically pushed past everyone in front of me to get inside. I was sweating standing out on the tarmac.
"We've set up a secure location for you and your entourage to stay," he informed Cain. "Only myself and very few others know of your presence here."
"Let's keep it that way," Jai interjected.
We were walking quickly through the large, open building to a group of SUVs that were parked beside an entrance.
Lining the walls of the terminal were men dressed like soldiers, holding guns that were as tall as me.
Who could they possibly be protecting? Cain?
I looked over to Cain and I was reminded of our conversation the previous day where, in a rare moment of vulnerability, he had explained his position and what it meant to the people he was over. It made sense that someone of his ranking and importance would receive a top-of-the-line security detail, but, for some reason, it didn't strike me as his style.
To me, I saw Cain as someone who would have been more than capable of protecting himself. But maybe that was just what he wanted everyone to think.
"We'll need a list of all of the guests that have been invited to the memorial service," Daniel said.
His professional tone threw me off guard.
"We'll also need blueprints of the building and surrounding areas," Jai added.
"I promise you that our crew has done a phenomenal job of assuring the safety of the Alpha Sovereign and his associates," Dinesh argued.
His eyes fell on me as he said this.
"Forgive us for not taking your word for it," Cain said, drawing back his attention.
If Dinesh was offended by Cain's bluntness, he didn't let on, only nodding in compliance.
"I will have the appropriate documents delivered to you immediately," he said.
Cain didn't say another word as he opened the backseat door of the SUV for me to climb into. I climbed into the car, which was already running and, thankfully, blasting the air condition.
He walked around the car and climbed in on the other side.
The group of men and women we had with us, including Jai, piled into the other cars. Daniel walked over to open my car door and stopped short when he saw me sitting there.
"Slide over," Cain told me.
He hooked a finger around my beltloop and pulled me towards him onto the middle seat.
Squished between two nearly seven-foot tall men who hadn't skipped a shoulder day since the second grade wasn't very comfortable, but the extremely close proximity between myself and Cain made my stomach twist.
I leaned forward slightly to wedge myself out of the small space, but Cain pulled me back.
"Buckle up," he said quietly as the car began to move.
"I can't," I protested in a low voice. "There isn't any room."
Cain sighed and slung his arm around the back of the seat, opening up space for me to lean back against the seat.
I buckled up, blushing slightly as I did so.
The way Cain stared at me as I did even the most mundane of things made my head spin.
"We have about an hour's drive to your safehouse," Dinesh informed us from the driver's seat.
An hour? How big is this city?
As we began our drive into the city, I realized it wasn't the square-footage of the city that made reaching our destination such a tedious task. It was the traffic.
I had never experienced traffic like that in my entire life and I regularly traveled to and from Jacksonville, Florida, which was one of the most populated cities in the United States.
We sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic for what felt like ages. The men who were driving wove their hands in the air vigorously and shouted in Marathi at other drivers and even at pedestrians that were brave enough to try and cross the street between vehicles and the cyclists that wove between cars.
I felt envious of Cain and Daniel's vantage points from the window seat.
The city was bustling with people, despite the heat that was blistering down on them from the early afternoon sun.
On the left side of the road was a sidewalk lined with people coming in and out of the shops. On the right, was the ocean.
"Is that the Arabian sea?" I asked Dinesh.
"Indeed, it is," he said, seeming surprised that I would ask. "Did you know that the Arabian sea has a dead zone in the Gulf of Oman which is completely depleted of oxygen and over twice the size of Scotland?"
"No, I didn't know that," I told him.
I kept my eyes on the coastline, watching the people walking along the side of the congested street.
"What is that?" I asked him, eyeing the monument we were driving up on.
"Oh that?" he asked. "That's the Gateway of India. It was built to commemorate the visit of King George the fifth and Queen Mary to Mumbai."
Dinesh's eye caught mine in the rearview mirror.
"Is this your first time in Mumbai?" he asked.
"Can't you tell?" Daniel muttered sarcastically.
I turned and shot him a glare just as Cain's hand came up from behind the seat and smacked him in the back of the head.
"No need to feel embarrassed," Dinesh assured me. "We take pride in our city, so feel free to ask as many questions as you like. I only hope that we can answer them."
Despite his assurance, I kept my mouth shut throughout the rest of the car ride.
I did, however, keep my eyes glued to the life that was being lived outside of the SUV. The vibrancy of colors and patterns mixed with the uniformity of the concrete buildings was not something easily ignored.
We drove a while longer until we pulled between an alleyway that dropped down into an underground parking garage.
We parked in the empty garage as the other SUVs pulled in and parked as well.
Everyone piled out of the cars and retrieved their luggage from the trunks. We followed Dinesh and his men inside an elevator that didn't look like much from the outside, but was gold-plated on the inside.
Is that real? I thought as I poked it with my finger gently.
Getting out of the elevator, I determined that it probably was.
The lobby of whatever hotel we were in was set entirely in white quartz. The floors and walls were gleaming as if someone had gotten down on their hands and knees and waxed them. The ceilings were plastered with panels of ornate gold mirrors that reflected light off of the monstrous crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the room.
There was no furniture or windows, the only light offered into the room was by the chandelier. The emptiness of the large dome-ceilinged room meant every step that we took into the room reverberated and echoed.
"What is this?" I asked Daniel, keeping my voice as quiet as it could be.
"This is the reason that they have an annual budget," he answered.
Daniel wasn't wrong in guessing that this interior probably cost a lot more than most people make in a year.
It was strange to me, however, that this room, while ornate, was completely empty and windowless.
"Where are we?" I asked him.
He shrugged.
"If you'll follow me," Dinesh said to Cain, "I'll show you to your suite."
Everyone began to split up as they were all led in separate directions.
I looked around in confusion as Daniel and Jai followed a few other people to a door that was on one side of the room and Cain followed Dinesh to another door on the other side of the room.
Cain turned around and then looked at me.
"Are you just going to stand there?" he asked.
I took a deep breath and picked up my duffle bag from the ground as I followed Cain.
"I'll get that for you, ma'am," someone said.
I turned and watched as a younger man walked over and took my bag from me.
"Thank you," I said.
He smiled and nodded, gesturing for me to follow Cain.
I walked over, catching Cain eyeing the boy who had grabbed my bag.
We crammed into an elevator, all of us awkwardly packed inside.
I noticed as the elevator started to move that the numbers on the screen were dropping.
Were we going farther underground?
The elevator doors finally slid open, revealing a long hallway with only one set of double doors at the end of it.
Cain and I exited the elevator, him grabbing my duffle bag from the ground where it had been placed.
"We'll have a car here to pick you up for the memorial service in four hours," Dinesh informed Cain. "I'll have the blueprints and guestlist delivered to your Betas within the hour."
With that being said, he pressed a button on the panel inside the elevator and the doors closed.
This left Cain and I alone in a long hallway.
He said nothing as he walked to the door and opened it.
I brushed past him into the room, my eyes immediately finding the giant king-sized bed on the other side of the large room.
I said nothing as I walked over to it, throwing myself down on the duvet.
I barely heard Cain close the bedroom door before my eyes had closed.
Feeling like I had only slept for five short minutes, I was none too thrilled when I woke hearing someone say my name.
I opened my eyes to see Cain standing beside the bed.
"We have to leave in thirty minutes," he said. "I thought you might need time to get ready."
"You're telling me that I slept for three hours?" I asked him in disbelief.
"Three and a half if you want to be technical," he answered.
I huffed as I sat up, feeling like I weighed seven-hundred pounds. I wanted nothing more than to be able to lay back down.
Reluctantly, I slid off the bed.
"I don't have anything to wear," I said, rubbing my eyes.
"Priya sent something with me for you," he said pointing towards the bathroom.
I walked over, opening up the bathroom door to see a white kurti hanging on a hook. It was made of linen with an eyelet-pattern, an A-line fit and trumpet sleeves.
Putting it on, I saw that it fell to slightly past my knees. The white leggings that accompanied it were also linen with a lightweight feeling.
Everything fit perfectly.
I walked out of the bathroom after putting my unwashed hair into a single French braid to pull it out of my face.
Cain had changed, now wearing a white tunic-style top with jeans.
"Who wears white to a funeral?" I asked.
"It's traditional to wear white to a funeral in Hindu culture," Cain responded, putting on his shoes.
I picked up the sandals that Priya had sent and strapped them on.
I needed to remember to thank that girl for saving my life on this trip when we returned.
Cain ushered me out of the room after we both had finished getting ready.
Silently, we rode the elevator back up to the large empty room. Everyone was there waiting on us, dressed nearly the same as we were.
Dinesh lead us back out into the garage and to the SUVs that were waiting.
"You look cute," Daniel commented, being silly.
I smiled as he opened the door for me to get into the backseat of the car.
Once we had all loaded in, we left the garage and exited back onto the street, which was now nearly dark.
It was a long drive to the large white building that we eventually arrived at.
It was lit up from the outside, illuminating the beautiful indo-saracenic architecture.
I barely had time to take it all in before we were being ushered out of the car and inside the building.
The hordes of people who were walking around inside immediately made me want to shrink back into the doorway and back outside to the car.
Just as I was about to ask how Cain long the event was supposed to take, I saw him.
He was standing nearly a hundred feet away, completely still and staring right at me.
I felt my entire body freeze as the air left my lungs.
Reaching out, I grabbed Cain's hand and squeezed it, my eyes still glued on the man in the crowd.
"What is it?" He asked.
"He's here," I whispered.
Cain looked out into the crowd, trying to find who I was looking at.
"Who?"
I swallowed the knot in the back of my throat.
"My grandfather."
- - -