The Golden Boy Returns (The New Pioneers Book 5)

by Deborah Nam-Krane

  When he got home he threw himself on his bed and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw was Kasi's face right before she walked away.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Kasi came home just as Vijay was getting ready to leave. She waved him away before he could ask what was wrong. That, or she was trying to hide that she was crying. She closed her bedroom door and he knew better than to knock.

  He texted her from work every half hour. She finally answered at twelve thirty.

  What?

  Are you still home?

  Yes. Leave me alone

  What happened?

  I quit

  You what?!

  QUIT

  Why?

  Because these people are all the same

  What did Hwang do?

  Gave me my own medicine

  What can I do?

  Never talk about politics to anyone you work with—or me

  Vijay put down his phone, walked into Richard’s office and slammed the door.

  ~~~

  "You’re a stupid busybody!" Kasi said as soon as Vijay came home two days later.

  "At least you’re out of bed. Should I get you a pint of ice cream now?"

  "Shut up!" Kasi said before she pursed her lips. "If I don’t want to talk about it with you, what makes you think I want to talk about it with Emily and Zainab?"

  "I don’t know," Vijay said with a shrug. "I guess that’s what Richard decided to go with after I called him out. Maybe he should have called you himself, but he’s kind of a coward."

  "You...what?! Why did you tell him?"

  Vijay crossed his arms, and he wasn’t smiling. "I have been one of Richard’s monkeys since we were sophomores in college, and that’s fine. He’s like family, except I’ve put him through a lot less BS than his relatives. So if I finally introduce my cousin to his circle and she comes home crying, he’s going to hear about it."

  Kasi narrowed her eyes. "If you’d really like to make a point with your entitled, melodramatic boss, quit. But keep me out of it."

  "If they don’t make this right, that’s still an option."

  There was a knock at the door. "Who is that?" Kasi demanded.

  Vijay opened the door. "Hey, Jess."

  "Hey, Vijay," Jessie said as she punched him on the shoulder. "Okay, leave."

  "Vijay Panchal, don’t you dare!" Kasi shouted.

  Vijay waved. "I’ll come back with ice cream," he said over his shoulder.

  "I want pistachio!" Jessie called after him before she closed the door.

  "I’ll send some over to you," Kasi said angrily. "But you can go now too!"

  Jessie sat on a couch. "I am here with a job, and I get stuff done." She cocked her head. "That, plus Martin started for Hwang yesterday, and he left me with the distinct impression that things were running more smoothly when you were there."

  "How did it go with Donnelly?" Kasi asked automatically.

  Jessie smiled. "Donnelly said he hated to lose such a smart aide, which Martin is pretty sure means Donnelly thinks David is going to win."

  "Oh, yeah, good," Kasi said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Good luck with that."

  "And anyway," Jessie said emphatically, "Zainab was sniffling about you last night, and once she told me the story, I decided this required the direct approach."

  "If I'm not going to talk to my cousin, what makes you think I'm going to talk to you? Honestly, I don’t care how much money you can donate to anyone’s campaign."

  "Because if you haven't had some kind of mental collapse two days into this, you're going to want to talk to someone at this point."

  "And what makes you an expert?"

  Jessie groaned. "Long story. Let's just say I know what it's like to feel like a victim who's powerless to do anything about it, and it sucks."

  "I'm not a victim," Kasi insisted.

  "Then don't act like one."

  Kasi stared at Jessie for a moment. "Would you like a drink?" she said at last.

  Kasi and Jessie traded stories about Vijay, Richard, Emily and Zainab for an hour. "Who do they think they are?" Kasi asked through giggles.

  "Smarter than your average mortal," Jessie snarked. "But Vijay's nice. I mean, he's always stayed out of my way, so that's a plus."

  "Vijay's the best," Kasi said. "But don't tell him I said that."

  "What about the rest of your family?" Jessie asked.

  Kasi’s eyes filled with tears. "I don't know. Not anymore. I don't talk to them."

  "Why?"

  "Well, I suppose because they don't want to talk to me," Kasi said, trying to laugh as she wiped her tears.

  Jessie leaned forward. "What did you do?"

  "Told someone they did something terrible."

  "Oh yeah? Who?"

  "My uncle," she said painfully. "Not Vijay's father. The oldest brother; you know, the one in charge."

  "Well, yeah," Jessie said matter-of-factly. "Who else would do something terrible and think they could get away with it?"

  Kasi closed her eyes. "He was the first brother to come over. He worked two jobs but still managed to graduate with top honors from his college. And then he got a scholarship to medical school and business school. He served as a resident at Mass General before he started his own practice in Burlington. And somewhere in the middle of that he found time to sponsor and set up his two brothers." She looked at her beer bottle. "My parents made sure we knew all the details of his story, even more than their own. If it hadn't been for him, my father wouldn't have met my mother here, and my sister and I wouldn't be here. Same for Vijay's family."

  "But you hated him anyway," Jessie said.

  "No," Kasi said, licking her lips. "He was my favorite uncle, and he always looked after me. He always told me what a smart girl I was and how proud he was of me. He told me I was going to go far and that I owed it to the family to do so."

  "No pressure," Jessie said drily.

  Kasi smiled sadly. "No, it was okay. I wanted to please my uncles and aunts and parents, and I wanted to be a good example for my sister."

  "So what happened?"

  "He got one of my friends in high school pregnant." Jessie sat up. "She was one of his patients, and had been since she was a baby. He started sleeping with her when she was fifteen. I didn't find out until she was seventeen and asked me to come with her to get an abortion. My family didn't believe in those things and I was shocked. She told me...how did she put it? Not to be such a hypocrite; if I were going to benefit from my uncle, on occasion I'd have to clean up some of his messes." Kasi swallowed as if she were trying not to vomit. "I went with her, and she told me that she wasn't the only one, not by a long shot."

  Jessie set her lips tightly. "Wow. And by the way, that's not fair; I'm supposed to be the one with the most screwed up family."

  Kasi sighed. "Maybe this is why Vijay always liked Richard."

  "What did you do?"

  "I told him I knew it was true and I asked him how he could do that." Kasi bit her lip. "I didn't threaten to go to the police or to tell anyone, I just wanted him to explain to me how he could do that to girls who trusted him. He told me that those girls weren't like me; they had taken advantage of him. He was so indignant about having to pay for their abortions; I think he really believed it. I left his office because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  "The next day my parents screamed at me and asked me how I could accuse my uncle of such a terrible thing. I told them he admitted it and they called me a liar. I told them he was the liar, and my father slapped me. At that point, I left."

  "Where did you go?" Jessie asked quietly.

  "Here," she said, gesturing around her. "I called Vijay and he picked me up. He was disgusted when I told him what happened, but he believed me." She looked at Jessie. "I have a feeling I should thank you for that."

  Jessie rolled her eyes. "Jesus, I'm glad we came in handy for once."

  "He let me stay here, but he wanted to try and sort everything out. He spok
e to his parents, and then he told me to forget all about it and stay here. I have no idea what they said, but I can guess."

  "That’s awful," Jessie said. "What did you do about high school?"

  "I dropped out. Then Vijay made sure I got my GED. My SATs and my transcript—plus the fact that I was living without any parents—made it possible for me to get a scholarship to UMass Boston." She smirked. "I can only imagine how horrified my family was."

  Jessie frowned. "Were you here all this time and Vijay never said anything?"

  Kasi shook her head. "I got roommates in Dorchester as soon as I could. I'd saved up some money in high school and I got a job. I didn't want Vijay to have to be my dad."

  Jessie tilted her head. "So why are you here now?"

  "Because sometimes other people can screw with your life even worse than family."

  "That's for sure," Jessie said.

  "What would you know about it?"

  "Some jerk blackmailed my gay aunt into marrying Richard's father."

  Kasi nodded slowly. "I think I've heard that one."

  "Did you hear the one about how he blackmailed her almost thirty years later not to go to the police after Michael almost raped me?"

  Kasi froze. "Michael Abbot?! The one I was in a car with—alone?" She raised her eyebrows. "And who just blackmailed Cervino?"

  "That sounds like him," Jessie said casually.

  "Why haven't you killed him?" Kasi asked breathlessly.

  "Because he was literally willing to die to save my best friend and because I'm not worried he would ever do that to me or anyone else again." Jessie blinked. "Because if I were, he wouldn't have two children at this point."

  Kasi narrowed her eyes. "Willing to die?" she repeated.

  "Yep," Jessie said, starting to rock in her seat. "My father had a gun and he was going to use it."

  "Because of what Michael did to you?"

  "Ha—ha!" Jessie said bitterly. "No. Because he was going to kidnap Miranda, because she and Michael had figured out that he was really my dad and not my therapist. And trust me, he would have been unimpressed with what Michael got away with since he raped at least two people and killed at least one." She swallowed. "And my mother was one of them."

  "Oh my God!" Kasi sank back. "No, you win. You have the more screwed up family."

  "Every unhappy family is differently unhappy, or something like that," Jessie said. She awkwardly punched Kasi’s shoulder. "Look, I had a lousy couple of years when I was younger, but I also had Richard and Miranda, and then Emily and Zainab." She smiled. "And Martin. They make sure I don't drive to the prison where my father is rotting and go kill him, because I have things to live for. You need someone to make sure you don't sit in this apartment like you're waiting until it's safe to come out. You need someone to remind you that there's something to live for. There's no one like that?"

  "There was," Kasi said sadly.

  "Who?"

  "David."

  Jessie grinned. "Oh. Duh!"

  "If you tell Martin—or Zainab or Emily or even Vijay—"

  "Okay, I got it!" Jessie said with a laugh. "That sucks that he was such an asshole."

  "It’s not mutual," Kasi said quickly.

  "That doesn’t make it better!"

  Kasi sat back. "How badly did Martin say things were going?"

  ~~~

  David had called Kasi as soon as he'd woken up from his nap two days before, immediately regretting what he'd done. But she hadn't picked up.

  "You do not fire people without checking with me first!" Charlie barked when David gave him the summary of what had happened.

  "I didn't fire her; she quit," David said sullenly.

  "We both know exactly what you did: you cornered her and then you told her you were going to do something she couldn't stand by. You forced her to quit—because you didn't have the balls to actually fire her."

  "And what would you have done?" David roared. "She screwed me."

  Charlie glowered at him. "How long have we known each other? Because that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say. You know very well she was a bystander. Hell, Castillon was just a bystander, but Kasi had even less power to do anything about it. And you really expect that she would have gone to who? Who doesn't report to the mayor in this town?"

  "What about a U.S. attorney? You know, the Feds?" David asked bitterly.

  "David, Kasi was just out of college, but she was absolutely right that the FBI was not an option. Who did she know in the U.S. attorney's office that would have taken her seriously? Who did she know who knew someone?"

  "Then the press," he said angrily.

  Charlie laughed. "Yeah, because they did such great jobs looking for that hard drive. You need to get real."

  "Then she could have come to me!" David thundered.

  Charlie crossed his arms and nodded his head. "And now we get to it. You feel betrayed—by her. Never mind that she didn't know you then."

  "It was still a crime, whether she knew me or not!"

  "If someone did that to you now and she knew about it, she'd drown them in the harbor. Even after your punk stunt."

  "Really? Or would she go running to this source of hers at City Hall?"

  "Oh, sweet Jesus!" Charlie put his head in his hands. "You need to grow up! This isn't about your ethics being offended; this is about you and your feelings for Kasi. Do you want to win this God damned thing or do you want to punish Kasi for not feeling the same way you do?"

  David turned red. "Shut up!"

  "And since when do you shout?" Charlie asked, shaking his head.

  "Since you started accusing me—"

  "Of acting like a jealous teenager. No," Charlie put up his hand as soon as David opened his mouth. "You fix this and get her back here because we have work to do, or you can find yourself a new field director and a new campaign manager. Martin Shepard can probably do okay in either job, but not both."

  ~~~

  Kasi opened the door again a few hours after Jessie left. David stood outside, pale and tired. "Thanks for seeing me."

  "You look awful," Kasi said.

  "Thanks," David said. "Can I come in?"

  Kasi showed David in. "Home sweet home."

  "You should open a window and let some air in," he said.

  "Thanks," Kasi said. "I'm not sure how refreshing the Brighton air will be though."

  David shrugged wearily. "Fine. And I don't accept your resignation."

  "Charlie ripped you a new ear?" she asked, feigning sympathy.

  "Among other things," David said. Kasi smirked. "If you don't come back, he quits. I might be able to pull this off without one of you, but not both of you." He groaned. "Who am I kidding? I need you both, and you both know it."

  Kasi inhaled. "I am not coming back if you're endorsing Paloma."

  "This isn't about you."

  "Wow, David. Since I let you into my house, can you not BS me?"

  He ran his hands through his hair. "No, I'm serious. Look, I'm pretty sure they both screwed me, but...who was Paloma aside from being an ambitious woman who wanted to be a city councilor? She didn't actually do anything—at least, not there," he said when he saw her expression. "But Powers? He had a job, and he decided not to do it so he could have a chance at a better job. He's worse than she is, and I know you agree."

  "Fine, she's Frankenstein’s monster and he's Dracula. There's no requirement to throw in with either of them."

  "I want Powers to know that I know, and this is the best way to deliver that message."

  Kasi thought for a moment, before nodding. "Then he's going to help whoever is approaching you in the polls. Is that still Nelson?"

  "Today," David said. "Yesterday it looked like Clarke."

  Kasi raised her eyebrows. "He'll help Nelson; they go back. And I wouldn't depend on any reciprocation from Castillon."

  "I know," he said simply.

  She groaned. "You are such a stupidly principled jerk sometimes, I don’t k
now why I haven’t strangled you!"

  He laughed. "That is the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a while."

  Kasi stood up straight. "Just for the record, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the primary, and I'm sorry I didn't tell anybody else when it happened."

  "I understand," David said as he touched her arm. Kasi felt a charge on it when he removed his hand a second later. "It would have been like charging up Hamburger Hill, and it wouldn't have done either of us any good."

  Kasi bit her lip. "I know that's not what bothers you. You don't think a cheat should be mayor of Boston; the fact that he screwed you is incidental."

  David raised an eyebrow. "Now what did I do to earn such a high opinion in the last two days? I thought I was an idiot who didn't know what to do when I was in front of a camera?"

  Kasi chortled. "God, you’re the worst! You are going to practice for the debates until Charlie and I think you're golden tongued."

  The color in his cheeks lifted, and she was pretty sure she was blushing again. "Fine. How about we make that the condition of your return?"

  Kasi stuck out her hand. "Deal."

  David took her hand and locked eyes with her. "Deal."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  It was hard to hide things in a city as small and gossipy as Boston, but UMass Boston managed to hide its true value in plain sight.

  Eighteen year old Kasi had been nervous when she'd taken a tour of the large, modern-for-the-Seventies facility, but they were going to give her a free ride and she didn't have a choice. The tour guide pointed to three very large lecture halls. "But that's it," she'd said with a bright smile. "Let me show you what the rest of the classrooms look like." Then they walked into a classroom that might fit, at most, twenty-five but was better for twenty. "Most of our classes are held in rooms this size; that means you're going to have more discussions than lectures, and you're going to get to know your classmates better. And most of our classes are taught by faculty, not teaching assistants."

  The orientation session for the honors program she was enrolled in previewed even smaller classes and gave her an opportunity to talk to some of the upperclassmen. Most were working on small projects with their professors, and seemed genuinely enthused about the work they were doing.