Chapter 5 - THE SECRET MY PARENTS KEPT FROM SADI
Sadi was not my biological sister.
Not fully.
That was the first truth.
We shared our mother.
Different fathers.
I sat beside her on the bank conference-room floor because chairs suddenly felt too formal.
She looked at me.
“Are you still my sister?”
I almost broke.
“Yes.”
“Then okay.”
Children sometimes understand family better than adults.
Then she asked:
“Who is my dad?”
No one answered immediately.
The file contained the name.
I did not open it without asking her.
“You want to know?”
She thought.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
I clicked.
PATERNITY: ARJUN GREEDY.
The room disappeared.
Ravi stood so fast his chair hit the wall.
Sadi looked between us.
“That’s his brother.”
“Yes.”
“So…”
Her voice got small.
“Ravi is my uncle?”
Ravi looked as if someone had struck him.
“Yes.”
Sadi stared at him.
“You’re really mafia?”
“Complicated.”
She looked at me.
“That means yes.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
Then grief returned.
My mother had been involved with Arjun before marrying my father.
Years later, after Arjun entered deeper criminal activity, she left.
She was already pregnant.
Michael Harper knew.
He married her anyway.
Raised Sadi as his own.
Never treated her differently.
That explained Dad’s final note.
He did not want Arjun claiming her after his death.
Then the file revealed more.
Arjun knew.
He had known Sadi existed.
He signed a private paternity acknowledgment but never filed it.
Why?
Because Ravi’s family trust contained succession rights.
A biological child of Arjun could inherit part of Greedy Holdings.
Sadi.
Ten years old.
Worth millions on paper.
I felt sick.
Ravi said:
“Money does not make her his.”
“Good.”
I looked at him.
“Keep saying that.”
He nodded.
Then Sadi asked:
“Does he want me?”
Silence.
I hated the question.
Ravi crouched in front of her.
“I don’t know.”
Good.
No lie.
“But whether he wants you or not has nothing to do with your value.”
Sadi looked at him.
Then at me.
“Can I still get braces?”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“Yes.”
Ravi said:
“I’ll—”
I pointed.
“No.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“No billionaire uncle paying everything before we understand the trust.”
He actually looked offended.
Sadi whispered:
“I like her.”
Ravi almost smiled.
We arranged an independent dental financing plan using money already legally ours after fraudulent debts were frozen.
I wanted Sadi to know her smile was not charity.
Then the federal investigators called.
Arjun had disappeared.
His office empty.
Accounts moving.
Patrick Voss also gone.
Catherine remained in Chicago and agreed to cooperate.
Then someone sent Sadi a text.
Unknown number.
I’M YOUR REAL FATHER.
My blood ran cold.
Another message:
DIANE LIED TO YOU. RAVI WANTS YOUR MONEY.
Sadi looked at me.
I waited.
She deleted the messages.
Then said:
“He doesn’t know you very well.”
I hugged her.
But a third message appeared.
May you like
A photograph of our apartment taken that morning.
Arjun was watching us.
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