Chapter 7 - THE SIGNATURE THAT LOOKED LIKE RAVI'S
R.G.
Ravi Greedy.
The obvious conclusion.
Too obvious.
I looked at him.
“Did you authorize it?”
“No.”
Immediate.
I believed tone less than evidence.
“Can you prove that?”
He looked hurt.
Then nodded.
“Good question.”
His corporate signature records showed R.G. could refer to:
Ravi Greedy.
Raman Greedy, his late uncle.
Or a shell account called:
Rivergate Group.
Patrick often abbreviated Rivergate as R.G.
We traced the payment.
Not Ravi.
Rivergate.
Owned jointly by Patrick and Arjun.
I exhaled.
Ravi did not ask whether I had doubted him.
Good.
Then the mechanic cooperated.
He remembered Patrick.
Remembered the money.
Remembered being told nobody would survive the crash.
My parents did not.
Case reopened as homicide.
For the first time in two years, their death stopped being an accident in official language.
That mattered.
Then Ravi said:
“I should have found this.”
I looked at him.
“Maybe.”
He flinched.
“I had the resources.”
“Yes.”
“I owed your father.”
“Yes.”
“And I failed.”
I studied him.
“Do not turn this into a story where you are the main tragedy.”
Silence.
Then:
“You’re right.”
Good.
My parents were dead.
Sadi had lost them.
I had raised a child at twenty-two.
Ravi’s guilt mattered only if it changed what he did next.
He turned over complete foundation records to independent investigators.
Not selected records.
Everything.
His own organization’s questionable finances included.
His lawyers hated it.
He did it anyway.
That triggered audits.
Business seizures.
Political panic.
Ravi lost partners.
Some criminal operations became exposed.
He did not ask for immunity.
Better.
Then Arjun called.
Me.
Not Sadi.
“Diane.”
His voice was calm.
I hated it.
“What?”
“You’re making this difficult.”
“You murdered my parents.”
“No.”
“Evidence disagrees.”
“Patrick handled that.”
“You paid.”
Silence.
Then:
“I protected Sadi.”
I laughed.
“By making me broke?”
“You kept her invisible.”
There it was.
The fake debt.
If we stayed poor, unnoticed, no competing family faction would discover Sadi’s value.
Arjun called abuse protection.
I called it control.
“Why now?”
“Because Ravi found her.”
My blood chilled.
He feared Ravi would claim her.
Not as a child.
As an heir.
Then Arjun said:
“Bring me Sadi, and I’ll surrender.”
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“She’s a person.”
Silence.
Then his voice hardened.
“You think you’re her mother?”
“No.”
I swallowed.
“I’m her sister.”
Then:
“And I’m the one who stayed.”
I hung up.
The next morning, Sadi’s school called.
Someone had tried to remove her from enrollment records.
Not physically.
Administratively.
Transfer request.
Signed:
DIANE HARPER.
Forgery.
Destination:
May you like
A private school in Switzerland.
Arjun was preparing to move her out of the country.
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