Chapter 9 - THE VIDEO MY FATHER LEFT FOR SADI
Dad appeared on screen looking tired.
Alive.
It hurt.
He smiled at the camera.
“Sadi-bug.”
She started crying immediately.
I held her.
Dad continued.
“If Diane is watching too, tell her she worries too much.”
I laughed through tears.
Then:
“I need you both to know something.”
His expression became serious.
“Arjun Greedy is Sadi’s biological father.”
Sadi nodded at the screen.
“We know.”
It broke me.
Dad continued.
“He may someday tell you I stole you from him.”
Pause.
“I didn’t.”
My stomach tightened.
“Your mother gave him opportunities to be part of your life.”
There it was.
Three meetings.
Three chances.
Arjun refused each unless Mom agreed to raise Sadi inside the Greedy family structure.
She refused.
He chose absence.
Dad adopted Sadi legally with Arjun’s written consent.
We found the document in the files.
That destroyed Arjun’s claim that she had been hidden from him.
Then Dad said:
“Blood explains where you came from.”
His eyes softened.
“It does not decide who gets to own your future.”
Ravi looked away.
Then:
“And Ravi?”
He turned toward the camera as if speaking directly to him.
“If you found my girls, do not make them part of your organization.”
Ravi closed his eyes.
“Help only if they ask.”
I looked at him.
He nodded.
Dad knew him well.
Then the final secret.
“Patrick and Arjun are not the only people involved.”
Of course.
“Someone inside the hospital helped falsify the debt records after the accident.”
My pulse changed.
Dad named the person.
Dr. Elaine Mercer.
Sadi’s pediatric dentist.
The woman currently planning her braces.
I stared.
No.
She had treated Sadi for three years.
Kind.
Patient.
Always reduced fees.
Why?
Guilt?
Or access?
We canceled the appointment immediately.
Investigators questioned her.
She confessed.
Not to murder.
To creating false medical billing profiles under Patrick’s direction.
Years earlier, Patrick threatened her husband’s career.
She cooperated.
After my parents died, she recognized Sadi’s name.
She felt guilty.
That was why she gave discounts.
Again.
Adults trying to repair harm without telling the person harmed.
I was tired of it.
Elaine testified.
Her evidence connected Paragon’s fake-debt system to over three hundred families.
Hundreds.
Then she revealed something bigger.
Patrick had not created the system for money laundering alone.
He used medical debt to identify vulnerable families who could be pressured into signing property transfers.
Homes.
Small businesses.
Inheritance rights.
It was an empire built on desperation.
I thought about kissing Ravi for ten thousand dollars.
Exactly the kind of decision their system manufactured.
Then federal agents found Patrick.
At O’Hare.
Trying to leave.
Arrested.
Arjun still missing.
But Patrick made a deal.
He gave them Arjun’s location.
Then asked for protection.
“From who?” I said.
The prosecutor answered:
“Ravi.”
I looked at Ravi.
He looked offended.
Then the prosecutor added:
“Not Mr. Greedy.”
Pause.
“From Sadi’s grandmother.”
I froze.
Our mother’s mother had died before I was born.
So which grandmother?
Ravi’s mother.
May you like
According to everyone, she had been dead eight years.
Apparently not.
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