Chapter 5 - The Money TrailDetective Bennett spent the next forty-eight hours reconstructing my father's plan.
The truth was worse than any story I could have imagined.
Richard had accumulated enormous debt through several private investments.
His companies were failing.
His mansion was mortgaged.
And he had been secretly moving money through offshore accounts.
The transplant was never simply about Maya.
It was connected to a larger financial scheme.
The two hundred and eighty thousand dollars paid to Northbridge was labeled as a consulting fee.
But investigators found another document.
A private insurance agreement.
Maya's transplant was listed as the triggering event for a separate investment payout.
The amount was staggering.
Two million dollars.
I stared at the document.
"How?"
Detective Bennett explained.
"Your father's creditors were closing in."
"So he needed money."
"Yes."
"And my kidney was part of the plan."
"Yes."
I looked down.
The scar beneath my hospital gown suddenly felt different.
It wasn't just a scar.
It was evidence.
A piece of my body had become a transaction.
Then Detective Bennett showed me a recording.
It was from my father's office.
Richard was speaking to Thomas Reed.
The recording was muffled, but clear enough.
"Once she signs, there's no turning back."
Thomas replied:
"Will she cooperate?"
Richard laughed.
"She always does."
I closed my eyes.
The detective paused the recording.
"There's more."
She played another segment.
Thomas asked:
"What if she refuses?"
My father's answer was immediate.
"Then she loses the house."
I felt my stomach twist.
Thomas asked:
"And if she still refuses?"
Richard's voice became colder.
"She won't."
The recording ended.
I didn't cry.
I was beyond crying.
My mother sat beside me.
She rubbed my shoulder.
"I'm sorry."
I looked at her.
"I used to think you abandoned me."
"I know."
"I hated you."
"I know."
"But now I understand."
She looked at me.
"You were trying to survive."
"So were you."
She nodded.
For the first time in twenty-one years, I held my mother.
It hurt.
It healed something.
And then Maya walked in.
She looked exhausted.
Her face was pale.
She sat at the edge of the chair.
"I need to tell you something."
I nodded.
"I found Dad's laptop."
My mother stiffened.
"What did you find?"
Maya pulled out her phone.
"Messages."
She showed me screenshots.
They were between Richard and Thomas.
One message made my blood run cold.
After surgery, remove Anna from the household. If she becomes difficult, use the insurance policy.
I stared at the screen.
Maya began crying.
"I didn't know."
I believed her.
This time, I believed her.
"What else?"
She hesitated.
"There was a folder."
"What folder?"
"Your name."
She opened the photographs.
The first image showed a document dated six months earlier.
It was a psychological profile.
Mine.
The second was a financial assessment.
The third was my medical history.
The fourth was a photograph of me sleeping.
I stared at it.
"Where did he take that?"
Maya shook her head.
"I don't know."
My mother whispered:
"Richard has been monitoring you for years."
A cold feeling moved through me.
I remembered the strange messages.
The questions about where I went.
The times my father knew things I hadn't told him.
The hidden camera I had once thought was a broken smoke detector.
Suddenly everything made sense.
Detective Bennett took the phone.
"We need copies of these."
Maya nodded.
Then the door opened.
A police officer entered.
"Detective, we have a problem."
She turned.
"What?"
"Richard Whittaker left the city."
My heart sank.
"Where?"
"We don't know."
"How long ago?"
"Three hours."
Maya stood.
"He's running."
The detective nodded.
"We believe so."
My mother looked at me.
"He won't run forever."
But something in my father's behavior told me this wasn't about escape.
He wasn't running from the police.
He was running from what they were about to discover.
That night, I received one final message from his number.
You should have stayed quiet.
A second message appeared.
Your mother couldn't protect you then. She can't protect you now.
Then a third.
But I can still protect Maya.
I stared at the screen.
My blood went cold.
May you like
My father knew Maya had helped us.
And he was threatening her.
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