Chapter 12 - The Sins of the Father
I didn't sleep a single second that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Caldwell’s cold, calculating smile.
The next morning, after dropping Mia off at her new physical therapy center with a trusted private nurse, I drove straight to the state penitentiary.
I needed to know exactly what kind of monsters my family had been dealing with.
Sitting in the sterile visitor’s room, I waited until my brother Mark was brought in through the heavy steel doors.
He looked ten years older, dressed in a faded orange jumpsuit, his arrogant posture completely gone.
He picked up the heavy plastic phone on his side of the glass.
"You look terrible, David," Mark rasped, leaning against the smudged window.
"Dad owed money to Caldwell’s people," I said immediately, not wasting any time on pleasantries.
Mark’s eyes widened in genuine terror, and he instinctively looked over his shoulder at the prison guards.
"How do you know about the syndicate?" Mark whispered frantically into the receiver.
"Because they own me now," I replied, my voice hard. "They gave me custody of Mia in exchange for the shipping ports."
Mark closed his eyes and slammed his forehead against the reinforced glass.
"Dad started laundering money for them five years ago," Mark confessed, his voice trembling.
"Caldwell isn't just a surgeon. He treats the cartel bosses when they get shot, and he washes their dirty money through fake medical charities."
I felt a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck.
"Dad tried to skim three million dollars off the top last month," Mark continued. "Caldwell found out."
"So they used Mia’s injury to take Dad down and put me in charge," I realized out loud, the entire puzzle falling into place.
"They ran you off the road, David," Mark said, looking me dead in the eye. "They wanted you battered and bloody for the judge to create the perfect victim narrative."
Suddenly, a loud buzzer echoed through the visitation room.
"Listen to me, David," Mark pleaded as a guard grabbed his shoulder to pull him away.
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"Do whatever Caldwell says! They are not businessmen, they are ghosts. If you fight them, you and Mia will just disappear."
I watched my brother being dragged back to his cell, realizing I was entirely on my own.
