My dad cursed me furiously and stormed off.
“David, you… you’re out of your mind.”
My mom’s tears flowed endlessly. She couldn’t believe her son had become so utterly heartless for the sake of money.
“I hope you don’t regret this one day,” she said before leaving too.
The Millers were seething with anger but didn’t dare touch me again.
“You murderer! Without our daughter’s consent, you forced the doctor to kill her child. We’ll sue you for murder!”
“Go ahead, sue me.”
I smirked indifferently and walked out of the hospital.
On the way home, I called Mark Johnson, the underground boxing champion I once trained under.
“Brother, I already had my people investigate. The kidnappers were all locals—and they’re closely tied to your brother-in-law Jason. They’re in the same gang. After what they did to your wife, they went into hiding. My men are still searching, I’ll let you know when we find them.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
I narrowed my eyes and hung up.
Jason was a hot-tempered fool.
He didn’t have the brains to orchestrate such a kidnapping.
At most, he just acted as the middleman with the kidnappers.
The real mastermind had to be someone else.
Could it be Sarah herself?
If I wanted the truth, I had to find those kidnappers.
Just then, Kevin Brown, an old friend who ran loansharking, called me.
He said he’d checked with other loan companies—Jason had been keeping two cam girls on the side. To maintain his flashy lifestyle, he had borrowed half a million dollars.
“Jason is unemployed. A loan company lent him that much?”
“He mortgaged their family house.”
“No wonder he’s been dripping in gold lately. Dig deeper. See which of his other relatives are in debt to loan sharks.”
“Got it.”
At first, I thought Jason was just a minor pawn in this staged kidnapping.
But now, maybe I had underestimated him.
The next day, Robert called me, furious. He demanded I rush to the hospital.
Sarah had woken up, learned the child was gone, and ran up to the rooftop threatening to jump.
“Yeah, I know.”
I hung up and dozed for a few more minutes—until my dad kicked open my door and dragged me up.
“Your wife is about to jump, and you’re still sleeping?”
“She won’t jump. She’s just bluffing.”
“You beast!”
My dad ground his teeth in rage.
When I finally arrived at the hospital, it was exactly as I expected.
Sarah stood on the rooftop’s edge—but she hadn’t jumped.
“Sarah, David is here. If you have anything to say, say it to him. Just don’t do anything stupid!”
Linda was crying so hard her eyes were swollen.
“Don’t provoke my daughter any further,” Robert whispered in my ear. “If she slips, I’ll come for your life.”
I walked forward.
Sarah seemed lucid for a moment, staring at me in despair as she cried, “David, why did you tell the doctor to kill our baby?”
“Everyone saw it—you’ve lost your mind. You’re not fit to be a mother.”
“I’m not insane! You refused to pay the ransom, the kidnappers tortured me because of you! It wasn’t enough that you wronged me—you also murdered your own child!”
“They asked for too much. If I had paid, I would’ve ended up broke.”
My words enraged the entire Miller family.
