A week had passed since the child trafficking bust. Sia was seated at the police station to give another ‘statement’ of what she had seen that day during the child trafficking bust. Usually Ajay or one of her vast legal team lawyers should have accompanied her. She was told that Judge Sundaram wanted to meet her, and he would do it if she came alone.

And so, she did. She was sitting in front of Judge Sundaram, along with a police officer and a lawyer.

“I told you before that you can’t do anything,” said the judge. “And also that the world works that way.” He sighed. “I forgive you Mrs. Manthena. Only because of your uncle. Also because we are of the same status and level. We all need to work together. Why do you want to rock the boat for a few filthy kids that nobody wanted in the first place?”

When she didn’t reply, he broke into a small fleshy smile. “You need to be careful, you know. I heard you have a beautiful daughter.”  

Her breath caught in her throat, but she remained silent.

“How old is she?” he asked. “Less than a year I assume. A few more years and she’d be... just right,” he taunted.

Sia felt the walls closing on her when he spoke of Anika that way. The fact that she was at a police station where criminals should have been locked away, instead of threatening the witness— further added to the feeling of claustrophobia. Everything was fading around her. Shrinking, condensing. She wanted to scream and punch the animal in front of her. She wanted to tear out his face, and throw him on the floor, and stomp on his head until all that was left of him was left a bloody pulp.

But she stopped herself.

 

“For god’s sake, Sia! Don’t do anything rash or stupid. We have a daughter! We are a family now. Think about us!”

 

Ajay’s words rang through her mind. She knew what Ajay had said made absolute sense. He was being practical and reasonable.

The only problem was that those things were also killing her quest for retribution.

Someone cleared their throat noisily, interrupting her murderous glare and thoughts. It was the police officer, who was obviously on the judge’s payroll. “Mrs. Manthena, we called you here to speak with you personally. There was obviously a misunderstanding on that day. Please—”

“What about the other evidence that was presented?” she asked in a chilling tone. “The bank statements with transactions made to Jagadish Naidu from him.”

Judge Sundaram’s lawyer frowned and shuffled through all the bank statements and other information that linked most of the people to Judge Sundaram. “This isn’t exactly evidence,” he said. “All this proves was that there were a few check deposits made into Mr. Jagadish Naidu and his son’s bank account every month. The fact that some of those people, in a very roundabout way are known to Judge Sundaram is merely a coincidence. You must know that most of the elite are known to each other in the city.”

“What about the missing children?” she pressed further.”Don’t you think it’s strange that the missing children’s cases spiked over the last few years in the city? And even the children in the orphanages who were supposedly adopted, couldn’t be traced?”

“I assure you, Mrs. Manthena. We have our best officers looking into this matter. But at present, we want to tell you that there is no connection to those missing children to Judge Sundaram or to Mr. Jagadish Naidu.”

“Find all the adopted children from Naidu Trust over the past few years and I’ll withdraw the case,” she said.

“We don’t have the resources to do something like that,” the officer answered.

Sia knew she was wasting her breath demanding answers from the officer in front of her. The asshole must definitely be working for them.

“Mrs. Manthena, let it go,” said Judge Sundaram. “Like I said, spend time with your family. Don’t waste your time for a bunch of nobodies. I wanted to tell the same to your husband. But he seems to be quite a hothead.” There was another fleshy smile. “I really like Ajay. I’ve met him a few times before. I would hate anything happening to him or your beautiful daughter,” he said.

 

* * *

 

The next few weeks were devastating. Not only did the news channels dig into her murky past, but they made out her uncle seem like some sort of misunderstood hero.

She didn’t care what people thought about her. However, she couldn’t bear the thought of her uncle being hero worshipped blindly by his followers even though he was caught red-handed and there were videos of him being present in the party.

 

“We have been living in the same village as him for over thirty years now. Not once had he made an overture against any woman, even though many tried to get his attention. How can such a person abuse a child?”

 

“He has a son! How can a man who has intimate relations with his wife be a pedophile?”

 

 “Jagadish Naidu is God! He has saved so many children from being abandoned. How can such a person ever abuse and then sell a child as a commodity?”

 

“It’s definitely a conspiracy from that ungrateful lying niece of his. We all heard from her ex-husband about how she was a drug addict who slept around with several men. The poor guy even told how despite her cheating on him and dumping him after their marriage, he still came back for her all the way from Boston.”

 

“She’s greedy that woman. She wasn’t satisfied with the money her adopted mother left her. She wants to grab the Naidu Estate too. And in the process, she chose to defame her own uncle.”

 

“It’s also been confirmed that Mrs. Sia Manthena, formerly, Miss Sampath was a troubled child. She was diagnosed with being delusional, having hallucinations and also to being psychotic.”

 

“She is definitely a psycho! Have you seen her face in those videos? When she confessed that her uncle used to abuse her as a child? She gave me the chills with her blank expression, and eyes devoid of any emotion. That’s not how a person behaves if they were a victim.”

 

“Yes, Mrs.Manthena does portray the symptoms of a psychopath,” said a so called noted psychiatrist that has never even met Sia. “Compassion, happiness, anger. She is incapable of experiencing any true human emotions. She can only just mimic those she observed once in a while. She is also quite skilled at identifying the weakness of her victims, the way it suits her purposes. She knew her uncle loved to save downtrodden children. So she used it to falsely accuse him and his friends of being child abusers.”

 

Sia was more than just angry. Nobody even for a moment thought through any of the junk that came out of their mouths. There were some half-hearted discussions on the news about how a typical pedophile and their victims behaved. People just refused to listen to anything negative against their favorite leader.

“Is there some kind of list with behavioral rules that victims need to follow, so people are satisfied that they are ‘acting like victims’?” Sia raged when she spoke to Dr. Patel.

“No,” Dr. Patel replied.”Everyone copes differently.”

“Apparently, I’m a psychopath. Because I didn’t show enough reactions on my face.”

“You aren’t the psychopath here, Sia. Your uncle is,” stated Dr. Patel. “From what you have told me so far, and from what I’ve learned about human motivation and experience, he fits the profile perfectly. Despite his lack of conscience and lack of empathy for others, he is quite good at fooling others. And for typical pedophiles, having any kind of conscience would deter them from abusing.”

“There are clear proofs with videos. But no one is willing to doubt his innocence.”

“Sadly, there are many such cases. I’m sure some of his supporters will continue to invite him home and leave their young children alone with him.”

Dr. Patel was right. During the following days, her uncle’s supporters grew in size.

Sia was fed up and felt let down with how things were proceeding. Each day, she withdrew to herself. She longer wanted to speak with Dr. Patel to find any kind of logic or reason towards the things happening around her.