Chapter 9 - The Desperate Pleadings Begin
By noon, my phone had accumulated over forty missed calls, thirty-two frantic text messages, and six voicemail recordings from Bradley.
I sat at my desk, playing the first voicemail on speakerphone while Marcus listened in from his armchair.
“*Maddie, please answer the phone!*” Bradley’s recorded voice sobbed hysterically through the speaker, accompanied by background street noise.
“*My mother is sick, my dad is losing his mind, and the bank locked my checking account! The hotel won't even give us breakfast!*”
“*I know I acted like an idiot at the pool! I was drunk! My cousins pushed me into it! Please, Maddie, just transfer ten thousand dollars so I can get them home!*”
I paused the recording, my face completely expressionless as I deleted the voicemail without saving a single second of it.
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He still didn't get it; he still believed that throwing his cousins under the bus and blaming alcohol would erase years of abuse.
He didn't miss me; he missed the unlimited credit limit, the luxury lifestyle, and the shield I provided against his own incompetence.
