Chapter 7 - Begging in the Rain
Three months passed. The winter chill had fully set in.
I was leaving a late dinner with Arthur and Marcus at a private restaurant downtown. The rain was coming down in sheets, bouncing off the pavement. As Marcus opened the door of my armored Bentley, a figure stepped out of the shadows of the alleyway.
It was Brendan.
He was unrecognizable. He had lost weight, his face gaunt, his eyes hollow and dark. He wore a cheap, thin jacket that was completely soaked through. The freezing rain plastered his hair to his forehead. He was shivering violently.
The poetic justice of the moment wasn't lost on me.
Marcus instantly stepped between us, his hand reaching inside his jacket for his weapon.
"Wait," I said gently, placing a hand on Marcus's arm. I stood under the large black umbrella Marcus held over me, perfectly warm and dry, wrapped in a heavy mink coat.
I looked at Brendan. The water dripped from his nose and chin.
"Cassidy..." his voice was a weak, trembling croak. "Please... I'm starving. My mother is sick. We can't afford her medication. I have nothing left to give you. Please... just release the debt. Let us live."
He looked at me, expecting to see the woman who used to cook his favorite meals, the woman who used to iron his shirts, the woman who used to cry in silence when he insulted her.
But that woman never truly existed. It was just a role I played, waiting to see who he really was.
I looked at him, shivering in the freezing rain, and I felt nothing. No anger. No joy. Just a profound, absolute indifference. He was a stranger.
"Look on the bright side, Brendan," I said, my voice cutting cleanly through the sound of the falling rain. I offered him a small, polite smile. "At least you finally took a shower."
His eyes widened in shock as my words mirrored his mother's exact insult from the night everything changed.
I didn't wait for his response. I ducked into the warm, luxurious interior of the Bentley. The heavy door shut with a solid, expensive thud, silencing the rain and his pathetic sobs.
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As the car pulled away, I didn't look back.
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