Thanks to Castelia for wasting absolutely no time on the rescue mission. Therefore, Maddie could leave the rotten prison in less than two hours. More important is that Maddie has managed to get back at the man who insulted her by thinking she doesn't have as much money as he wants. Now, the man fell silent with regret, thinking that he shouldn't have offered anything to mock Maddie and keep her crying in prison.
"That bastard—kyaaaaah!!!" Maddie scratched her hair and screamed in annoyance, you could see how much hatred was in her eyes now. "I swear on my life I will f*ck you up." Maddie made sure she would and until that day came, the man was better to be prepared.
"I don't even know what his name is," Maddie said, running a little to catch up with Castelia when she realized she was still walking, leaving her behind. "Can you imagine how embarrassed and annoyed I was? A man I don't know cost me four hundred thousand dollars." Not satisfied with rambling on, Maddie continued, "Bastard. Just because he's rich and well-known, how can he bribe the police like that."
Castelia paused before correcting, "My money, Maddie." Her calm words made Maddie stop, too, to turn to face. "The money you used to pay that guy is mine."
"You're right. It's your money," Maddie agreed but that wasn't what Castelia wanted to hear.
"Maddie, you didn't tell me that you took your share from Melody and signed a pact with her. So we have to pay ten times and rot in prison if we failed!"
"Ah …" Maddie mumbled, completely forgetting to tell Castelia what she had done. "It-"
"You've spent all the money you earned?" Castelia asked and Maddie didn't answer. Therefore Castelia concluded her answer as yes. "What did you buy with that much money? Melody said you just took it this afternoon. How could you pick it up this afternoon when we met Melody at five?"
Castelia was just confused, how could her best friend escape her eyes and do such a big thing and not be caught at all. If only Castelia had known sooner, she would have stopped Maddie and things wouldn't have gotten any worse.
"That's..." Maddie rubbed the back of her head non-itchy, hesitant to tell. "Actually, I called her after we got home," she said. "I wanted to buy something and she gave me the money. We had an electronic agreement."
"What is 'something'?" asked Castelia, looking pushy because she wanted to know where Maddie was spending her money. "You can't spend five hundred thousand dollars in two hours." At least that's what Castelia hoped for, but sadly, Maddie did.
"I bought … a bag. You know, the bag I really wanted," she replied. "I was irritated that the shopkeeper there looked down on me. So I threw a bunch of money in her face."
"And?!" Castelia was sure the story didn't end there because how could one bag cost so much money?
Maddie continued, "Yeah …, I was annoyed that she looked down on me, especially when his manager came and defended her. So, therefore, I bought everything in the shop to silence them."
"Oh, lord!" Castelia no longer knew what to say. Her legs weakened causing her to fall into a crouched position. Castelia rubbed her face in annoyance before muttering, "You spent five hundred thousand dollars on all that useless stuff because you feel despised?"
"You know, my self-respect is essential," Maddie said sullenly. "Besides, don't worry about it," she added. She touched Castelia's arm and helped her to her feet. When eye contact met, Maddie said, "We'll finish our mission no matter what." She was sure of that but didn't she see the despair in Castelia's eyes?
"I don't want to," said Castelia. "I plan to return the money we got from Melody and end it all. I don't want to deal with Joshua, but you—" Castelia was speechless, no longer knowing what to say.
"How could you not want to?" Maddie shook Castelia's arm, telling her, "No, you even have to do it even if you don't want to. I've pressed a pact with Melody and our lives are over if we try to cancel the deal."
What's worse is that they have spent money that is not yet theirs. Let alone compensate for the cost of compensation as much as ten times. To replace Melody's one million dollars alone, they can't.
"That's why you should have told me before doing anything!" Castelia Infuriated, she pushes Maddie to create some distance. "Maddie, my heart fluttered when I met Joshua. I'm scared of that feeling and on the other hand, I like it." It was as excruciating as shackles and Castelia just wanted to get away before her hands were really tied. When that happens, maybe her soul will die again.
It wasn't that Maddie didn't care about Castelia's feelings, she understood her friends were scared but they had no way out. Asking for Melody's kindness will certainly not be a solution.
"Oh, shit…" Maddie pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to calm herself before turning back to her friend. "We can't cancel that promise now or fail, Cas," She said very clearly, letting Caselia know they had no choice but to keep moving. "If we succeed, indeed, we have run out of money, but Melody will give us a bonus. I promise I'll refund your money and we can even blackmail Melody for more money if we succeed. So therefore, please don't back down, Cas."
Maddie had a pleading expression on her face, she had said everything she could to make things better, even Castelia's confidence. But, it wasn't just about Maddie because Castelia would end up the same as her if their job didn't end well.
"Maddie…" Castelia was silent before she took a card out of her small bag. She showed it to Maddie before saying, "I was talking to Joshua earlier and he gave me this key. He asked me to meet tomorrow."
Maddie's mouth was wide open, and so were her eyes as she stared at Castelia. She snatched the card key from Castelia's hand and studied it for a moment. "Holy shit!" The woman screamed hysterically. "You had a chance to walk into a hotel room with him and you're trying to break our deal with Melody?!"
It's crazy, so crazy and makes no sense. Their chance of winning was in sight and Castelia wanted to run? No, no! Maddie would make sure they didn't lose anything, let alone go to jail for whatever reason.
Maddie looked her friend in the eye before saying, "We'll go over there and install a hidden camera secretly. You just have to go over there, hug him or whatever we can use as proof. After that, we don't have to see him again. I promise that, Cas."
Maddie is overly optimistic and anxious Castelia can't keep up with her confidence. "I'm scared …." The woman whispered as she lowered her head. "Maddie, I might secretly be glad to see Joshua again but my fear never disappeared. I dread imagining what will happen in there, what he will do to me. I-"
"I swear on my life he won't hurt you," Maddie interrupted seriously. "After all the bad things he's done to you, I won't let him touch you again, but Cas, this will be the last time you deal with him. So please help me and don't even think about running away."
Can she do that? It was too much to lose if Castelia refused and Castelia didn't want to put her best friend in a poor place after all the good things they'd been through together. Castelia didn't know what would happen if she and Joshua met again, but she deeply thought about her friend. Finally, Castelia ventured to nod in agreement. "I trust you, Maddie," the woman said.
"Of course." Maddie gave a slight nod before adding, "I'll be watching you and if he does something bad to you, I'll go in there and beat him up. I mean it."