After Lefting Me On The Bridge He Lost His Mind Chapter 21
Back at the hotel, I found the old iPad.
It hadn’t been charged in months.
When the screen lit up, the chat history between Truett and his friends was still open to that Thanksgiving night.
Ryan’s video, Leo’s Zelle screenshots, Chloe hugging the bag—it was all there.
And at the top was the line Truett had typed himself.
[Relax. She can’t leave me.]
I stared at those words for a two full seconds, then exported the entire conversation and attached it to an email to the compliance department.
Right before I hit send, a call came in from an unfamiliar number.
I ignored it.
But it rang again, and again.
On the fifth try, I answered.
“Mavis, it’s me.”
Truett was breathing hard. I could hear Chloe’s shrill crying in the background.
“Compliance just notified me I’m under investigation. Did you send them the chat logs?”
“I’m about to.”
“Don’t!”
He was practically shouting.
“I’m already suspended. If they see that, I’ll be fired. Do you have any idea how many years I worked to get this position?”
“I do.”
I remembered every all-nighter I had pulled for him.
The moment he heard my answer, his tone softened, as if he’d just grabbed onto a lifeline.
“Then just tell them it was a private matter between us. Mavis, I never meant to hurt you. I was just humoring Chloe for a second. You can’t ruin my entire career over one mistake.”
“One?”
I looked at the attachments in the draft email.
“The bet on the bridge. The watch bought with my card. Using my proposal for the bid. Truett, the only reason you ever got away with any of it was because you never had to pay the price.”
The line went quiet.
A few seconds later, Chloe snatched the phone.
“Mavis, what right do you have to drag me down with you? That fifteen grand didn’t come out of your pocket! If you couldn’t keep your man, why blame me?”
I didn’t argue.
I just pulled up the photo she had posted that night.
[Thanks to Truett for helping me win the bet. Got my bag money! Hope some people don’t get jealous for no reason.]
In the photo, her smile was triumphant.
Nothing like the aggrieved victim on the other end of the phone.
“You wrote those words yourself,” I said. “No one dragged you into anything.”
Then I hung up and hit send.Â