Not Always a Bad Guy.

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I woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. I stretch, which was a mistake, because it was freezing up here. I take Bradley’s hoodie, and slip it over the top of my head. I walk downstairs, to find my dad on the phone. He was tense, and his jaw was clenched when he spoke.

“You aren’t going to find her. She’s safe now.” He said. I knew he was talking about me. I only heard grumbling from the other line, but whatever they said made dad really mad.

“SHUT THE HELL UP! LEAVE THE BOY AND MY DAUGHTER ALONE, THEY HAVE NOTHING YOU CAN TAKE! NOTHING YOU CAN GAIN! I’LL FIND ANOTHER WAY TO PAY YOU BACK, I SWEAR!” He shouted. My blood iced over. I was very sure when he said “boy”, that he meant Bradley. They, whoever it was, were going to hurt him. He slammed his phone down after he hung up on them. He had a landline that was connected to the wall, so the slamming was more dramatic. He sighed, and started rubbing his mouth.

“I know you’re standing there, Azalea.” He said, sounding defeated. I timidly come down the last step from the staircase, and onto the landing.

“Who was that?” I asked. Sensing I didn’t want to be lied to, he told me everything. I thought mom and him got divorced for the same reasons as everyone else. Just sick of fighting each other, didn’t love each other anymore, but it was more than that. Way more. He explained to me he had a gambling problem. His thirst for money and power. He would win every single time, he said. He never lost. But one day he did, and he lost a lot of money. He said he only cared about himself, so he took from mom and my savings account they made for me when I was born. That’s how he got by. It all went downhill from there. He started losing more and more, making deals with people he could never commit to or resolve. He made a bunch of debt for himself. When that weight started to press on his shoulders he drank. He drank a lot. He would scream at mom, who would scream back, and cause issues that hadn’t existed before. Some nights he wouldn’t even come home. He lost his job, and mom had to support him and myself. I was still younger then. Mom tried to hold up both of us, but it was too much for her. She knew they had to t divorced. She still wanted help for dad though, to help him back on his feet. So what she did is found dad some help. She drove him to rehab appointments until he was stable enough to get his own car and drive himself. It was fine, and no setbacks. The only problem that still existed was the rest of his debt.

“I still have quite a bit of debt to pay off. It’s been a long time, and that’s when people start getting mad. It’s been long enough people have been trying to steal you away from me. They were going to take the baby too. I took her like I took you, to try and keep her safe. But my brother showed up, and he was with the people trying to work against me. That’s how Lizzie ended up in the hospital. Now they went after you, and after this boyfriend of yours.” He said. I tried to look anywhere in the room except at him. I couldn’t believe this.

“Azalea?” He asked.

"So you lied? They didn't ask you to kill me?" I asked, remembering our conversation the night before. He shook his head.

"I was ashamed of what really happened. i'm sorry." He said. I didn’t say anything to him. He sighed, and fixed me a plate of breakfast.

“You know, I wasn’t always such a bad guy. Trust me.” He said. He left me alone to eat. 

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