Chapter 9 - The Taste of Nothing
Karma did not just visit Marcus; it moved in with him.
Convicted of federal fraud, Marcus served eighteen months in a white-collar prison. When he was released, he was a ghost in the financial sector. His reputation was entirely radioactive. No firm would hire him. No bank would loan to him.
On a freezing winter night, two years after the divorce, Marcus was working as a fry cook at a 24-hour diner on the outskirts of the city. He took out the trash, shivering in his thin jacket.
As he dumped the garbage, he looked across the street at a massive digital billboard.
It was a glowing advertisement for the Vance-Maya Foundation—a newly established charity dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars to reforming the foster care system and providing housing for at-risk youth.
Standing in the center of the billboard was me, glowing with health and happiness, holding a beautiful, thriving two-year-old Leo in my arms. The caption read: Building a Future Where No Child is Left Behind.
May you like
Marcus stood in the freezing alley next to a dumpster, staring up at the woman he had thrown away like trash, who was now a queen. He realized, with crushing finality, the exact weight of the words he had spoken in that courtroom years ago.
He was back to nothing.
