Chapter 2 - The Empty Vault
The security guards practically dragged me toward the main gates of the university campus in front of hundreds of staring families.
I did not fight them, allowing the sheer shock of Nathan's betrayal to numb the physical pain in my arms.
Marcus followed at a safe distance, pretending to check his phone so the guards would not suspect he was involved.
Once I was finally thrown onto the public sidewalk, I collapsed onto a nearby wooden bench and pulled out my cell phone.
My hands trembled violently as I opened my mobile banking application to check our joint savings account.
I had meticulously deposited every single paycheck into that account for the past four years to build our future emergency fund.
The bright screen loaded, displaying a terrifying, unmistakable balance of exactly zero dollars.
Nathan had completely drained the account just hours before handing me the divorce papers.
A notification suddenly popped up on my screen, alerting me to a massive new credit inquiry.
I clicked the alert and discovered that a private medical loan of two hundred thousand dollars had recently been taken out.
The loan was not in Nathan's name, but entirely forged under my own social security number.
He had saddled me with a mountain of crushing debt while securing his own wealthy future with the Chief of Surgery's daughter.
A sleek black car suddenly pulled up to the curb right in front of my bench.
Marcus rolled down the passenger window and urgently told me to get inside before Nathan's friends saw us talking.
I climbed into the car, feeling a sudden surge of dangerous adrenaline replace my overwhelming sorrow.
Marcus plugged the silver flash drive into his laptop as he sped away from the graduation venue.
May you like
He clicked on a file labeled with my own name and turned the glowing screen toward me.
The document displayed the groundbreaking medical research I had written during my first year, but Nathan had fraudulently submitted it under his own name to win his scholarship.
