Chapter 9 - The Foreclosure
The final blow landed in late March.
The bank successfully foreclosed on the Oak Park house. Matthew, having ignored all the legal notices, was forced to vacate the premises by the county sheriff.
He packed his remaining clothes into garbage bags and loaded them into the back of a beat-up, fifteen-year-old Honda Civic he had bought for cash from a used car lot.
As he stood on the driveway, looking up at the massive house he had called home, the reality of his hubris crushed him. He had owned none of it. Not the bricks, not the cars, not the respect of his peers, not even the loyalty of his wife. It had all been an illusion financed by a woman he had locked out in the cold on Christmas Eve.
His phone buzzed. It was a text from his divorce attorney.
Sarah’s legal team is pushing for maximum alimony. Since you are unemployed, the judge is imputing your past income. You will owe her $4,000 a month. If you don't pay, you go to jail.
May you like
Matthew dropped his phone onto the cracked asphalt. He fell to his knees in the empty driveway, buried his face in his hands, and finally wept. He wept for the family he had lost, the wealth he had squandered, and the mother he had betrayed.
But there was no one left to hear him.
