Chapter 5 - A New Foundation
Six months later, the autumn wind rustled the golden leaves outside the courtyard of my townhouse.
The living room had been repainted a warm, calming sage green. The broken dining room table had been replaced by a heavy oak table where my parents could sit comfortably whenever they drove up from downstate to visit.
My beauty and fashion company had just closed its biggest quarter to date, expanding its product line nationwide and hiring twelve new employees.
And Noah?
Noah had just finished his first semester of college with a straight-A GPA, majoring in business law. When I asked him why he chose law, he smiled and said, “I want to make sure nobody ever steals what belongs to us again.”
The divorce decree had been finalized two weeks prior. Ethan had received nothing—no alimony, no share of the business, and no claim to the townhouse. Between the legal fees, the forensic audit, and the civil suit for corporate theft, he had been forced to move back in with his mother in a cramped apartment on the north side of the city, working a mid-level job at a firm that barely covered his child support obligations to Madison.
As for Diane? Rumor had it she was still telling anyone who would listen that I was a cold, calculating monster who ruined her brilliant son's life over a single piece of chicken.
Let her talk.
Standing on my front porch, watching the sun dip below the Chicago skyline, I took a deep, steady breath of the cool evening air.
May you like
Life wasn't about keeping the peace to make small people comfortable.
It was about knowing your own worth—and never letting anyone make you apologize for owning the roof over your head.
