Chapter 16 - The Unraveling
Deprived of his mother’s estate to cover his debts, Grant’s life imploded with terrifying speed.
Within forty-eight hours of the incident at the house, the managing partners at Grant’s accounting firm concluded their internal audit. They discovered that Grant had embezzled over $140,000 from client escrow accounts over the preceding twelve months to maintain his country club lifestyle, finance Paige’s luxury vehicle leases, and pay private school tuition.
On Friday morning, security guards escorted Grant out of his office building, his belongings dumped into a cardboard box. His professional license was suspended pending an immediate criminal investigation by the state attorney general.
By Monday, the bank initiated foreclosure proceedings on Grant and Paige’s four-bedroom suburban home.
The toxic bond holding Grant and Paige together snapped under the pressure.
When Grant returned home on Tuesday evening, clutching a cheap bottle of bourbon, he found three large suitcases sitting in the driveway beside Paige’s Mercedes.
Paige was loading her designer clothes into the trunk.
“What are you doing?” Grant yelled, his speech slurred, his eyes bloodshot. “Paige! You can’t leave me now!”
“Watch me,” Paige snarled, turning on him with bared teeth. “You’re an unemployed criminal facing prison time, Grant! The house is being seized! Your mother outsmarted you and made us the laughingstock of the entire town! I’m taking Sadie and Owen to my mother’s house in Connecticut.”
“You were the one who pushed me to sell her house!” Grant screamed, tears of rage and self-pity spilling down his cheeks. “You were the one who brought the nursing home brochure! You stole the silver!”
“And you were stupid enough to get caught!” Paige shrieked.
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She slammed the trunk shut, climbed into the driver’s seat, locked the doors, and sped away into the night, leaving Grant standing alone in the driveway of the house he was about to lose.
***
