Chapter 10

Frank's broke.

All his funds, even with the sale of all his family assets, would not be enough to compensate the partners whom he had personally pushed into the abyss.

Sally posted what he did, word for word, all over the internet.

"Phoenix Man", "Serpentine", "Ungrateful" ...

A flood of abuse and accusations overwhelmed him.

He's become a street rat, and everyone is screaming at him.

I saw him fall from grace on the news without a ripple in my heart.

He began to frequent the outside of the lakefront townhouse.

Many times I saw him through the window.

He was dressed in rags, his hair was disheveled, and he had the beard of a vagabond.

He watched blearily as Nathan and I talked and laughed in the garden.

There was pain and remorse in his eyes.

I knew that his comeuppance had come.

Much later, I heard from Nathan about Frank.

He went crazy and wandered the streets, telling everyone he had wronged his wife and begging for her forgiveness.

Finally, he died on a cold winter night, his body frozen stiff.

My attorney forwarded me a letter saying that Frank had written it while he was alive and that I must read it.

I didn't open it and threw it right into the fireplace.

The blazing fire that consumed the letter that carried remorse and despair.

He doesn't know what I went through and how I survived the time he dumped me in Leafshire.

He knows even less that I stopped loving him a long time ago.

In my heart, there's only Nathan.

It was he, who pulled me out of the abyss and gave me a new life.

For the rest of my life, I just want to spend it with him.

The sunlight flooded the room and I snuggled into Nathan's arms, feeling his warmth and affection.

"Ruth, you're finally free."

Nathan stroked my hair gently, his voice low and gentle.

I looked up into his deep eyes and a happy smile curled up at the corner of my mouth.

"Yeah, I'm free."

My life has been nothing but sunshine ever since.