Chapter 7 - The Crumbling Foundation
The small cottage by the Puget Sound was exactly what Arthur needed.
It had weathered cedar shingles and a wide front porch that overlooked the cold, grey water.
Arthur spent his first week pulling weeds and clearing overgrown blackberry brambles from the garden.
The intense physical labor made his back ache, but it cleared his mind beautifully.
He finally felt like he was building something for himself again.
Back in the city, Logan’s meticulously constructed world was completely collapsing.
The bank had officially started the foreclosure process on the sprawling luxury mansion.
Cardboard moving boxes littered the once-immaculate marble foyer.
They were packed haphazardly with whatever personal items they could easily salvage.
Claire stormed through the empty rooms, screaming aggressively into her cell phone.
She was speaking to a high-priced divorce attorney she could no longer afford.
She had demanded the divorce papers the moment Logan's company officially filed for bankruptcy.
"I am not spending the rest of my life living in some cheap apartment, Logan!" Claire shouted.
She aggressively shoved a designer lamp into a cardboard box and glared at him with pure disgust.
Logan sat on the bare staircase, resting his heavy, exhausted head in his hands.
He did not even have the energy to argue with her anymore.
"Then leave, Claire," Logan said, his voice completely hollow and devoid of emotion.
"There is absolutely nothing left here for you anyway."
Claire scoffed loudly, her face twisting into a mask of bitter resentment.
She grabbed her remaining designer purse and stormed out the front door without a single backward glance.
The heavy oak door clicked shut, leaving Logan entirely alone in the echoing house.
The silence was deafening, a sharp reminder of exactly what his arrogance had cost him.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at his father's contact name for a long time.
May you like
He knew he had absolutely no right to call or ask for forgiveness.
Yet, the crushing weight of his immense regret was slowly suffocating him.
