Chapter 19 - The Oak Brook House
A month after the sentencing, the bank officially foreclosed on the Oak Brook house.
Since Evelyn and Richard were in prison and Connor was entirely broke, the property was seized to pay off the massive debts they had accumulated in their own names.
Chloe and I drove to the suburb on a brisk Tuesday morning. I wanted to see it one last time. Not out of nostalgia, but out of a need for finality.
We parked across the street from the massive, sprawling estate.
The lawn, which Richard used to pay a landscaping company thousands of dollars a month to maintain, was already overgrown and brown. The extravagant fountain in the front yard was dry and filled with dead leaves.
A large, ugly bank-owned "FORECLOSURE" sign was hammered into the front yard, dominating the pristine landscaping they had cared about more than their own daughter.
"It looks smaller," I noted, leaning against the hood of Chloe's car.
"Monsters always look smaller when you turn the lights on," Chloe said, handing me a cup of coffee.
A moving truck was backed into the driveway. Men in gray uniforms were hauling furniture out of the house. I watched them carry out the expensive leather sofa where Evelyn used to sit and sip wine while lecturing me about my inadequacies. I watched them load the massive mahogany dining table where they had planned my demise.
Everything they had stolen from me, everything they had valued above my life, was being sold off at auction for pennies on the dollar.
It was just wood and fabric. It meant nothing.
"Are you okay?" Chloe asked, watching my face carefully.
"I'm more than okay," I smiled, feeling the crisp autumn air fill my healthy lungs. "I used to think this house was a palace. But it was just a prison with nice curtains. I'm glad it's gone."
I took a sip of my coffee, turned my back on the Oak Brook house, and got into the passenger seat of the car.
May you like
"Let's go home," I said.
Chloe put the car in drive, and we left the suburb behind, driving back toward the city skyline, back toward a life that was finally, entirely mine.
