Life as a housewife was everything I wanted...I got whatever I want drove a mercedes S550 (2008 christmas present), got all the jewels and designer duds any girl could ask for. I had access to the bank accounts and lived a very comfortable life. But there was one thing eating at me, and that was the fact that Richard still wasn't divorced and I was wasting my youth with him. I didn't want a situation where I was left with nothing, even though I was stashing money away. We fought about it all the time and he made it seem like it was up to his wife (she was definitely bitter and desperately trying to drag it out). The real estate market had crashed around this time and they were wasting money on lawyers as Richard lost a ton of money in his projects. After our 1-year lease was up, I gave him an ultimatum. Give me an engagement ring, or I move out. He was being hard headed, or so I thought at the time, so I moved out into a 2-bedroom condo in a high rise near my good friend. It was a nice neighborhood. I still wanted to be surrounded by money. I started having an affair with my friend's brother-in law who was married at the time. I needed something to take my mind off all the craziness going on. All of a sudden, Richard brings me his divorce papers 2 months later, lol. I should have moved out earlier. He then proposed to me with a 5.5 carat diamond ring in a lavish and romantic setting. He brought me to tears! I was so excited to be planning my wedding. We told our family and set the date 6 months from the proposal. Richard had moved out of the 5-bedroom home into a 1-bedroom condo...I noticed that funds weren't coming in as they should and even asked him about it but he assured me that everything was fine. Then he kept trying to move into my place and I told him not until we got married because I didn't want him getting too comfortabe. So he moved into another building close to me.
We picked the location and even went to marriage counseling but we had definitely gotten estranged because we fought about money all the time....little did I know that Richard was broke and instead of telling me about it, he pretended everything was fine, drank a lot and then lashed out at me. I couldn't take it anymore. I also knew that I couldn't live and be married to a man and be struggling. I rather struggle on my own. So I convinced Richard that we should postpone the wedding till we could afford it. He reluctantly agreed but he had no choice. We had gotten to the point where I couldn't even stand being around him anymore because he turned into an alcoholic and became verbally abusive so I just stayed away from him. I bought my own car and gave him back the benz because the payments were just too steep. Slowly but surely we just stopped speaking to each other. I even changed my phone number and he got the message. He was too ashamed to tell me he was broke so he just stayed away. I realized that was the reason he didn't even want to buy me a ring in the first place, he just couldn't afford it. I figured out a lot of things after we parted ways. I started getting collection calls looking for him for past due payments on the credit cards, cars, etc. It was just unsettling. Now I needed to get back on the horse and start a new game plan for my life. I had some savings so it was a lot easier, thank God! I knew I had to pick a job where I was around rich men so I went to the drawing board.
