They say love is blind — mine left me broke, betrayed, and stuck with an $8,437.63 debt.

All because I trusted a man who smiled sweet, talked about forever, and

vanished the moment his lies caught up with him. I met Brandon in a bookstore café.

He was charming, supportive, and made big promises — a future, a home,

maybe even marriage. A year later, we moved in together. He said he’d

cover rent and bills while I handled groceries and teaching. “I’m saving for us,”

he’d say. I believed him. For three years. Then one day,

I got a notice: unpaid rent — in my name. Turns out the lease was never in his. He’d forged my signature, stopped paying months ago, and pocketed the money while I kept cooking, cleaning, and believing in us. Worse? He was planning to leave me. I found messages to another woman, Kelsey. He called me his “crazy ex-roommate” and bragged about stealing rent money. He even,

said I’d never see it coming. He was right — I didn’t. But I caught up quick. While he was away “on business,” I changed the locks, cracked raw eggs into his entire sneaker collection (worth thousands), and posted an eviction notice on the door with help from the landlord — a woman who knew revenge like the back of her hand. When he came back?

Locked out. Furious. Begging. I told him: pay the debt, get your stuff. He paid every cent. I got the apartment in my name. He got his things — minus the now-rotting sneakers he left behind. Lesson learned? If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. Not after three years, and definitely not after $8,437.63.