I will not promote - Coder abandons MVP after payment and I feel sick that I have to start over

Just a sick feeling right now. A coder thats been working on my mvp for the last month just stops giving updates. No access to the code (found on upwork, good reviews, good history). Now I’m having to probably start all over again. Waitlist of 200+ people built up in 2 weeks. Many conversations with potential partnerships. I paid for the mvp and now, ghosted near the end. When I saw work stalling due to his other job, I mentioned that after the mvp is done, I would need to bring on someone full time to work. I feel like that was a big mistake as since then, work is now a drag. I always see people talking about people having a great idea and wanting a CTO to come on board and work for free. This wasn’t like that. No equity discussed and im paying for the mvp. Just very disheartening and just wanted to rant. Not sure where to go from here. Looks like I’ll be starting all over again, pushing back all discussions I’ve had with those interested in funding.