Her Betrayal Made Me a Billionaire

I've just booked a restaurant for my seventh wedding anniversary with my wife, Melanie Rowland, when several lines of text suddenly appear across my vision. "Would you like to take part in a loyalty test? "We'll randomly give your wife a system. If she tells you about it, you win, and the two of you will receive one million dollars." After seven years of marriage, I have no doubt Melanie loves me. As far as I'm concerned, that million dollars is already in the bag. Still, I'm curious enough to ask one question. "What if we lose?" "If you lose, it proves your marriage has failed. In return, you'll receive a mystery prize big enough to let you start your life over. "The price of participating is allowing people from another dimension to watch you. Choose carefully." I couldn't care less about the mystery prize. I'm already planning to use the million dollars to buy Melanie the condo she's had her eye on for ages. After I agree to join the game, I hurry home. The moment I walk in, I catch a flash of panic on Melanie's face. She brushes me off with a few vague excuses and hurries into the study. Through the closed door, I hear her talking to Hayden Locke, the guy she grew up with. "Hayden, I just got an apocalypse system. It says the end of the world is coming. I'm going to find somewhere to build a safe house, and I promise I'll keep you safe. Don't worry. I won't tell Alex a word. "When the world ends, it'll be you and me together." I freeze. Her apocalypse system is fake, but the countdown to my mystery prize has probably already begun. Chapter 1 Just then, several comments appeared across my vision. "Alex still has no clue. Melanie and Hayden have been together for years. They've probably lost count of how many times they've slept together by now." "And here he is booking a restaurant for his seventh wedding anniversary. He has no idea Melanie and Hayden's fourth anniversary is tomorrow." "I hope this guy comes to his senses and divorces her. The guys before him who did got at least five million dollars in cash, and the mystery prizes keep getting better every time. I can't even imagine what his will be." The comments were already wondering if my mystery prize would make me rich overnight, but I couldn't care less. My grip tightened around my phone until my knuckles turned white. My chest ached so badly I could hardly breathe. It had all started on our third wedding anniversary. I got stuck at work and didn't make it home with a gift for my wife, Melanie Rowland, before midnight. Every anniversary after that, she would get upset and refuse to celebrate with me. I wanted to make things right between us, so I worked myself into the ground, putting in overtime to earn those project bonuses. I didn't find out the truth until today. Every year, when Melanie walked out on our anniversary, she was actually leaving to celebrate one with someone else. I clenched my jaw. I could hear Melanie in the study, on the phone with Hayden Locke as they planned for the apocalypse. "We can buy an abandoned warehouse outside the city and turn it into a safe house. It shouldn't cost much to buy, but renovations and supplies will add up. How much money do you have left?" "None." Panic crept into Melanie's voice. "Didn't I just send you 300,000 dollars last month?" "I bought a new car and took a trip. It's all gone." Their words hit me hard. After we got married, Melanie said we should start saving for a bigger place. I made 12,000 dollars a month, but I was only allowed to keep 200 dollars for myself. I handed the rest over to her. For seven years, I'd pinched every penny, only to find out Hayden had been living it up on my money. Just last month, Mom was hospitalized with acute appendicitis. Her surgery was going to cost over 30,000 dollars. When I asked Melanie for the money, she said it was locked up in investments and told me to figure something out myself. It was sweltering that day. With Mom's surgery weighing on me, I walked all the way home after working overtime. As I passed the convenience store at the entrance to our apartment complex, the heat was getting unbearable. There were ice pops in the freezer for one dollar each. I stood there for almost a full minute. In the end, I walked away without buying one. Mom's surgery was going to cost more than 30,000 dollars, so every dollar mattered. I was scraping together every dollar I could for Mom's surgery. Meanwhile, Melanie had been spending my money on another man for four years. Just like that, all the pain of her betrayal turned into hatred. Hayden soon came up with a way for Melanie to raise the money. "Let's take out loans online. The apocalypse is coming anyway. Once everything collapses, no one's going to care if we pay the money back. Anything we can borrow now is basically free. "We'll each borrow 500,000 dollars, then get Alex to borrow a few million." Chapter 2 I was so furious I almost laughed. Even now, Melanie and Hayden were still trying to take advantage of me. Melanie went quiet for a few seconds before saying, "Alex might not go along with it. And since we're married, I might not be able to hide the loan from him. What do we do if he finds out?" Hayden was silent for a long moment before finally answering, "Then we might as well go all the way." Before Melanie could ask what he meant, he hung up. She stayed in the study and didn't come out. 15 minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was Hayden. He stood on the doorstep, looking down at me with a slight smile. "Alex, I need to talk to you." Before I could answer, he walked right past me into the living room. He stopped in the middle of the room and looked the place over, as if he were already picturing himself living there. At the sound of his voice, Melanie hurried out of the study. Her voice was tense. "What are you doing here this late?" She kept shooting Hayden looks, but he ignored her and turned to me. "Alex, I'll be honest with you. Melanie and I have been together for four years." "Hayden, are you crazy?" Melanie shouted. Then she quickly turned to me. "Honey, don't listen to him. He's making it up." "I'm not making anything up!" Hayden yelled. "Melanie, there's no point hiding it anymore. Alex, Melanie only married you because I went abroad to study. Her mom was in the hospital at the time, and you were running around the hospital taking care of everything. "Her mom thought you were dependable, so she told Melanie she should marry you. If Melanie hadn't wanted to put her mom's mind at ease, she never would've married you. You were just there to take my place after I left. You get it now?" Seven years ago, Melanie's mom had been diagnosed with uterine fibroids and needed a total hysterectomy. I worked during the day and stayed by her bedside at night for 12 straight days. The day she was discharged, she took my hand and said, "Alex, you're a good man. I know Melanie will be in good hands with you." Melanie stood beside her with her head down, saying nothing. I thought she was shy. It turned out she just didn't want to marry me. I gave a bitter smile. I'd thought I couldn't be hurt by anything involving the two of them anymore. When Hayden told me they'd been together for years, I hadn't felt any more hurt than I already did. But those words still hit me like a bucket of ice water. I'd always assumed Melanie started cheating after we got married, and that she'd accepted my proposal because she loved me. Only now did I realize that seven years ago, I'd been nothing more than her backup plan. I asked Melanie one last question. "Is what he said true?" Her lips moved, but she said nothing. Her gaze shifted between Hayden and me as if she were weighing her options before making a final decision. "Then let's get divorced." I looked calm, but I was already doing the math in my head. She was planning to start applying for online loans tomorrow. If she applied through three or four platforms at once, she could borrow at least 300,000 dollars, if not 400,000. If I finalized the divorce before she took out those loans, none of that debt would be my responsibility. "No!" Tears spilled down Melanie's cheeks. I froze, and Hayden did too. Melanie cried, "I don't want a divorce! Alex, I know how good you've been to me all these years. You make me warm milk every day, rub my shoulders, and no matter how late I get home from work, you always make me something to eat. "I-I don't want to lose you. How about this? You can have the marriage, and he can have my love. We can keep living the way we always have. I'll just go see him once in a while—" "That's enough," I cut her off, my stomach churning. I fought down the nausea and turned to Hayden. "She may have no shame, but surely you do. She and I are still legally married, so what exactly are you doing showing up here? "Are you her neighbor? Her friend? Or the other man? You were shouting like you had every right to, but you couldn't even get her to make things official with you. You really think she loves you?" Chapter 3 Hayden's expression shifted immediately. He turned to Melanie. "Melanie, what's that supposed to mean? Don't forget what happens a month from now. If you don't divorce him, he can keep you from getting the money. What are you going to do then?" Melanie was still hesitating, so I quickly followed up on what Hayden had said. "What's happening a month from now? And why do you two need money?" Melanie's face went pale. She shot Hayden a glare and quickly said, "That's none of your business!" "Melanie, we're still married. How does this have nothing to do with me?" "Then let's get divorced!" The moment Melanie agreed, a system message appeared across my vision. "Hidden reward triggered: Finalize the divorce within 35 days and the prize pool will double." The prize pool was set to double, but I couldn't bring myself to smile. Even after things had gone this far, she was still hiding the fact that she'd gotten a system from me. She was still lying to me. I gave a bitter smile. I went straight to the study and came back with a pen and paper. "If we're getting divorced, let's put everything in writing. Let's spell out exactly how we're dividing everything. "Both our salaries have been going to you all these years, so there should be 400,000 or 500,000 dollars saved up by now. I'm not asking you to walk away with nothing. I just want half." Melanie froze, then glanced at Hayden in panic. Hayden pulled her aside and lowered his voice. "Don't argue with him over this. I'll take out a one-million-dollar loan and give him 300,000 dollars so he doesn't make a fuss and hold up our plans. "A month from now, even if we're ten million dollars in debt, no one will come after us for it." After Hayden said that, Melanie quickly signed the agreement. Early the next morning, Hayden transferred 300,000 dollars into my account. When he made the transfer, he deliberately showed me his account balance. It wasn't one million dollars. It was two million. Hayden said 300,000 dollars was nothing to him and told me to stop bothering them. I smiled. I just hoped he could still say 300,000 dollars was nothing to him a month from now, when the debt collectors came after him. After Melanie and I got divorced, I took a few days off work. Those were the most peaceful days I'd had since getting married. I didn't have to wait on Melanie every day anymore, and I could sleep as late as I wanted. The comments even gave me live updates on what Melanie and Hayden were doing. They bought a warehouse on the outskirts of the city and spent a fortune turning it into a safe house. Then they started stockpiling like crazy. They stocked up on flour, pasta, cooking oil, and more medical supplies than I could count. The comments said the 80,000 dollars' worth of "military surplus canned goods" they bought had already expired. The first two million dollars they borrowed didn't last, so they borrowed another two million dollars between them. They were now four million dollars in debt, but neither of them seemed the least bit stressed about it. Every day, they threw themselves into preparing for the apocalypse. I couldn't help wondering how they'd react when two weeks went by and the apocalypse still hadn't come. I'd assumed I wouldn't see either of them again for a while, until Mom suddenly called me. "Alex, someone came by and said our house has been mortgaged. They told me to move out right away. What's going on?" My head buzzed. The comments flashed rapidly across my vision. That was how I found out Melanie and Hayden had run out of money. They couldn't get any more loans, so they'd mortgaged Mom's house. I was shaking with rage. "Mom, don't open the door. I'm on my way!" When I got there, four or five big men were blocking the doorway, and one of them was about to break down the door. "Stop! This is my house. What gives you the right to break down the door?" I rushed up to them. The man in charge gave me a quick once-over, then smacked an agreement against my chest. "Who are you supposed to be? Open your damn eyes and read it. Melanie Rowland used this house as collateral for a 300,000-dollar loan from our company. We're here to inspect the property before we approve the loan." I glanced at the mortgage agreement. Melanie's signature was right there. "You took out a loan against my mom's house?" I demanded. Melanie was completely unapologetic. "I needed the money. Our divorce isn't even final yet. So what if I used the house as collateral? Besides, I'll pay it back before the due date. It's not like your mom is actually going to lose her house." Chapter 4 I shot back, "Even if we're still married, you had no right to put this house up as collateral! It legally belongs to my mom and has nothing to do with you. You used fake documents to take out a loan. That's fraud!" The men from the lending company immediately became suspicious. Seeing their reaction, Hayden quickly snapped at me, "What are you talking about? Those documents are real!" Then he came right up to me and lowered his voice. "Alex, I'm warning you. Don't cause trouble here. Half a month from now, there'll be chaos everywhere, and no one's actually going to come take your mom's crappy house. "If you ruin this for me today, I'll beat you to death!" I stared him straight in the eyes. "Go ahead. Hit me." Mom heard Hayden and me arguing and, worried I might get hurt, opened the door anyway. She reached out to pull me inside, but one of the men immediately forced his way in. He knocked Mom off balance, and the back of her head slammed hard against the edge of the doorframe. "Mom!" I rushed over and grabbed hold of her. The men immediately panicked. Hayden clearly didn't want anything else to go wrong at a time like this, so he quickly pulled Melanie away and left. I pressed my hand tightly over the wound on the back of Mom's head and called 911 with shaking hands. The ambulance arrived quickly. The examination showed that aside from the bleeding, she wasn't seriously injured. But when Mom woke up, she kept crying and insisting that I couldn't let Melanie take the house. I held her hand and promised, "Mom, don't worry. No one's taking the house. And not one of the people who did this to you is getting away with it." While Mom was still unconscious, I'd already found a lawyer and was preparing to take legal action. There was no question the mortgage agreement had been forged, so getting the title back was only a matter of time. But I wasn't in any hurry. I could let Melanie and Hayden carry on for a few more days. Before I even had a chance to go after them, the people who'd put Mom in the hospital came looking for me first. It was the day before Mom was discharged. A van was parked at the curb outside the hospital. I had just stepped outside when the van's sliding door suddenly opened. Before I could react, I took a hard blow to the back of the head. When I came to, I found myself tied up. I recognized the place. It was the safe house Melanie and Hayden had set up for the apocalypse. Hayden stood in front of me, dressed like he was leading the survivors in some apocalypse movie. Melanie stood behind him with seven or eight burly men who looked like bodyguards. Furious, I yelled at him, "Hayden, are you insane? This is kidnapping. It's illegal!" Hayden just laughed. Without answering me, he glanced back at Melanie. Melanie looked at me, her expression blank. "30 minutes left." I frowned. "30 minutes until what?" Hayden slowly walked toward me, smiling. "Alex, haven't you noticed how strange the weather is today?" "A hurricane's about to make landfall. Of course there are going to be dark clouds. They might blow over any second." Hayden shot back, "No! This isn't a hurricane. It's the apocalypse, and it'll be here in an hour. Melanie and I found out about it a month ago. "Since you're Melanie's ex-husband and you've supported both of us all these years, I'm willing to let you into the safe house. But there's one condition. Get down on your knees right now and tell me you're sorry 100 times." "You're insane, Hayden. What apocalypse? You've been reading too many novels!" The words had barely left my mouth when Hayden slapped me across the face. I instinctively tried to hit him back, but two bodyguards pinned me hard to the floor. Hayden walked over and grabbed my chin, squeezing hard. "Talk back to me one more time, and I'll beat your face bloody!" "Go ahead and try! Hayden, I already used the emergency call feature on my phone to call the police. They've probably tracked me here already. Hit me again, and you'll spend the rest of your life in prison!" As soon as I said that, the bodyguards holding me down loosened their grip. Hayden laughed. "You called the cops? The apocalypse is about to hit. The police will be too busy saving themselves to worry about you! What are you all standing around for? He didn't actually scare you, did he? "The world's ending any minute now. You could beat him to death, and no one would come after you for it. But if you go easy on him, don't expect me to let you into the safe house!" The moment Hayden finished speaking, the bodyguards pinned me to the floor and started kicking me. I tried to fight back, but there were too many of them. They kept kicking me until I curled up on the floor. Just when I felt like I couldn't take the pain anymore, Melanie suddenly screamed, "It's time! The apocalypse hits in three seconds!" Everyone fell silent. The second hand ticked forward as the final three seconds counted down from three to two to one. Nothing happened outside. Even the dark clouds from earlier had vanished. But a second later, there was a loud bang. "The apocalypse! It's here!" Hayden screamed in excitement. Then another voice shouted, "Police! Don't move!"