Chapter 2

I said to the lottery shop owner, "Hey, it's fine that the numbers on this ticket are off. I'll take this one anyway. Let me pay you again, and just print me another one with the right numbers."

The correct ticket was for the Anderson family.

The wrong one, the one that would hit the jackpot, was mine.

Soon, the tickets were printed.

I grabbed both tickets and, out of habit, swung by the market to pick up some groceries so I could cook for those jerks back home.

But this time, instead of grabbing stuff that would last, I went out of my way to pick the cheapest groceries that would go bad in no time.

After all, they wouldn't be eating for much longer anyway.

When I got home, Nathan was in his study, poring over the numbers for the next lottery draw.

Julian was sprawled on the couch, glued to his phone, probably chatting up some other woman.

Vera was busy fussing over her jewelry.

She always thought money would lose its value, so she figured these trinkets were the only real security.

She'd spent her entire pension on this stuff.

But Vera had no idea that when the apocalypse hit, food would be the only thing that mattered.

As soon as I walked in, Vera dropped her pendant and stuffed it away like I was about to steal it.

She shot me a look of disgust. "Why are you so late? Were you really out messing around?"

Julian heard that, swung his foot at me, and shouted, "If you dare cheat on me, I'll kill you."

I gritted my teeth, got up, and handed the ticket to Nathan. "Nathan, here's the ticket you asked for."

Nathan glanced at the ticket, checked the numbers, and saw they were the ones he'd sent me earlier.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Dead weight like you, this is the only thing you're good for."

Then he turned away and went back to his lottery research.

Vera saw the groceries I'd brought home. Mostly, it was wilted veggies and fruit that would go bad in no time.

She started laying into me again. "Are you out of your mind? Why'd you buy all these rotten cabbages? Why not get something fresh? And you only got this little bit? Who's supposed to eat this, huh?"

I muttered, "The market had a sale today. These were dirt cheap, and half of them were basically a giveaway."

Vera finally seemed content.

She chucked the groceries at me. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and fix dinner!"

Inside, I was itching to slip some poison into their food and watch them kick the bucket, but I had to hold myself back.

Letting them die too quickly would be letting them off easy.

People like them deserved to be tormented slowly, so they'd never forget the pain for the rest of their miserable lives.

The next day, just as I'd expected, the lottery ticket I'd hidden had won the jackpot. It was 8 million dollars, and after taxes, I walked away with a cool 6.6 million.

But Nathan's ticket didn't win a single cent.

He was so furious that he started throwing things around the house, picking fights with everyone, and blaming me for their bad luck.

I didn't bother arguing with him. While I was out grocery shopping, I swung by the lottery center.

Wearing glasses, a mask, and a hat, I picked up my 6.6-million-dollar prize.

Right there, I donated 600 thousand dollars, put 3 million in the bank, and took out another 3 million in cash.

To keep the bank from getting suspicious, I swapped 2 million of the cash for gold bars.

With the remaining 1 million, I had to get a safehouse built as soon as possible.

Because there were only five days left before the Big Freeze hit.

Rumor had it, a planet was passing through the solar system and would block the sun's rays from Earth.

That planet would cut off sunlight and warmth to Earth, plunging the world into a deep freeze and triggering a worldwide ice age.

People said it would last at least three months.

Three months of that, and more than half of Earth's living things would be wiped out.

I had to find a way to make it through this apocalypse.

For my safehouse, I chose the basement that had been my grave in my previous life.

It was a semi-underground suite with three bedrooms and two living areas, a bargain add-on when we bought the place.

I'd planned to rent it out, but with the market in the dumps these past few years, it just sat there empty.

That basement was exactly why Vera and her family always called me a fool.

But soon enough, I'd show them who's really the fool.

The basement was almost 2,000 square feet. If I played my cards right, it'd be plenty of space to set up everything I needed to survive.

I got in touch with a security-focused renovation firm and told them I needed the basement fixed up for business, a warehouse that was waterproof, moisture-proof, and temperature-controlled.

All the materials had to be top-notch. They had to be fireproof, theft-proof, bulletproof, and blast-resistant. Plus, I wanted brand-new ventilation, plumbing, and heating systems.

The manager looked at me funny and said he'd need some time to pull all that together.

But when I dropped 600 thousand dollars in cash right in front of him, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

He said, "Miss, if you've got that kind of money, just say so. If you want a space station, we can build it for you, let alone an industrial greenhouse."

I was pretty satisfied, so I wired over 300 thousand dollars as a deposit.

"I need this done fast for my business. If you can finish early and keep everything under wraps, I'll pay the remaining 300 thousand dollars, plus an extra 30 thousand for every day you finish ahead of schedule," I said.

"No problem, Miss. If you want the stars, I'll get them for you," the manager replied.

With that kind of cash on the table, the manager was practically drooling. He looked like he was ready to drag the whole company in to get the job done.

Honestly, I could've gone for something way better, a villa or a penthouse.

But in my previous life, this was the place where I met my end.

I had this stubborn obsession. This time, I was going to survive right here and really live.

I wanted to see the Anderson family get what was coming to them, to watch them face the consequences they so richly deserved.