Our Marriage Loyalty Hit Zero, And I Struck It Rich

1 I was booking a table for our seventh anniversary when glowing text appeared: [Would you like to join a Loyalty Game? We'll awaken a System for your wife. If she tells you, you win one million dollars.] Married seven years, I had no doubt. That million was mine. Curious, I thought: [What if I lose?] [Then we grant you a mysterious grand prize to reboot your life. Cost: you'll be broadcast to another dimension.] I didn't care about the prize. I was already picturing the luxury apartment I'd buy my wife. I hit accept and rushed home. Walking through the door, Kathy looked panicked. She brushed me off and sprinted into the study. Through the oak door, I heard her on the phone with her childhood best friend Noah. "Noah, I just awakened a Doomsday System. The apocalypse is coming! I'm building a safe house. I promise I'll keep you safe. I am absolutely not telling Henry. The person I want to survive with is you." I froze. Her Doomsday System was fake. But the countdown for my mysterious grand prize had definitely just started. … Right at that moment, the glowing chat feed popped up in front of my eyes again. [Look at Henry standing there all shocked. His wife and Noah have been hooking up for years. They've worn out the mattress by now.] [Bro was literally booking an anniversary dinner, not knowing his wife and Noah are celebrating their four year cheating anniversary tomorrow.] [I just hope this guy wakes up and gets a divorce. The last few guys who lost the game walked away with at least five million in cash. The prizes keep getting better. I can't even imagine what his grand prize is going to be.] The chat was going wild, guessing if I was about to become insanely rich overnight. I couldn't focus on any of that. My knuckles turned bone-white as I gripped my phone. My chest tightened so hard I could barely pull air into my lungs. Ever since our third anniversary, when I got stuck at work and missed midnight, Kathy had thrown a fit every single year. She flat out refused to celebrate with me anymore. I thought I had deeply hurt her, so I worked myself to the bone, grinding for bonuses just to make it up to her. Only today did the ugly truth finally hit me. Every time she stormed out on our anniversary, she was just making an excuse to go celebrate with him. I gritted my teeth, tasting copper in my mouth. Inside the study, Kathy was already plotting her post-apocalyptic life with Noah. "We can just buy one of those abandoned warehouses out by the rust belt. It won't cost much, but retrofitting it and stocking up on supplies will be expensive. How much cash do you have on hand?" "I'm broke." Kathy sounded frantic. "What do you mean? I just transferred thirty thousand to you last month!" "I bought a new truck and went on a road trip. That thirty grand is long gone." Their words felt like a serrated blade twisting directly into my heart. After we got married, Kathy insisted we needed to save for a bigger house. She took control of our finances. I was making twelve thousand a month, but she only let me keep two hundred bucks for pocket money. Everything else went straight to her. Seven years. I had been scraping by, denying myself everything for seven damn years, only to find out my hard earned money was funding Noah's luxury lifestyle. Just last month, my mom was rushed to the ER for acute appendicitis. The surgery cost over thirty thousand dollars. I begged Kathy for the money. She looked me dead in the eye and said it was locked in a fixed term mutual fund. She told me to figure it out myself. It was a sweltering heatwave that day. I was so stressed about the medical bills that I walked all the way home from the office to save on gas. When I passed the convenience store by our neighborhood, I was sweating through my shirt. The cheap slushies in the freezer were exactly one dollar. I stood in front of that glass door for a full minute before walking away. I told myself that every dollar saved was a dollar closer to paying for my mom's surgery. I was starving myself to save my mother's life. And she was using my blood, sweat, and tears to bankroll her lover for four years. The suffocating agony of betrayal instantly hardened into pure, unadulterated hatred. Noah was already brainstorming new ways for Kathy to get cash. "Just max out a bunch of payday loans. The world is ending anyway. Once society collapses, who cares about a credit score? Any money we can borrow right now is basically free cash." "We'll each take out five hundred grand first. Then make your husband borrow a couple million." A dark, bitter laugh escaped my lips. Even now, they were still trying to bleed me dry. Kathy went silent for a few seconds. "Henry might not agree to that." "Plus, we're legally married. He's going to find out about the massive debt. What do we do then?" A long pause stretched through the door before Noah finally spoke. "There's only one way. We scorch the earth." Before Kathy could ask what he meant, Noah hung up. Kathy stayed locked in the study. Fifteen minutes later, the front doorbell rang. It was Noah. He stood on my porch, looking down his nose at me with a sickening smirk. "Henry. We need to talk." Without waiting for an invitation, he pushed past me into the living room. He stood right in the center, looking around the place like he was inspecting his future property. Hearing the commotion, Kathy rushed out of the study. She looked at him in total panic. "What are you doing here so late?" She kept shooting him desperate looks, but Noah ignored her completely. He turned to me. "Henry, I'll give it to you straight. Kathy and I have been together for four years." "Noah, are you insane?" Kathy screamed at him, then frantically grabbed my arm. "Honey, please don't listen to his bullshit." "I'm not bullshitting!" Noah roared back. "Kathy, look at the time! We don't need to hide this anymore." "Henry, the only reason Kathy even married you was because I was going abroad for college, and her mom was stuck in the hospital. You were the pathetic idiot running around fetching things for them." "Her mom thought you were safe. That's why she pushed Kathy to marry you." "If it wasn't for keeping her sick mother happy, she never would have looked twice at you. You were just Option B while I was gone. Do you get it now?" Seven years ago, Kathy's mom had a severe tumor that required major surgery. I worked all day and spent every night sleeping on a plastic chair in her hospital room for twelve days straight. The day her mom was discharged, she held my hands with tears in her eyes. "Henry, you are a good man. I feel completely safe leaving my daughter in your hands." Kathy had stood next to us, her head bowed in silence. I thought she was just shy. Turns out, she was disgusted by the idea of marrying me. A hollow smile crept onto my face. I thought I couldn't feel any more pain after hearing they had been sleeping together. But hearing that I was never loved to begin with, that my entire marriage was a setup, felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water directly over my soul. I looked at Kathy one last time. "Is he telling the truth?" Her lips trembled. Her eyes darted frantically between me and Noah, weighing her options for the end of the world. "Then let's get a divorce." My face was completely completely blank, but my mind was doing the math. She was going to start applying for payday loans tomorrow. Three or four platforms at once, probably pulling in a few hundred thousand dollars minimum. If I filed the papers before she signed those loans, that mountain of debt wouldn't have a damn thing to do with me. "No!" Tears spilled down Kathy's cheeks. I was stunned. Noah looked equally shocked. Kathy sobbed, clutching her chest. "I won't divorce you!" "Henry, I know how good you've been to me all these years. You warm my milk every night. You rub my shoulders. You always have dinner waiting no matter how late I get home. I just cannot lose you." "How about this. You keep the title of my husband, but my heart belongs to him." "We can keep living exactly like we used to. I'll just go out and see him sometimes." "Shut up." I cut her off. Bile was rising in my throat. Swallowing down the absolute disgust, I turned to glare at Noah. "She clearly has no shame, but surely you have some?" "She is still my legal wife. Who the hell are you to come into my house?" "A neighbor? A buddy? The side piece?" "You act so tough, but you can't even get her to commit to you publicly. You really think she loves you?" Noah's face contorted into something ugly. He whipped around to glare at Kathy. "What the hell does this mean?" "Did you forget what happens in a month? If you don't divorce him, he'll freeze your assets and you won't be able to pull out the cash! What are you going to do then?" Seeing Kathy still hesitating, I seized the opening. "What happens in a month? Why do you need so much cash?" Kathy turned pale as a ghost and shot Noah a lethal glare. She turned to me, words tumbling out in a rush. "It has nothing to do with you!" "Kathy, we are legally married. How does massive financial movement have nothing to do with me?" "Fine! We'll divorce!" The exact second the words left her mouth, a line of text floated across my vision. [Hidden Reward Triggered: Successfully divorce within thirty-five days to double the prize pool.] The prize pool doubled, but I couldn't find it in myself to smile. Even now, she was lying to my face to protect her fake Doomsday System. I walked straight into the study and grabbed a pen and paper. "If we're doing this, we do it right now. We write down exactly how the assets are split in black and white." "You've been hoarding both our paychecks for years. There has to be at least half a million in there. I won't even ask you to leave with nothing. Just give me my half." Kathy panicked and looked at Noah for help. Noah pulled her aside and hissed in a harsh whisper. "Don't fight him on this. I'll take out a million dollar loan right now. Give him three hundred grand so he shuts up and gets out of our way. We have bigger things to prepare for." "Besides, a month from now, even if we owe ten million dollars, the banks won't exist to collect it." Reassured by Noah's delusional logic, Kathy signed the makeshift agreement without another word. The very next morning, Noah wired three hundred thousand dollars into my account. When he showed me the transfer screen, he purposely let me see his balance. It wasn't one million. It was two million. He smirked and told me he had cash to burn, as long as I got lost. I just smiled back. I sincerely hoped he would keep that same energy in a month when the debt collectors came knocking. After finalizing the paperwork, I took a few days off work. It was the most peaceful stretch of time I had experienced in seven years. I didn't have to wait on Kathy hand and foot. I slept until noon. I ate whatever I wanted. And I had a live feed of their impending disaster via the dimensional chat. They bought an abandoned industrial warehouse on the outskirts of the city and blew a fortune turning it into a fortress. Then came the panic buying. Pallets of rice, oil, and flour. Mountains of medical supplies. They even spent eighty thousand dollars on military surplus MREs, which the chat gleefully informed me were three years expired. Their initial two million dried up fast. Working together, they took out another two million in high interest loans. Four million dollars of toxic debt hanging over their heads, and they were completely oblivious, working day and night with bright smiles on their faces. I was genuinely counting down the days to see their faces when the sky didn't fall. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with them until then. Then my phone rang. It was my mother. "Henry, there are men at the door! They're saying our house has been put up for collateral and they want me out. What is going on?" My vision went white. The chat scrolled rapidly, putting the pieces together for me. Kathy and Noah had run out of cash. The lenders wouldn't give them another dime, so Kathy secretly forged documents to mortgage my mother's house! My entire body shook with rage. "Mom, do not open that door. I am on my way!" When I pulled up, four massive guys in leather jackets were blocking the porch. One of them was raising a crowbar to the lock. "Back off!" I roared, sprinting across the lawn. "This is my property. What the hell are you doing?" The lead guy, a bald brute with a neck tattoo, looked me up and down. He shoved a crumpled contract against my chest. "Who the hell are you?" "Open your eyes and read. Kathy put this house up as collateral for a three hundred thousand dollar bridge loan. We're here to do the pre-loan inspection." I looked down at the signature. It was Kathy's handwriting. "You mortgaged my mother's house?" I spun around, finding Kathy standing near a rented truck with Noah. She didn't even flinch. "I just need the liquidity right now. The divorce isn't totally finalized in the system yet. What's the big deal if I use it for a bit?" "I'm going to pay it back before the due date anyway. It's not like I'm actually kicking your mom out." "You can't touch this house even if we were still married!" I screamed. "Legally, this property belongs to my mother. You have zero claim to it. Using forged documents to get a loan is felony fraud!" Hearing the word fraud, the loan sharks immediately stepped back, their expressions hardening. Noah saw his money slipping away and lunged forward. "Shut your mouth, Henry! The paperwork is real!" He grabbed me by the collar and dropped his voice to a venomous whisper. "Listen to me, you pathetic loser. In one month, society is going to burn. Nobody is going to care about this dusty old house." "But if you ruin my cash flow today, I swear to God I will beat you to death right here." "Try it." I stared dead into his eyes. Hearing the screaming outside, my mom got terrified that I was getting hurt. She unbolted the door. She reached out to pull me inside, but one of the thugs used the opening to shove his way in. The heavy wooden door slammed backward. It caught my mom right in the chest, sending her flying backward. The back of her head cracked sickeningly against the sharp edge of the doorframe. "Mom!" I shoved Noah back and dove to catch her. Blood was instantly pooling on the floorboards. The loan sharks realized things had escalated way out of control and bolted for their cars. Noah, terrified of getting arrested right before his precious apocalypse, grabbed Kathy and fled the scene. I pressed my trembling hands against the gash on my mother's head and dialed 911. The ambulance arrived in minutes. After a frantic hour in the ER, the doctor confirmed the bleeding was stopped and there was no severe brain damage. But when she woke up, my mother just cried, gripping my shirt, begging me not to let Kathy take her home. I held her fragile hands tightly. "Mom, I promise you. Nobody is taking your house. And the people who did this to you are going to pay. Every single one of them." While she slept, I got on the phone with the most ruthless litigation lawyer in the city. The forged contract was a slam dunk. Getting the deed cleared was just a matter of time. I was planning to let them enjoy their delusion for a few more days before dropping the hammer. But the very people who put my mother in the hospital decided to come for me first. The day before my mom was scheduled for discharge, I walked out of the hospital lobby. A beaten up cargo van suddenly slid to a halt next to me. The side door flew open. Before I could even register the threat, something heavy and metal slammed into the back of my skull. Everything went black. When I finally opened my eyes, the smell of diesel and stale air hit me first. I was tied tightly to a metal chair. I recognized the space immediately. It was the warehouse Kathy and Noah had bought for the end of the world. Noah was standing in front of me, decked out in full tactical gear like he was cosplaying a warlord from a bad movie. Behind him stood Kathy and about eight massive, mean looking guys who looked like hired muscle. I yanked at the zip ties, screaming at him. "Are you out of your mind, Noah? This is kidnapping! You're going to rot in a cell!" Noah just threw his head back and laughed. He glanced back at Kathy. Kathy looked at me with cold, dead eyes. "Half an hour left." "Half an hour until what?" I spat blood onto the concrete. Noah took a slow, theatrical step toward me. "Henry, did you notice the weather today? Pretty strange, right?" "It's a localized storm front, you idiot! The clouds will clear in an hour." "Wrong!" Noah screamed, his face twisting with manic joy. "It's not a storm. It's the apocalypse. The world ends in exactly thirty minutes." "Kathy and I got the intel a month ago. Since you used to be her husband, and you practically funded our lives for years, I'm feeling generous. I'll let you stay in our safe house." "But only if you get on your knees right now and slam your forehead into the concrete one hundred times." "You need psychiatric help! What apocalypse? You've completely lost your mind!" Before I could finish, Noah's tactical glove cracked across my jaw. I thrashed against the chair, trying to kick him, but two of the hired goons slammed me down against the floor. Noah knelt over me, digging his fingers brutally into my jaw. "Say one more word, and I'll shatter every bone in your face!" "Do it!" I snarled through the pain. "I have a dead man's switch on my phone app. The cops already have my location. If you touch me again, you're going to spend the rest of your life in federal prison!" The goons holding my arms flinched, their grips loosening slightly. Noah just scoffed. "Call the cops! Call the military! The world is ending! The cops are going to be too busy eating each other to care about you!" "What are you idiots standing around for?" he yelled at his muscle. "Did he actually scare you?" "The rules are gone! Even if you kill him right now, no judge will ever see you! But if you go easy on him, I'll lock you all outside when the fallout hits!" That was all it took. The hired muscle swarmed me. Heavy steel toed boots rained down on my ribs, my back, my legs. I curled into a tight ball, trying to protect my head, but there were too many of them. Just as the agonizing pain pushed me right to the edge of blacking out, Kathy let out a piercing shriek. "The timer! Ten seconds! The apocalypse is here!" Instantly, the warehouse went dead silent. The boots stopped. Everyone stared at Kathy, holding their breath. Three. Two. One! Outside the high frosted windows, nothing happened. A ray of golden sunlight actually broke through the clouds. But a second later, a massive, deafening crash echoed through the building. "It's here! The end of the world is here!" Noah screamed in sheer ecstasy. Then came the voice. "FREEZE! POLICE! GET ON THE GROUND!"