$100 Million Before Doomsday: My Doomsday Shelter System

Chapter 5: Preparations

Elena's denial hung in the air like smoke, but Joshua didn't even blink.

He looked at her standing there with her face red and her chest heaving, her eyes darting between him and Victor like a trapped animal trying to figure out which direction to run. Every person in the café was staring at her, and she didn't even realize it. She was too busy pretending she hadn't just given herself away.

"You never cheated." Joshua repeated her words back to her in a flat, bored voice. "Fine. Then the baby in your belly should have no problem passing a paternity test."

Elena's whole body went still. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. Her hand moved to her stomach without her even thinking about it, and that tiny, automatic gesture told the entire room everything it needed to know.

"A simple DNA test, Elena. That's all it takes. If the baby is mine, you have nothing to worry about. If it's not mine, well." Joshua tilted his head slightly. "I think we both know whose it really is."

Elena's legs buckled and she dropped back into her chair like the strings holding her up had been cut. Her face was gray now, all the anger drained out of it and replaced by something hollow and sick. She looked over at Jessica, searching for help, searching for anything.

Jessica had nothing. She was still sitting with her hands folded in her lap and her eyes fixed on the table, her confidence shattered into so many pieces she couldn't even begin to pick them up. She had walked into this meeting believing she was going to crush a helpless man with no money and no lawyer. Now her old professor was sitting across from her, and every word he said was a reminder that she had no business being in this room.

"I would advise your client to consider these terms very carefully." Victor's voice was steady and professional as he gathered the documents back into his briefcase. "Joshua is offering her three days to decide. She can accept the conditions, return the money she owes, pay the emotional damages, and walk away clean. Or she can take this to court, where I will present the full evidence of her infidelity, her financial exploitation, and her family's years of abuse."

He clicked the briefcase shut and stood up.

"Three days. I suggest she uses them wisely."

Victor nodded once at Joshua and walked toward the door. Joshua stood up and followed him without looking back at Elena or Jessica. He didn't need to. He could feel Elena's eyes burning into the back of his head, and that was enough.

Outside the café, the afternoon sun was warm on Joshua's face. Victor stopped on the sidewalk and turned to him with a slight nod.

"That went exactly as I expected." Victor adjusted his cuff and glanced back through the café window where Elena was still sitting motionless at the table. "She'll either accept the terms or she'll fight. Either way, the evidence is overwhelming. She doesn't have a case."

"Thank you, Victor." Joshua meant it. "I know this isn't the most exciting case for someone like you."

"On the contrary." A thin smile crossed Victor's face. "Cases like this are why I became a lawyer. I'll be in touch."

He shook Joshua's hand and walked toward his car. Joshua watched him go and then turned in the opposite direction, his mind already shifting to the things that actually mattered.

The divorce was important. The money was important. But none of it would mean anything if he didn't survive what was coming. Thirteen days on the countdown. Thirteen days to turn his parents' old house into a shelter strong enough to withstand toxic rain, mutant animals, and whatever else the apocalypse was going to throw at him.

He needed the best security company in the city.

Titan Defense Solutions was located in a steel and glass building on the east side of downtown. Joshua walked through the front doors and told the receptionist he wanted to speak with the manager about a private residential project. The receptionist looked at his plain clothes and worn sneakers with barely hidden doubt, but she made the call anyway.

Five minutes later, a man in a tailored navy suit came out of the elevator and extended his hand. Derek Cole, General Manager. He was about fifty, with silver hair combed back neatly and a handshake that was firm but measured, the kind of grip that said he was used to dealing with serious money.

"My receptionist says you're interested in a residential security project." Derek led Joshua into a private meeting room on the third floor and gestured toward a leather chair. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Joshua sat down and pulled out his phone, where he had already sketched out the basic plan using the system's blueprint suggestions. He turned the screen toward Derek and watched the man's eyebrows climb higher and higher as he scrolled through the specifications.

"Reinforced steel plating on every exterior wall and the roof. Triple sealed windows with impact resistant glass. An independent water filtration system. Underground storage capacity for at least six months of supplies. Emergency power generation. And a ventilation system that can filter out airborne toxins."

Derek looked up from the phone. His expression had shifted from polite interest to genuine confusion.

"Mr. Joshua, I don't mean to be rude, but this is the kind of project we build for billionaires and government officials. Are you sure you understand the cost we're talking about here?"

"I understand the cost. I also need the project completed within one week."

Derek let out a short laugh before he realized Joshua wasn't joking. The laugh died quickly and an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"One week." Derek shook his head slowly. "That's not realistic. A project like this normally takes two to three months. The materials alone would need to be ordered, transported, and inspected before we could even begin installation. I appreciate you coming in, but I'm afraid we can't accommodate that timeline."

"I'll double your standard rate."

Derek paused. His fingers, which had been tapping against the arm of his chair, went still.

"In addition," Joshua continued, keeping his voice casual and unbothered, "I'll pay a one million dollar deposit today. Right now. The remaining balance will be paid one month after the project passes final inspection."

The room went very quiet. Derek's eyes had changed. The polite dismissal was gone, replaced by the sharp, calculating look of a businessman doing math in his head and liking the numbers he was seeing.

"Double the standard rate." Derek repeated it slowly.

"Double. Plus the million up front. All I need is your best team working around the clock for seven days."

Derek leaned back in his chair and studied Joshua for a long moment. Whatever he was looking for, he seemed to find it, because his shoulders relaxed and he reached for the folder of contract templates on the shelf behind him.

"I'll have the contract drafted within the hour. My best crew will be at your property by tomorrow morning."

They shook hands. Joshua signed the initial paperwork, authorized the deposit transfer, and walked out of the building with the project locked in.

He was smiling as he stepped onto the sidewalk, but it wasn't because of the handshake or the contract. It was because after the apocalypse hit, money would be worthless. Titan Defense Solutions would build him the strongest shelter in the city, and he would never have to pay the remaining balance. Not because he was dishonest, but because in two weeks, there would be no banks, no courts, and no economy left to collect it.

The wholesale market on the south end of the city was a massive warehouse complex that stretched across four city blocks. Joshua drove there straight from Titan Defense and walked through the main entrance with a clear list in his head and the system's first mission glowing on his phone screen.

MISSION 1: STOCKPILE ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES. REQUIRED: MINIMUM 30 DAYS OF FOOD, WATER, MEDICAL SUPPLIES, AND AGRICULTURAL SEEDS FOR LONG TERM SUSTAINABILITY.

He moved through the aisles like a man on a schedule. Canned food, dried grains, rice, pasta, protein bars, bottled water, water purification tablets, first aid kits, antibiotics, surgical tools, batteries, flashlights, fuel canisters, heavy duty tarps, duct tape. He filled cart after cart after cart, waving over warehouse workers to help him load pallets onto delivery trucks he arranged on the spot.

Then he moved to the agricultural section. Seeds for tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, lettuce, carrots, wheat. Grow lights, soil mix, fertilizer, irrigation tubing. Everything a person would need to grow food underground for months or even years.

The shop owners watched him with their jaws hanging open. One of them, a heavy set woman with thick glasses and flour on her apron, walked up to him as he was signing for the fourth delivery truck.

"Honey, are you feeding an army or opening a grocery store?"

"Something like that." Joshua handed her his card and watched her eyes go wide when the total flashed on the screen. Over one million dollars in a single afternoon.

He drove home with the first truckload already on its way, and the system chimed inside his mind.

MISSION 1: COMPLETE. REWARD: COMPREHENSIVE PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT.

A wave of warmth spread through Joshua's body, starting from his chest and rolling outward through his arms, his legs, his back, his neck. It wasn't painful. It was like every muscle in his body was being wound tighter, tuned like an instrument being brought into perfect pitch. When it passed, he flexed his hand on the steering wheel and felt the difference immediately. Stronger. Faster. Sharper.

He grinned and kept driving.

What Joshua did not know was that a silver sedan had been following him since he left the café. Elena was sitting in the passenger seat with her phone pressed against her ear and her eyes locked on Joshua's truck through the windshield. She had watched him walk into Titan Defense. She had watched him come out smiling. She had followed him to the wholesale market and watched through the warehouse windows as he spent money like water pouring from a broken pipe.

Her shock had long since turned to fury, and her fury had turned to something colder and more dangerous. Certainty.

"Jessica, listen to me." Elena's voice was tight and fast. "I followed him. He went to some fancy security company, and then he went to the wholesale market and bought over a million dollars worth of supplies. A million dollars, Jessica. He told me he had nothing. He told me for six years that every penny went to the family. He was lying. He was hiding money the entire time."

Jessica's voice came through the phone sharp and excited, all the humiliation from the café meeting burned away by the possibility of redemption.

"Elena, this is exactly what we needed. If he was hiding income during the marriage, that changes everything. Hidden assets during a marriage are grounds for a much larger settlement. We can use this as evidence. We can take everything he has."

Her breathing was fast now, and her words were tumbling over each other.

"And if I can beat Professor Haines with this evidence, do you know what that means for me? Every law firm in the city will know my name. Every client looking for a divorce lawyer will come to me first. This is my chance, Elena. This is how I become the most famous lawyer in this city and make a fortune doing it."