Apocalypse Domination: A Cold Rebirth

Chapter 2

Liam stood in the quiet hallway of the Sterling Hotel. The thick carpet absorbed the sound of his footsteps. The air smelled of expensive citrus cleaning supplies. The luxury of the environment felt foreign to him. He spent the last few months of his previous life freezing in a dark apartment.

The contrast made his skin crawl. The muffled sounds of laughter and wet kissing bled through the door of Room 804. Liam took a slow breath. He drove his heel directly into the locking mechanism. The wood splintered loudly like a gunshot. The door slammed open and bounced against the interior wall.

Liam stepped into the lavish suite. Chloe and Julian scrambled apart on the massive king bed.

Chloe gasped loudly and scrambled backward against the padded headboard. Her bare chest was exposed to the cool air of the room. Panic flashed across her eyes before she snatched a white feather pillow to cover her naked torso. Julian swore under his breath and rolled away toward the edge of the mattress.

Liam stared at the woman he loved for two years. He possessed the vivid memories of her apocalyptic betrayal, but the immediate visual still drove a sharp spike of pain through his chest.

The reality of his present life anchored him. He worked double shifts in the campus dining hall to afford her textbooks. He sold his only bicycle to buy her birthday presents. He sacrificed his own basic comfort to ensure she smiled. Seeing her bare skin in another man's bed forced a bitter taste into his mouth. The betrayal stung deeply.

"Liam," Chloe stammered. Her face drained of color. She clutched the pillow tightly against her collarbone. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see it for myself," Liam said. His voice came out flat and strained.

Chloe shifted nervously on the mattress. She tried to force a pleading look onto her face. Her eyes watered as she attempted to salvage the situation.

"Liam, please listen to me," Chloe begged. "This is a misunderstanding. It is not what you think it is."

"You are naked in a hotel bed with him," Liam replied. He kept his hands shoved deep into his jacket pockets. "There is not much left to misunderstand."

Chloe swallowed hard. She reached a trembling hand out toward him.

"It is just for the money, Liam," Chloe pleaded. "You know how hard things have been for us lately. My tuition is due next week. Julian offered to help me pay it. I was just doing what I had to do so we could stay together. I love you."

Julian let out a loud laugh. He stood up from the bed and grabbed a silk robe from a nearby chair. He slipped his arms into the sleeves and tied the belt around his waist. He did not look embarrassed or ashamed.

"Do not lie to the poor guy, Chloe," Julian said. He walked over to the mini fridge and pulled out a glass bottle of sparkling water. "He is already standing right here in the room."

Julian took a long drink and looked Liam up and down. A smug grin stretched across his face.

"So what if I am sleeping with her?" Julian asked. He leaned against the expensive wooden dresser. "I am rich. I can afford to buy her nice things. I get whatever I want. You cannot even afford to take her to a decent restaurant on a Friday night. A girl like Chloe belongs with someone who can actually provide a future."

Liam looked at Julian. In his past life, this pure arrogance enraged him. He would have thrown a punch and ended up in a jail cell. Today, the anger fizzled out quickly. He knew Julian's massive bank accounts would freeze solid in exactly thirty days. The luxury suite would become an icy tomb.

Chloe watched Liam closely. She expected him to yell or fight for her honor. His quiet acceptance bruised her ego. He did not look desperate enough. Her fake guilt evaporated and hardened into vicious defensive anger.

"Julian is right," Chloe snapped. She dropped the pleading tone entirely. She gripped the pillow tighter. "Look at yourself, Liam. You wear the same cheap sneakers every single day. We share plates at cheap diners because you cannot afford two meals. I am tired of struggling alongside you."

She gestured around the spacious luxury suite.

"I need basic things that you just cannot give me," Chloe continued. Her voice grew louder and more confident. "I want to travel. I want to live comfortably without checking price tags. I am tired of pretending that love is enough to survive on. I just have to move on with my life."

Julian walked back to the bed and placed a hand on her bare shoulder. He smiled down at her.

"Do not stress yourself out, babe," Julian murmured. "You do not have to worry about him anymore. I will take care of you from now on."

Liam watched them perform their little act of solidarity. The last lingering ache in his chest vanished completely. They were perfectly matched in their cruelty. They deserved each other.

"You are right," Liam said. He felt a profound sense of clarity wash over him. "You should move on. Keep doing exactly what you are doing. None of this matters anyway."

He turned his back on them and walked out of the hotel suite. He left the broken door hanging open in the hallway. The crisp autumn night air hit Liam as he stepped out of the hotel lobby. He shoved his hands back into his jacket pockets and walked down the illuminated street. His mind shifted away from

Chloe and her new lover. The betrayal was officially relegated to the past. He needed to focus on his own survival. He needed massive amounts of capital.

In his previous life, this exact night served as a miserable turning point. After Chloe left his apartment for her fake brainstorming session, the crushing weight of his poverty drove him out into the city. He walked to a local convenience store and spent his last twenty dollars on lottery tickets.

He placed those small bets every single week for years. It was a foolish tax on the desperate.

He lived in perpetual poverty and hoped to win the massive three hundred million dollar jackpot.

He lost that night, just like everyone else.

However, he remembered the aftermath perfectly. The winning numbers were announced on the national broadcast the very next evening. The news anchor wore a blue suit. The numbers flashed across the television screen in bright yellow font. Liam stared at those numbers in utter despair while eating plain rice in his cold apartment. They burned permanently into his memory.

A random buyer in the next state claimed the prize. That winner had three days to celebrate before the apocalyptic snow began to fall. The three hundred million dollars became useless paper before the bank could even process the official transfer.

Liam stopped walking. He looked across the busy street and spotted a glowing neon sign for a twenty-four-hour convenience store.

He pulled his phone out and opened his banking application. The screen illuminated his face in the dark. His balance showed exactly one thousand dollars. It was the remainder of his student loans for the semester.

He crossed the street and pushed the heavy glass door open. A small bell chimed above his head. The store smelled of stale coffee and floor wax. It was empty except for a bored clerk standing behind the register.

Liam walked straight to the counter.

"I need to place a bet for the mega draw," Liam said clearly. "Manual selection."

The clerk sighed and tapped the terminal screen. "Go ahead."

"Zero four," Liam recited. "Seventeen. Twenty-three. Forty-two. Fifty-eight. The power ball is twelve." The clerk punched the numbers into the machine. "How many tickets do you want with this exact combination?"

"Put my entire balance on it," Liam said.

He tapped his bank card against the payment reader. One thousand dollars drained from his account in a single second. The lottery machine whirred loudly. A long strip of paper printed out from the slot.

Liam tore the tickets free and stared at the freshly printed numbers. The drawing was tonight.

In less than twelve hours, he would hold a winning ticket worth three hundred million dollars. He would be richer than Julian could ever comprehend.