From Doormat to Doomsday Billionaire!

Chapter 5: five hundred million reasons

Lexi stared at the dead phone and clicked her tongue.

A Divorce? Please.

Marrying Rhys had never been love. It had been a coat she threw over a stain. A pregnant woman with no ring was a scandal, and a scandal would have dragged Curry’s name through the mud. So she had picked the most obedient fool she could find, and he had thanked her for it.

And what a fool. He cooked. He cleaned. He raised the boy. He handed over every paycheck like a dog dropping a bone at its master’s feet.

Now her son was eight, the stain had dried, and the coat had outlived its use.

It was a shame, really. Free labor was so hard to replace.

“He will beg me to take him back. The cretin has no guys to divorce me.” She thought to herself and smiled.

***

The next morning, Rhys was already waiting on the courthouse steps when Lexi swept up in sunglasses and a cold smile. 

She glared at him, waiting for the usual crack that always follows whenever she throws her tantrum.

“Don’t think this is as easy as signing a page,” she started. “There’s the house. The savings. Custody. It’s a mess, Rhys. A long mess. You’d better rethink your little act of foolishness before you lose everything.”

Rhys looked at her.

“Keep the house. And whatever. I just  won’t pay a cent in support.”

Lexi’s smile froze.

“What?”

He had the DNA report. He could have taken everything and dragged her name through court on top of it.

And this idiot was offering to leave with nothing?

Lexi shook her head.

Just like she’d always known. Weak. Spineless. A man built to give.

“Well, if that’s truly what you want. I suppose I could agree.” She said with a smile.

Rhys saw straight through the performance and said nothing.

Let her think she’d won.

He needed this divorce finished before the lottery drawing. If he haggled over a house or a bank balance, the case would drag for weeks. By the time the numbers fell, the jackpot would become a marital asset, and the Stowes would swarm it like starving rats.

So he gave them the crumbs, so he’d collect the whole bakery later.

Lexi practically glowed as she followed him inside the courthouse.

The divorce was over before they knew it. And when Rhys left the courthouse, something told Lexi she’d just missed out on something huge.

But she shoved down the feeling and glowed in triumph. At least she got the house!

Rhys walked out into the sun, and a weight he’d carried for a decade slid off his chest.

He tilted his face to the sky as the light fell on a free man.

At two in the afternoon, he pushed open the glass door of a lottery shop two blocks away.

He pulled a slip from the rack and filled in the bubbles with machine precision. Six numbers, burned into his skull by ten years of nightmares.

A hundred identical tickets, paid in cash.

The jackpot was five hundred million dollars.

Someone else had won the lottery in his former life. This time, Rhys would be the winner.

Satisfied, he hailed a taxi and rode to the wealthiest district of Sydvale.

The most extravagant hotel in the city glittered in front of him. He laid his ID on the marble counter and booked the penthouse.

“That’ll be fifteen hundred for the night, sir,” the clerk said, bracing for a flinch.

Rhys didn’t flinch. He made the deposit and went to his suite.

At ten o’clock, the drawing flickered onto the television. The colored balls tumbled in their glass drum.

First number. Match.

Second. Match.

Third. Fourth. Fifth.

Each one fell exactly as it lived in his memory.

The final ball dropped into place.

Match.

Rhys looked down at the ticket in his steady hand. Five hundred million dollars.

He didn’t shout. He didn’t laugh. He picked up his phone and dialed the number he had saved that afternoon.

“Mayfair Luxury Estates, how may I help you?”

“I want Estate Number Eight in Maple Grove,” Rhys said, smooth as silk. “Tonight, if possible.”

A pause.

“Of course, sir. But I’m obligated to mention that the property sits directly across the street from the Stowe residence. Some buyers find the neighbors… difficult.”

Rhys smiled. 

“I know. That’s exactly why I want it.”