I Became A Billionaire Overnight

Mason climbed the narrow concrete staircase to the third floor of the apartment complex. His legs felt incredibly light. He practically jumped up the steps. The hallway smelled faintly of old paint, damp carpet, and cheap cooking oil leaking from the neighbor's kitchen. He ignored the peeling floral wallpaper and the flickering yellow lightbulb overhead. None of those depressing details mattered anymore. He held his phone tightly in his right hand. A massive, uncontrollable smile stretched across his face. Three long, brutal years of struggling and scraping by were finally over.

The notification burning a bright white light on his screen was the ultimate key to a completely new life. He thought about all the severe sacrifices they had made together. They ate instant ramen noodles for dinner almost every single night. They skipped turning on the heater during winter to save a few dollars on the electricity bill. Mason took on odd jobs, delivered food in the pouring rain, and worked himself to the bone just to keep a roof over their heads. He endured all of it while waiting patiently for his grand investment to pay off. Today was the day he could finally reward Vanessa for her patience. He planned to walk into their home, tell her to pack her bags, and move her straight into a luxury penthouse downtown. She would never have to work a long shift at the cafe ever again.

He reached the familiar wooden door of his apartment, turned the brass knob, and stepped inside.

The smile vanished from his face immediately. The blood ran cold in his veins.

Vanessa sat on the faded fabric of their living room sofa. Steve sat right beside her. He had his arm wrapped securely around her waist. Mason knew Steve perfectly well. The man was the young billionaire making headlines across the entire city for his aggressive real estate acquisitions. Steve also spent a highly suspicious amount of time hanging around the small corner cafe where Vanessa worked as a barista. Mason had called her out on the constant, lingering flirting twice before. She had always rolled her eyes, called Steve a polite and generous customer, and accused Mason of being overly insecure about their relationship.

Now the two of them were tangled together on his own couch. The heavy, expensive scent of Steve's designer cologne completely overpowered the stale, cramped air of the small apartment.

Steve refused to move an inch when Mason walked through the front door. He just smirked, leaned back into the cushions, and tightened his hold on Vanessa's hip. He looked entirely too comfortable in his perfectly tailored Italian suit sitting on cheap furniture Mason had bought from a local thrift store.

Vanessa pulled back and stood up. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her uniform skirt and looked directly at Mason. She showed absolutely no guilt. There was no apology in her posture. She did not attempt to hide Steve or explain away the situation. Her eyes held nothing but pure annoyance.

"Are you going to stand there and stare all day?" Vanessa asked. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently on the floorboards. "I was hoping you would be gone longer. You always have terrible timing."

Mason looked between the two of them. His chest tightened painfully. He pointed a shaking finger toward the sofa. "I can't believe you are cheating on me. You told me it was a customer and employee relationship. You said there was nothing to it."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. She let out a harsh, mocking laugh that bounced off the thin walls of the small room. "Well, I lied!"

The blunt admission hit Mason incredibly hard. She did not even try to soften the blow. She did not offer a fake apology to save his feelings or preserve their history. She just stared at him with total contempt.

"How could you?" Mason asked. He stepped further into the small living room. His voice rose in volume as the betrayal fully sank in. "Our wedding is..."

"Shut up, fool!" Vanessa yelled. She threw her hands in the air, cutting him off completely. "Our wedding is what? You proposed to me this time last year, and we aren't still married now. You never even followed up!"

"I have been trying to save up enough to give you a proper ceremony," Mason argued, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. "You know how hard I have been working for us. I wanted to give you the ring you actually deserved. I wanted to pay for the venue you picked out."

"Save up?" Vanessa scoffed loudly. She walked closer to him and looked him up and down with absolute disgust. She eyed his worn-out jeans and his faded t-shirt like they offended her. "I can't believe I said yes to you. What was I thinking? You clearly were never going to have the budget for a wedding. You have been living off my salary for a long time now."

She poked him hard in the center of his chest.

"Three years ago you took your last bit of money and dumped it into that stupid DroCoins scam. You dragged us down into extreme poverty for a fake digital coin. Everyone with half a brain pulled out of that market. You were the only idiot who stayed. Look where DroCoins got you. You are completely broke. We eat cheap food while you check internet graphs that never move."

Steve let out a dry, condescending laugh from the sofa. He picked up a small plastic ornament from the coffee table, inspected it for a second, and tossed it back down with a grimace. "Is this the visionary investor you told me about, Vanessa? The guy looks like he can barely afford a bus ticket. I spend more on my morning coffee than he makes in a month."

Vanessa ignored Steve's insult and kept her fierce glare pinned entirely on Mason. She wanted to hurt him. "If I had that investment money, I would have started a smart business. I would have opened my own boutique. Instead I have been paying your way for months. You lent three hundred dollars from me last month. You said you would pay me back within three days. Where is my money?"

Mason swallowed hard. He looked down at his scuffed sneakers and then back up at the furious woman standing in front of him. His wallet was currently empty. His bank account held less than twenty dollars. "I... I don't have it on me now."

"Of course you don't," Vanessa said. Her voice dripped with absolute poison. She sneered at his face. "You never have money. You would never have money. You are a failure, Mason."

She turned her back on him and walked right back over to the sofa. Steve reached up, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her down onto his lap effortlessly.

"Don't worry, babe," Steve said. His voice was husky and low. "I have money. I can buy you anything you want in this entire city."

Steve leaned in and kissed her. Vanessa wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back eagerly. They made out right there in the middle of the living room. They completely ignored the fact that Mason was standing mere feet away. It was the ultimate display of blatant disrespect. They were parading their wealth and their affair in his face inside the very home he paid rent for. Steve ran his hands over her waist, totally claiming her as his own prize.

Steve pulled away just enough to look at Mason over Vanessa's bare shoulder. He let out a dark, mocking chuckle. "The poor nobodies always think they have a shot with the ten over tens. You are out of your league here, buddy. Time to pack your little bags and go back to the gutter."

Anger flared violently hot in Mason's veins. He took a bold step toward the couch. "You get your hands off her. She is my fiancee."

Vanessa pushed herself off Steve's lap immediately and turned around to face Mason again. "Fiancee my ass."

She grabbed her left hand and yanked the silver engagement ring off her finger. She threw the small band of metal with all her might. It hit Mason directly in the face, bounced sharply off his cheekbone, and landed heavily on the hardwood floor.

"I am done wasting my youth on a broke loser," she said.

She marched straight over to him, grabbed his arm roughly, and pushed him backwards out the open front door. He stumbled out into the hallway and barely caught his balance. She glared at him one last time with a look of pure hatred and slammed the apartment door shut violently in his face.

Mason stood alone in the quiet hallway. The loud sound of their muffled laughter leaked through the thin wood of the door. They were openly celebrating his departure. They thought they had finally taken out the trash. They believed he was leaving to sleep on the streets with absolutely nothing to his name.

He bent down slowly and picked up the cheap ring. He slipped it into his front pocket and then lifted his phone. The screen was still glowing brightly in the dim corridor. The notification from his crypto wallet confirmed a newly cleared deposit. The dead coin everyone abandoned three years ago had just processed a massive, system-breaking payout. All the major investors had fled, leaving the remaining massive pool of assets to the single remaining wallet holder.

Mason stared at the balance again.

$2,000,000,000.00

The same investment Vanessa had mocked for three years had just made him one of the richest men in the country.

Behind the apartment door, she was still laughing.

Mason slipped the phone into his pocket.

"Laugh while you still can."