My Revenge Begins In 30 Days

Sarah's POV

The biting cold pierced my bones, freezing whatever blood that was left in my veins. Every breath I drew felt like inhaling tiny glass pieces, tearing at my lungs from the inside out.

“Mommy… I’m cold… Mommy…”

Jessica's weak, trembling voice echoed from somewhere far away but the sound was swallowed instantly by the howling wind of the apocalypse.

I gasped, my chest heaving violently as I shot up from the mattress. My eyes snapped open to the darkness surrounding me, but my body was still trapped in the cruel memory of the ice. I was drenched in a sweat, my fingers clawing at the duvet like my life depended on it.

Warmth.

I stared blankly at the ceiling and the morning sunlight slipped through a gap in the curtains of my bedroom and found my skin. The silence in the house was absolute and peaceful and there was no sound of a world dying in the ice.

I felt my hands, they were smooth, but moments ago, they were cracked and bleeding.

Trembling, I quickly reached for my phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up brightly and the date stared back at me.

November 15th.

It was exactly thirty days before the extreme cold apocalypse would descend, swallow the sun, and wipe out ninety percent of humanity in a matter of weeks.

I had been reborn.

I dropped the phone onto the blanket, my hands shaking so violently I could barely fold it into a fist. The memories of my previous life gnawed angrily at me and my heart was flooded with betrayal and agony.

I remembered the terror when the man I loved, the man I had sacrificed all my hidden wealth and my very identity for, kicked open the reinforced steel door of my fortified shelter.

He hadn't come alone.

He hadn't come to save us.

He brought his stepsister, Lily, the woman he had secretly prioritized over his own family. The woman who had been sharing his bed while I played the pathetic housewife.

“Please!” I had begged, my bare knees scratching against the ice as I clung desperately to his boots. “Take the house, take the food, take everything! Just let my baby stay inside! She’s only five, Michael! She’ll freeze to death out here!”

But he sneered, looking down at me with a gaze devoid of any human empathy, and violently kicked me away in the chest.

Lily had laughed and that sound still haunted my nightmares. She stepped forward, throwing dirty rope around my daughter’s fragile neck. She tightened it and dragged my screaming child through the snow like a dog.

When I screamed and lunged forward to rip that rope away, John’s guards pinned me down into the snow. They stripped me naked, tearing my clothes from my body, throwing me out into the merciless cold.

The pain of the ice biting into my bare skin was absolutely nothing compared to the agony of his final words. He had bent down, his breath forming a small cloud in the air, and whispered with a cold grin.

"Did you really think we were married, Sarah? The certificate was fake. I just needed a pathetic loser to hide my relationship with Lily from the board. I never loved you."

He stood up, looking down at me with absolute disgust. "But I guess you weren't completely useless. Playing the devoted family man secured me massive funding from my anonymous investor. You've served your purpose, and this shelter belongs to us now.”

I was forced to watch, held back by the freezing temperature, unable to move a single muscle, as they kicked my baby until her small, fragile body stopped moving completely.

She had stopped crying.

She had just looked at me, her lips opened before the ice claimed her.

And then, the darkness of the ice claimed me too.

"Mommy?"

A soft voice snapped me back to reality, pulling me violently from the evil memory.

I turned around and Jessica was rubbing her eyes, her messy hair scattered up in every direction, sitting up in the warm bed. She was perfectly whole. Her cheeks were flush with warmth, her breathing steady, and her skin completely unharmed by the cold.

Thank God.

A hot teardrop escaped my eye, rolling down my cheek. I threw myself at her, dragging her small, warm body into my arms, hugging her so tightly she let out a soft, confused whimper. I buried my face deeply into her neck, breathing in the sweetness of her skin.

You are alive. I am alive.

I held her for a long time, letting the reality of her warmth hold me to the present. But slowly, the overwhelming panic in my chest began to vanish and it wasn't replaced by relief. It was replaced by a burning rage, wrapped in the lingering chills of my past death.

The despair in my eyes instantly turned into absolute clarity and calmness.

In this life, I would not be the pathetic, blind woman who gave up her hidden investments, her pride, and her name for a fake marriage. I had built Michael's empire from the shadows because I thought he loved me. I had funded his life, his company, and this very mansion.

I would pull every cent back. I would plan my assets, liquidate everything, build an impenetrable fortress, keep mountains of supplies, and watch those two monsters rot and freeze in the wasteland they created.

The sudden rattling sound of the door handle shattered the quiet morning. The door flung open without a knock, slamming against the wall with a loud thud.

"Hey, are you deaf? I've been calling you for ten minutes!"

Lily walked into the room, wearing an expensive robe that cost more than a car, a robe that was bought with my money. She stopped at the edge of the bed, looking down at me with her usual arrogant smirk. She casually tossed a basin of warm water to the floor and some of it splashed against the floor, wetting the carpet.

"The water is ready," Lily ordered, not even bothering to look at my face. "Get down here and do my pedicure. My heels are getting rough from those new heels Michael bought me yesterday."

Her eyes were completely focused on her freshly manicured fingers as she casually stretched her bare leg out toward me, expecting me to drop to my knees.

I sat frozen on the bed, staring at the basin, the humiliating memories creeping back into my head like a disease.

Before, I was so desperate for a perfect family after losing my parents at a young age, I had swallowed every ounce of my pride. Michael had convinced me that his family was my family, that serving Lily was just part of fitting in. I had washed this woman’s feet, trimmed her nails and acted as the most miserable servant in my own damn home, terrified of causing conflict.

I had even allowed my daughter to watch her mother be used daily.

I couldn't help but smile through the pain of my past stupidity.

“What's so funny?” She snapped.

I scoffed, gently moving Jessica off my lap. I slowly stood up from the bed, my bare feet planted into the carpet. My gaze was fixed directly on her face, and that submissive she thought she knew was gone.

"Do it yourself," my voice was flat.

Her eyes widened in shock, her face instantly twisted with rage as her brain struggled to process my refusal. In the five years I had lived in this house, I had never once told her no.

"What did you just say to me, you bitch?" she hissed, taking a step forward. "You think because my brother tolerates your pathetic existence in this house, you can suddenly talk back to me? You are nothing but a squatter!"

She raised her hand high, lunging forward with all her weight to slap my face.

Before she could even close the distance, before my own hands could come up to block her, a small, brave figure stepped directly in front of me.

Jessica spread her tiny arms wide, pushing her little hands out toward Lily's waist, physically shielding me with her own body.

"Don't hit my mommy!"

"Get out of the way, you little brat!" She sneered and still didn't pull her hand back. Instead, she reached her sharp nails out, aiming directly to grab my baby’s fragile arm and violently throw her aside.

The sight of those hands reaching for Jessica snapped the very last ounce of restraint in my mind.

The image of the dirty rope around my baby's neck flashed brightly in my eyes. The sound of Jessica choking in the snow roared in my ears.

My chest heaved rapidly as I clenched my fist.

Without a single second of hesitation, without a breath of warning, I planted my left foot firmly into the ground, stepped past my daughter, and delivered a brutal, merciless kick straight into Lily’s stomach.