The planning

Freya’s pov

The cool breeze from the air conditioner hummed quietly in the background as I sat at my desk, staring at the bright calendar display. My heart was still racing from the vivid intensity of the nightmare, the phantom ache behind my eyes feeling all too real. I took a deep, steadying breath, letting the calm atmosphere of the quiet office ground me back in the present moment.

Before I could fully gather my thoughts, my phone buzzed on the glass tabletop. Sam’s name lit up the screen.

I swallowed hard, answering and pressing the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, sweetie," Sam’s voice came through the speaker, relaxed and completely casual. "Did I catch you at a bad time? Look, Deborah was asking about that funding for her boutique idea again. I told her you’d probably be able to transfer the start-up cash today. Also, Madison called earlier—she's having a tough week and I was thinking it might be nice if she and Hailey stayed in the guest room for a while, you know she’s your friend."

Listening to his voice—so normal, so completely unaware of the terrifying scene that had just played out in my mind—a cold stillness settled over me. The overwhelming panic faded, replaced by a quiet, clear focus.

"Freya? You still there?" he asked.

"I'm here," I said softly, my voice steady. "Let me look into the finances first, Sam. I have a few things to sort out at the office today."

"Sure, no rush, just let me know when it's done," he said casually before hanging up.

Setting the phone down, I looked out the large glass window at the city below. The streets were calm, cars were moving smoothly, and the afternoon sun felt warm and harmless. I rubbed my temples, letting go of the lingering tension from the bad dream, and opened my laptop to review my actual accounts and schedule for the week.

*【Heart rate elevated to 110 BPM. Target 'Sam' successfully manipulated into believing Host remains compliant. Well played.】*

The cold, metallic voice echoed inside my head, vibrating right at the back of my skull where the iron pipe had smashed my bone.

"Shut up for a second," I whispered, pressing my palms against my face. "I need to think."

*【Understood. However, delay is inefficient. Sam’s request for Deborah’s boutique funding requires immediate financial redirection before joint account locks trigger automatically in 48 hours.】*

The System was right. In my past life, I had blindly transferred $80,000 to Deborah to "help her get on her feet." She had spent every penny on luxury designer bags and spa days with Madison, laughing behind my back while I worked sixty-hour weeks to pay for our home’s subterranean foundation upgrades.

Not this time.

I opened my laptop, my fingers flying across the keyboard. My family’s legacy—a massive estate left behind by my late grandfather—amounted to nearly twelve million dollars in liquid capital, stock portfolios, and real estate deeds. Because I had trusted Sam, I had granted him joint signing authority on two primary operational accounts last year.

I immediately logged into the banking portal, initiated a full security override using my private biometric key, and revoked Sam’s signing privileges. Within three minutes, I transferred every cent from our shared accounts into a newly established, offshore private trust that required dual-factor biometric authentication—only readable by my retina and fingerprint.

*PING.*

A notification popped up on my phone. An automated message sent to Sam’s email, alerting him that a "routine security update" had temporarily restricted joint credit limits.

*【Strategic move executed. Sam’s liquidity reduced by 94%. Remaining personal funds in his account: $3,200.】*

A dark thrill surged through my chest. "Let’s see how generous he feels toward Deborah and Madison with three grand to his name."

Before I could close the browser, my phone rang again. This time, it was my mother-in-law, Belinda.

I took a slow breath, matching my voice to the meek, eager-to-please tone I used to have. "Hello, Mum?"

"Freya! Finally," Belinda’s sharp, haughty voice blasted through the speaker. "Sam told me you were busy at work, but you really need to prioritize your family. Deborah is frantic about her boutique launch. And why are my store credit cards suddenly declining?"

"Oh, Mum, I'm so sorry," I said, putting on a distressed, apologetic sigh. "I just spoke with our wealth manager. The IRS launched a sudden, surprise audit on our corporate holdings this morning. They've temporarily frozen all secondary cards attached to the main account."

Silence fell over the line. "A-an audit? What does that mean? How am I supposed to buy my vitamins?"

"It’s just standard procedure," I lied smoothly. "It should be cleared up in a few weeks. In the meantime, maybe Sam can cover your expenses from his personal savings?"

"Sam's savings?!" Belinda gasped, outraged at the very idea of her son spending his own money. "He works so hard! Why aren't your personal accounts handling this?"

"They froze those too," I whispered, fake-sniffling into the receiver. "I'm so worried, Mum. But don't worry, I'm doing everything I can to fix it. Why don't we all have dinner at my place tonight? I'll cook your favorite pot roast."

"Well... fine," Belinda huffed, slightly placated by the offer of a free, expensive dinner. "Deborah and Madison will be there too. Make sure you buy fresh wine on your way back."

She hung up without waiting for an answer.

*【Observation: Target 'Belinda' exhibits high parasitic behavior. Threat level: Low combat skill, High psychological annoyance. Recommendation: Isolate and starve.】*

"Isolate and starve," I repeated, a cold smirk touching my lips. "Oh, I have much bigger plans for Belinda."

I stood up from my desk and grabbed my trench coat. The first step was securing my capital; the second step was securing the ultimate sanctuary.

In my previous life, I had built our shelter by upgrading the basement of our suburban mansion. It was a good shelter, but it had a fatal flaw—Sam knew the access codes, and the layout allowed them to easily corner me.

This time, I wasn't going to upgrade the mansion. I was going to turn the mansion into a gilded cage to trap them inside when the Solar Rust hit, while I survived in a state-of-the-art, military-grade underground bunker three miles away in the black-stone hills.

I took the elevator down to the underground parking garage and got into my SUV. My target for the afternoon: Titan Defense Solutions, a private contractor specializing in deep-earth survival silos for high-net-worth executives.

As I started the engine, my phone chimed with a text message from Madison.

*Madison: "Hey girl! Sam mentioned Hailey and I might stay over for a bit? Hailey misses her 'Auntie Freya' so much! Can't wait for dinner tonight! ❤️"*

I stared at the heart emoji. The image of Madison sitting on my bed, laughing while Sam kissed her neck and called Hailey his daughter, flashed violently in my head.

*CRACK.*

The phantom pain spiked behind my eyes, making my grip tighten on the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.

"System," I spoke into the empty car. "Can you track Madison's phone location over the past six months?"

*【Query processed. Accessing local tower logs via encrypted network. Location history extracted. Findings: Target 'Madison' has visited Target 'Sam’s' private office apartment 142 times in the last 180 days. Average duration: 3.5 hours.】*

142 times. While I was pulling 14-hour shifts to finance our future, my husband was playing family with my best friend.

"D******d all geo-location logs, time-stamped entrance photos from his apartment building's security feed, and cross-reference them with Sam’s credit card transactions at local hotels," I commanded, my voice devoid of any warmth. "Store them in a private cloud server."

*【Directives locked. Data compilation at 45%. Purpose of data gathering?】*

I pulled out of the parking garage into the bright afternoon sunlight—sunlight that, in thirty short days, would turn into a lethal nightmare for everyone who had betrayed me.

"A lawsuit?" the System guessed in my head.

"No," I whispered, watching the pedestrians walk by, completely unaware of the approaching apocalypse. "Public destruction. I'm going to strip them of their dignity, their money, and their trust in each other before the sky even turns red."

*【Target acquisition confirmed. Route mapped to Titan Defense Solutions. Let the hoarding begin, Host Freya.】*