Chapter 5

Scarlett handed the family her full paycheck every single month. Nine thousand dollars in cash, nothing less for the past years.

But now, Janet was hearing that she owned so many properties behind their backs?

Had she been pretending to be poor all this time?

Janet knew exactly how much Shannon's mansion was worth. Jake could work his entire life and not earn enough to buy it. Even the house they lived in now was only affordable because Scarlett's salary was paying the enormous mortgage.

To hear that Scarlett owned multiple properties like that, in even better neighborhoods that Shannon, of all people, would be excited to move there.

Janet pulled into the garage of the house, driving like a mad man. When she slammed open the doors, only Rachel and Ethan were there.

She was trying to get him to eat.

Ethan was already four years old but he refused to feed himself. All this while, Scarlett had silently taken care of him despite her job, so no one knew how much of a terror in the house.

The mealtimes over the past few days have been pure misery. When he did not want the food, he flipped the plate like a brat, scattering the food everywhere. Like he had done now.

Rachel was on her knees, cleaning the mess. Though he was her son, she felt a wave of immense disgust anytime she looked at him.

If he did not want to eat, he could as well starve. She had neither the patience or desire to take care of him.

“You will not believe what I found out today,” Janet started.

Rachel glared at the mud stains from her shoes, tracking into the living room. Was she going to clean that up?

“Scarlett bought Shannon Winters' house!”

Rachel looked up at Janet and wondered if she had started to go off her rocker a few years too early. “What?”

Janet shook her head vehemently. “Shannon confirmed it herself,” Janet said before going further to explain what had happened at the discount warehouse.

Rachel listened with rapt attention, her eyes wide.

"Scarlett lied to all of us," Janet snapped. "She hid the fact that she was incredibly wealthy, then divorced Jake."

“W-What?” Rachel stuttered, unable to make sense of what she was hearing.

"I am telling you,” Janet insisted, anger burning hot in her chest. “The nine thousand dollars she gave us every month was nothing compared to what those properties were worth. Now that she's divorced, she must have even more money under her control."

The thought of Scarlett's wealth completely clouded both women's reasoning.

Janet gritted her teeth. "She can't just walk away from this family. A share of that money belongs to us."

Rachel snapped to her feet and grabbed her phone to call Jake. Right as it was about to go to voicemail, he picked up. “What?” he asked, clearly distracted.

"Come home right now," she said.

Jake sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Rachel, I am in the middle of a project right now. I cannot—”

“Jake Miles!” she practically snarled. “Scarlett had fooled all of us. Come home right now.”

Against his better judgement, he clocked out of work and rushed home, despite his lack of interest in dealing with family drama.

The moment he got in, that changed.

Jake watched his mother with confusion and skepticism as Janet repeated everything Shannon had told her at the supermarket.

“You want me to believe that Scarlett is some kind of secret heiress? I saw all of her finances before we got married.”

The story was too ridiculous to be true.

Rachel grabbed his arm tightly, her fingers digging into the skin.

“Think about it. Scarlett handed every paycheck over to this family and always acted like she had nothing. Then she agreed to divorce you without asking for a single dollar. Doesn't that prove she had other properties all along? She just kept them hidden from us."

Janet nodded immediately. "She fooled every one of us."

They did have a point. It did not make sense for Scarlett to agree to a divorce that did not benefit her in any way.

Jake’s jaw tightened as anger surged through him.

So Scarlett had deceived them from the beginning.

Slowly but surely, another thought crept into his mind. If all that wealth belonged to him, how different would his life be?

Just Shannon's house alone could let him quit his job and never have to work for his entire life. And Scarlett had multiple of those in even better neighborhoods.

Rachel noticed the exact moment when Jake came on board with the plan. She smiled wider.

Her days as a rich wife were only about to get better.

“You should sue her,” she declared.

Janet eagerly agreed. “Yes, it is marital property. It rightfully belongs to you so you should get it back.”

Jake was a bit hesitant still.

Lawyer costs could add up and the mortgage was approaching. If they were not able to win the case, it would just be money down the drain.

To reassure him, Rachel decided to call one of her lawyer friends. After explaining the situation to him, the lawyer replied to them. “Don’t worry. You have a strong case. If you file your lawsuit, you have a high chance of winning. Judges in this state do not give room for deception in marriage.”

Having heard from a lawyer, Jake did not see a reason to wait. He picked up his phone and called Scarlett.

***

Scarlett was still in her new house, reviewing her to-do list.

She currently had twenty million. Renovation would cost two million dollars. Once the other twenty million from selling the properties reached her account, she would have thirty-eight million left to spend.

Now, she needed to start stockpiling her supplies.

Scarlett called Morales again, this time to rent both an apartment and a warehouse within the hour. She could not stay in the mansion while it was being renovated and she needed a transfer point for all the supplies that she wanted to store in her Pocket Space.

She could not afford for anyone to find out about the space or her life might be in danger so she would rather go through all the extended and more expensive route of getting a warehouse.

To focus on stockpiling supplies and renovating the house, Scarlett decided to quit her job on the spot. Typing out her resignation letter was surprisingly easy. She quickly sent it to her boss before moving back to her calculations.

A few minutes later, the real estate agent called. “I have sent over the address of the apartment. How long will you be renting for?”

“One month,” she replied. That should be enough time for the workers to finish on her house.

Everything was finally falling into place.

Scarlett began making a detailed shopping list. Besides huge amounts of food, she needed daily necessities that would allow her to live more comfortably than anyone else after the apocalypse began.

She also added camping gear, backup power equipment, and emergency supplies—everything she would need to keep her fortress running even after the water and electricity failed.

As she was writing, her phone rang again.

The caller ID read, "Best Hubby".

Scarlett stared at the screen for a few seconds and then decided that now was not the best time to cut Jake off. After all, she still needed to watch his family suffer once the apocalypse arrived.

Scarlett answered the phone. "Hello?"