Chapter 2 I Will Never Trust Again

My hands flew to my throat as I sat upright, gasping for breath.

I was alive. I looked around wildly.

A familiar bedroom surrounded me. Pale curtains covered the windows, and sunlight fell across a small wooden desk.

My desk. The one I had sold months ago to pay part of my debt.

I jumped out of bed and rushed toward the mirror.

A young woman stared back at me.

Long dark hair fell over her shoulders. Her skin was smooth, and her face was free of the bruises I had suffered before my death.

I touched my cheek—no wounds.No blood.

No signs of the warehouse. My breathing became unsteady.

I grabbed my phone from the bedside table.

The date on the screen made my knees weak.

Five years earlier. I had returned five years into the past.

Before Caelan betrayed me. Before Mirelle stole my life.

Before the debt, the warehouse, and my death.

I sank onto the edge of the bed.

Was this a dream? I pinched my arm hard enough to hurt.

The pain was real. A laugh escaped my lips, followed by tears.

I was alive. I had been given another chance.

Then my phone vibrated. A message appeared on the screen.

It was from Caelan.

Good morning, sweetheart. Don’t forget our dinner tonight. I have something important to discuss with you.

I stared at the message.

In my previous life, that dinner had been the beginning of the end. Caelan had asked me to invest in his business, and I had agreed without hesitation.

Now I knew what would happen if I followed the same path.

I deleted the message. Then I blocked his number.

A cold smile appeared on my face.

“Enjoy your peaceful life while you can, Caelan.”

Suddenly, the air in front of me shimmered.

A transparent blue screen appeared.

I froze. White letters formed across it.

[Survival System Activated.] [Host: Vespera Quinn.]

[Current World Status: Pre-Apocalypse.]

[Time Remaining Before Zombie Outbreak: 14 Days.]

I stopped breathing. Zombie outbreak?

I read the words again, hoping I had misunderstood them.

But the screen remained unchanged.

Before I could process what I was seeing, another message appeared.

[Main Quest Issued.]

[Find the most dangerous man in the city and make him your protector.]

[Reward: Foresight Ability and Pocket Dimension.]

[Failure Penalty: Death.]

I stared at the screen. Fourteen days until the apocalypse.

A mysterious system.

And a quest that required me to approach the city's most dangerous man.

I had no idea what kind of world I had returned to or why this system had chosen me.

But I knew one thing. I would not waste my second chance.

In my previous life, I had died because I trusted people who never deserved my trust.

This time, I would prepare for the disaster ahead. I would gather everything I needed to survive, uncover the truth about my enemies, and build a future that belonged to me.

But first, I needed to find the man the system wanted me to approach.

A man whose name alone could make powerful people tremble.

A man rumored to have destroyed anyone who crossed him.

A man no sensible woman would willingly approach.

I opened my browser and searched for the city's most dangerous man.

One name appeared repeatedly.

Lucien Dravik. The ruthless head of Dravik Security Group.

A man feared by criminals, business people, and even police officers.

According to the reports, he had been involved in several violent conflicts, yet no one had ever managed to bring him down.

His photograph appeared on the screen.

Dark hair. Sharp features. Cold eyes that seemed to look straight through the camera.

He did not look like someone who would protect a stranger.

He looked like someone who would destroy anyone who wasted his time.

I stared at his photograph for a long moment.

Then I looked at the system’s quest again.

Find the most dangerous man in the city and make him your protector.

Fourteen days remained before the world ended.

I had two weeks to convince a monster to protect me.

And if the system was telling the truth, refusing the quest could cost me my life.

I slowly stood up and walked toward the window.

The city looked peaceful under the morning sun. People hurried to work, cars moved through busy streets, and the world continued as if nothing terrible could ever happen.

They had no idea what was coming.

But I did.

This time, I would not be the helpless woman who died begging for mercy.

I would survive the apocalypse.

Even if I had to make a deal with the devil himself.

And if Caelan Voss and Mirelle thought they could enjoy the lives they had stolen from me, they were about to learn a very painful lesson.

My second life had begun. And I intended to make every second count.

I stared at Lucien Dravik’s photograph on my phone, studying the cold expression on his face.

He was thirty-two, head of Dravik Security Group, and the city's most feared man. Rumors claimed that he had broken a man’s arm for touching his car, destroyed a business empire over a single betrayal, and sent three armed men to the hospital after they tried to rob him.

Some people called him a monster.

Others called him a mad dog.

I did not care what they called him.

In fourteen days, the world would collapse. When the dead began to walk, money, status, and the law would lose most of their power. Only those who could protect themselves would survive.

And I needed a protector who could kill without hesitation.

Unfortunately, the system had chosen the city's most dangerous man for me.

I opened the quest screen again.

[Main Quest: Find Lucien Dravik and make him your protector.]

[Time Limit: 72 Hours.]

[Reward: Foresight Ability and Pocket Dimension.]

[Failure Penalty: Death.]

My lips twitched.

“At least you could have given me someone reasonable.”

The screen remained silent.

I rubbed my forehead and took a deep breath. Complaining would not save my life.

I had fourteen days to prepare for the apocalypse, but only three days to complete the quest. To survive, I needed to accomplish both tasks without wasting time.

First, I needed money.

Second, I needed supplies.

Third, I needed to find Lucien Dravik before he decided to kill me.

I opened my banking application.

My savings were still there. I had almost two hundred thousand dollars in my account, money I had spent years earning as a financial analyst.

In my previous life, I had used much of it to support Caelan’s business. I had believed we were building a future together.

This time, my money would buy me survival.

I transferred a large portion into an account Caelan knew nothing about. Then I changed my passwords, blocked access to my personal documents, and contacted my bank to add extra security to my accounts.

I would not allow anyone to use my identity against me again.

After that, I made a supply list.

Bottled water. Canned food. Rice. Flour. Cooking oil. Medicine. Batteries. Flashlights. Fuel. Protective clothing. Tools.

I also needed weapons, but buying them legally would take time.

My thoughts returned to Lucien.

A man like him would have access to weapons, trained guards, and secure buildings. If I could convince him to protect me, I would gain more than a bodyguard.

I might gain a chance to survive.

My phone rang.

Caelan’s name appeared on the screen.

I stared at it for several seconds before answering.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” he said warmly. “I was beginning to worry about you.”

The sound of his voice made my stomach turn.

In my previous life, I would have smiled at those words.

Now, I imagined him standing in that warehouse, watching as his men prepared to kill me.

“What do you want, Caelan?”

He paused.

“Why are you talking to me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m a stranger.”

I almost laughed.

“Perhaps you should get used to it.”

His tone changed slightly.

“Vespera, are you still upset about something? Did I do anything wrong?”

I closed my eyes.

He was already lying.

In this timeline, he had not yet betrayed me. He had not stolen my money or framed me for his debt.

But he had always been the kind of man who treated kindness as something he was entitled to receive.

Sooner or later, he would have done it again.

“Actually, Caelan, I need your help.”

His voice immediately became gentle.

“Of course. Anything for you.”

I looked at my supply list.

“I need you to meet me tomorrow. There is something important I want to discuss.”

“Tomorrow? Why not tonight?”

“Because I’m busy.”

He hesitated.

Then he laughed softly.

“All right, sweetheart. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I ended the call.

A cold smile crossed my face.

I had no intention of meeting him.

But if the apocalypse started as I remembered, Caelan and Mirelle would soon discover that the world no longer cared about their lies.

And I would make sure they understood exactly what betrayal felt like.