Divorced and Reborn: My Apocalypse Billionaire Husband

Outside, the distant snarls of zombies echoed beyond the shelter's thick gates. The metallic stench of blood and rust hung heavy in the air.

But Chloe stood transfixed in the bedroom doorway. The sounds of her husband and her best friend, Hazel, moaning together filled her ears.

She opened the door, praying it was all a nightmare, but there they were, cuddled up and making out on her marital bed.

“Ethan!” she screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks.

It was bad enough that her husband had treated her like a servant, but here he was, cheating on her too!

“What are you doing?” Chloe yelled in pain. “Hazel? You've been sleeping with my husband all this while?”

Hazel smirked without an ounce of remorse. “Oh, Chloe.”

Ethan stormed out of the bedroom and approached her, his face twisted into an annoyed scowl. “What the hell are you doing here? I sent you on an errand to get more supplies.”

Yes, Ethan had sent her to fetch more supplies from the shelter's storage room to replenish their empty store.

But she and her daughter, Rune, barely had anything to survive on. It was always Ethan and his family who feasted on all the food and supplies, leaving Chloe and Rune hungry and malnourished.

But she'd never thought much of it. She only wanted to please her husband and in-laws, to be the good wife they expected her to be.

But this was her reward.

Through her tears, she cried, “You're despicable, Ethan!”

What she didn't expect was the sharp sting of a slap across her face. She staggered backward from the impact, her cheek burning with pain.

She clutched the spot, her eyes widening. “You slapped me?”

Hazel, now fully dressed, approached Chloe. “It's a pity you never realized Ethan didn't love you. I was always the one he loved. You were just a placeholder.”

Tears streamed down Chloe's face.

Ethan had always told her he loved her. He had never broken her heart or made her cry until the apocalypse began six months ago.

He had become a completely different man, one who constantly hit her and talked down on her.

Where was the man who promised her happily ever after? Where was the man who had carried her on his shoulders, even while bloodied and wounded, after the accident on their honeymoon?

It was as though she no longer recognized the man he'd become.

“Mommy!” Rune, her daughter, came running out of her bedroom toward Chloe. She hugged her mother and then moved to hug her father, but Ethan kicked her away.

“Get away from me, you dirty piece of shit!” Ethan spat.

Chloe rushed toward her wailing child and crouched down to examine the bleeding knee Rune had scraped when she fell.

With fury, she turned to Ethan. “What the hell is wrong with you? This is your child!”

Rune's wailing must have woken the others because, moments later, the entire family came rushing toward them.

Elena and Dominic, Ethan's parents, approached them alongside Ethan's two sisters, Zoe and Maya.

Chloe expected them to reprimand Ethan for cheating, but instead, they turned on her with annoyed expressions.

“Silence that crying toddler this minute!” Elena scolded. “Can you believe this child woke me up from my beauty sleep?”

Chloe felt heartbroken that no one asked why the child was crying. “Ethan is cheating on me with Hazel.”

None of them showed the slightest surprise, and Chloe suddenly understood the truth.

They had known all along.

“I trusted you all,” Chloe cried. “You used me.”

Before meeting Ethan, Chloe had been a highly paid employee at one of the biggest companies. His family forced her to hand over her entire salary at the end of every month.

They had no maids, so she did nearly all the household chores while also helping to run the family business.

Her hard work was what made Ethan wealthy, yet he never gave her any credit. She was the brains behind his success.

All these happened before the apocalypse.

“Hazel is the one I love,” Ethan declared, pulling Chloe's best friend into his arms and kissing her passionately. “All you do is waste our limited supplies on that disgusting child of yours. I'm sure the brat isn't even mine.”

Of course, Rune was Ethan's daughter.

“How dare you say that? I've never cheated on you!” Chloe felt betrayed by the accusation. “And if Rune looks dirty, it's because you never take care of her like a father should!”

Hazel delivered another stinging slap across Chloe's face.

“Don't you dare speak to Ethan like that!” Hazel snapped. “Besides, he's not the father of your child. He's the father of the baby I'm carrying.”

Chloe stared at her in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

“Yes, Chloe. I'm pregnant with Ethan's child, and soon we'll have beautiful babies running around the shelter.”

Chloe felt as though her heart had shattered at the revelation. She opened her mouth to speak, but words wouldn't pass through.

As Chloe studied their faces, she realized they had known about Hazel's pregnancy all along. How had Chloe failed to notice that her best friend had recently started wearing oversized clothes, throwing up every morning, and constantly complaining of exhaustion?

She could barely process what was happening. It was all too much to bear.

“And that is why we've reached a unanimous decision,” Ethan said. “With another child on the way, we need to conserve our food and supplies. So, you and Rune are being thrown out of the shelter tonight.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Had they all gone mad?

It was midnight, and the zombies would be roaming outside, waiting to devour anyone who dared to cross the shelter gates.

Within moments, two burly guards approached Chloe and Rune, ready to throw them out.

As Chloe struggled against the burly guards, she caught the satisfied smile on Hazel's face. But there was no point fighting back. She had already lost.

The others laughed and mocked her as the guards threw her out through the shelter gates into the biting cold of the apocalypse.

Tears streamed down Chloe's face as Rune clung tightly to her.

“Mama, what's happening?” Rune wailed, her nose running as she clung to Chloe.

In the distance, Chloe could already hear eerie snarls coming from the woods.

 The distant snarls grew louder, followed by the unmistakable sound of pounding footsteps. She couldn't run or hide. Helpless, she watched as the zombies approached.

Chloe screamed as the first zombie lunged at her and knocked her to the ground. Rune was torn from her grasp as the other zombies swarmed around them, snarling.

Chloe's screams echoed through the night, filled with pain and despair.

The zombies tore at her skin and ripped into her flesh with their claws and teeth as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

She knew she wouldn't survive. The worst thing a mother could endure was watching her child die before her eyes.

Slowly, the life drained from her.

A shooting star streaked across the blood-red sky just as Chloe slipped toward death, and she made a wish.

“If I were given one more chance, I'd make sure to save my child and avenge my own death,” she whispered weakly. “I wish I could burn those who burned me.”

Slowly, her heartbeat faded until it stopped, and her lifeless body lay on the cold ground.

As darkness swallowed her, the shooting star suddenly blazed brighter, its crimson light washing over her dying body.

A crisp, metallic chime rang out.

[Welcome to the Genesis System, Host. This is your rebirth.]