Reborn Before Doomsday: My Ex husband will kneel

“Nicole, please! I'm begging you!”

Evelyn Hart clawed at her husband's trousers as blood soaked through her clothes. Her fingernails scraped against the floor, leaving faint red streaks, but she refused to let go.

Outside the shattered windows, monsters roared through the streets. Somewhere nearby, a building collapsed, sending a cloud of dust into the rain. The screams of dying survivors rose above the storm.

Yet the sound that terrified Evelyn most was the click of her husband's shoes as he continued walking away.

“Nicole!” She coughed, choking on the blood in her mouth. “You promised you wouldn't leave me!”

He stopped.

For one foolish second, hope flickered inside her. Perhaps he had finally remembered their wedding vows. Perhaps the man she had loved for five years still existed somewhere beneath his cold expression.

Then he turned and looked at her.

“Look at yourself, Evelyn. You're practically dead already. What exactly do you expect me to do?”

Her lips trembled.

“Take me with you. Please. I can still walk if you help me.”

It was a lie. She could barely move her legs. A creature had torn into her side when she tried to retrieve the medicine Nicole needed. She had managed to escape, but the wound was deep, and she had lost too much blood.

Still, she was willing to crawl if it meant surviving beside him.

She had already sacrificed everything for this man.

When the apocalypse began three months earlier, Evelyn had handed him her savings so they could secure a shelter. She had sold her jewelry to buy food and medicine. She had gone hungry while he ate, telling herself that a husband and wife were supposed to share their burdens.

When desperate survivors attacked their camp, she had stood in front of him with a kitchen knife, shaking so badly she could barely hold it.

And when his mother needed medicine, Evelyn had risked her life to find it.

She had done everything a loving wife could do.

Now she was begging him not to abandon her.

A soft laugh came from behind Nicole.

Vanessa Vale stepped into view, wearing Evelyn's fur-lined coat. Around her neck hung a gold necklace that had belonged to Evelyn's mother.

Evelyn stared at it.

“No.” Her voice cracked. “That necklace belongs to me.”

Vanessa touched the pendant with deliberate tenderness.

“Nicole gave it to me. He said you wouldn't need it anymore.”

Evelyn looked at her husband.

“Tell her to return it.”

Nicole's expression remained unchanged.

“Vanessa deserves something nice after everything she's been through.”

Evelyn felt as though someone had reached inside her chest and crushed her heart.

“Everything she's been through?” she whispered. “What about me?”

Neither of them answered.

Tears slipped down her cheeks. “I sold my mother's jewelry to buy supplies for us. I gave you every penny I had. I nearly died finding medicine for your mother. Nicole, I did all of that for you!”

“And I never asked you to be so dramatic,” he snapped.

The words struck harder than any physical blow.

For years, she had mistaken his selfishness for ambition, his lies for misunderstandings, and his cruelty for temporary anger. Even when her friends warned her about Vanessa, Evelyn defended her husband.

She had believed that if she loved him enough, he would eventually love her the same way.

How stupid she had been.

“Did you ever love me?” she asked.

Nicole looked irritated by the question.

“Love doesn't keep people alive in this world.”

Vanessa moved closer to him, slipping her hand into his.

“Darling, we should leave. The creatures are coming.”

Evelyn's eyes widened.

“Darling?”

The word echoed in her mind.

She looked from Vanessa to Nicole, noticing the familiarity between them, the way he held her hand, and the protective tenderness he had never shown Evelyn during the apocalypse.

“How long?” she whispered. “How long have you been together?”

Nicole said nothing.

Vanessa smiled.

“Long enough for him to realize he married the wrong woman.”

Evelyn's breath caught.

Then Nicole pulled a key from his pocket and tossed it beside her.

“You can stop pretending to be helpless. There's a little food left in the storeroom. If you're lucky, you'll survive another day.”

She stared at the key.

It belonged to the shelter she had paid to secure. The supplies inside were hers, purchased with the money she had saved before the world ended.

“You're taking everything?” she asked.

Nicole shrugged. “Vanessa and I need it more.”

Evelyn tried to rise, but her injured body collapsed against the floor.

“Nicole, please. At least help me stand.”

He stepped over her hand.

She grabbed his ankle with the last of her strength.

He kicked her fingers away.

“Stop touching me!”

Vanessa pulled him toward the door.

Evelyn watched them leave together, the woman wearing her coat and her mother's necklace, the man carrying the supplies she had risked her life to obtain.

“Nicole!” she screamed.

He did not turn around.

The door slammed shut.

A violent impact shook it seconds later. The creatures had found them.

Evelyn dragged herself toward the storeroom key, but her fingers could not close around it. Blood filled her mouth. Her vision blurred, and the cold crept through her limbs.

She was going to die.

Not because she had failed to love enough, but because she had given everything to people who saw her life as worthless.

A bitter sob escaped her.

“If I get another chance,” she whispered, “I'll make you pay. Every single one of you.”

The door cracked.

Evelyn closed her eyes as the darkness swallowed her.

***

She woke with a scream.

Her hands flew to her stomach, searching for the wound. There was no blood. No torn flesh. No unbearable pain.

Only smooth skin beneath her nightdress.

Evelyn scrambled from the bed and stumbled toward the mirror.

The face staring back at her was young, healthy, and alive.

Her gaze dropped to the bedside clock.

**June 3.**

Thirty days before the apocalypse.

She gripped the edge of the dressing table as her knees threatened to give way.

She had returned.

She had actually returned.

Her phone rang.

Nicole Mitch's name appeared on the screen.

For a moment, Evelyn could not breathe. Then she answered.

“Evelyn, are you awake?” he asked impatiently. “Transfer five hundred thousand to me. Vanessa has an emergency.”

A cold smile touched her lips.

Even now, he wanted her money for another woman.

In her previous life, she would have asked questions, worried about him, and transferred the money without hesitation.

This time, she would give him nothing.

“How much did you say?” she asked.

“Five hundred thousand. Don't make me repeat myself.”

“I'm sorry, Nicole. My money is mine.”

Silence followed.

“What?”

“You heard me. Ask Vanessa to take care of her own emergencies.”

She ended the call.

Her hands trembled, but she did not regret it.

She had thirty days to prepare, limited savings, and a future she could not afford to waste.

Then a strange chime sounded inside her mind.

**Survival Storage System initializing...**

A second message appeared.

**Initial storage capacity: 10 cubic meters.**

Evelyn stared at the glowing words.

A second chance. A chance to survive.

She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Nicole Mitch,” she whispered, “you should have killed me when you had the chance.”

This time, she would live.

And when the apocalypse came, he would discover what he had truly thrown away.