The beginning from my end

Irene's pov.

My breath hitched and in that moment, I knew what it was before it began—I was having an asthma attack. 

“My inhaler,” I murmured to myself as I checked my coat, but I couldn't find it on me. “No, not now.”

It had been almost seven days since the great freeze swallowed up cities and I was out hunting for supplies, but I knew if I had to survive this I'd need to take care of myself first. My brother and husband were both sick, and couldn't come out with me.

Without thinking, I turned back in the direction of where my shelter was located. 

“Lucas, Andrew, please open up,” my voice was barely above a whisper.

I was about to knock on the shelter, when I heard strange sounds. There was no one in the shelter apart from the two sick men.

When I pushed the door it gave way faster than I had expected, which made me smile because they must have been expecting me.

But my smile was short-lived, as I saw my husband behind my brother naked in a position I had never imagined.

For a second I forgot how to breathe.

They did not look surprised. My brother stood up without covering himself and walked towards me. He gave me a look of disgust before slamming the door in my face and locking it.

What the hell was going on? I had just walked in on my husband and brother having sex. 

I shook my head, nausea climbing my throat, as my heart broke in that instant but my lungs needed help more, so I put the hurt behind me and called out loud.

“Lucas, my inhaler. I need my inh—”

The sound of their continued moaning cut me short, as a tear ran down my face but froze before it got to my chin.

I fell to the ground and felt my legs frozen as the ice rose upwards on my body. My eyes fought to stay open as I stared at hail falling from the sky, but they failed. 

 “She's so useless, is there any need for her to be with us?” I heard Lucas' voice, sounding irritated.

“We are running out of supplies, I think it's time to let her go,” Andrew said in response.

He opened the door and stepped out into the cold where I was and pulled me out of the fur jacket I had on.

“Do you think she's dead?” Lucas asked when I made no resistance.

“I don't care, she served her purpose let's go in. The temperature is still dropping, wait,” Andrew paused. “She never found out about it, right?”

The last thought that crossed my mind was revenge on both if I ever got a chance, then everything went black.

I heard voices from afar, and a tap on my hand startled me as my eyes flew open, and my body tried to instinctively find a warm place to hide.

I ducked under the table, but the sight of three pairs of loafers on the floor instead of ice everywhere made me question my sanity. 

Standing up I tried to process my surroundings. It looked exactly like my office before things went berserk.

The same man who left me to die now looked at me with concern. “Are you fine, my love?”

 After hearing his voice it took me a minute to find my voice, but when I did it shook. “Yeah, I'm— I— I'm good.”

I was dreaming that was the only way to explain what was happening at this moment. It had been ages since Andrew called me by any endearing name.

“Security agents have been deployed as smuggling at the port increases, on November 13th there will be an inspec—”

My head snapped to where the sound was coming from — the TV in my office. I moved closer to it and saw the date underlined on the broadcast.

This was wrong.

“What date is it today?” I asked.

“November 10th,” Andrew responded. “What's wrong princess?”

Hearing him call me that way, made my stomach turn in disgust.

“Year?”

“2026.”

“I'm back,” I whispered under my breath.

“Okay, you're scaring me Irene love. What's going on?” 

Andrew's voice faded as I tried to grasp what had happened. There was enough time for me to prepare for what was ahead. I needed supplies, food, medications, ammunition, and everything else, but there was a problem. My finances were low at this point in time. 

“Irene!” His voice had a sharp edge to it. “You need to sign the documents, the lawyers are waiting.”

I walked back to the table and picked up the documents, a quick scan through it told me what I needed to know. It was the document that made him in control of all my assets, but this time, I wasn't giving him that upper hand.

“No,” I said as I dropped it back on the table.

“What do you mean by no?” He had a surprised look on his face that almost made me laugh.

“No means I'm not signing this or any other document from you, are you daft or something?”

“Why are you talking to me in that tone?”

A smirk formed on my face as I watched his reaction. “Did you expect me to blindly sign whatever you put before me? Come on, what's wrong with my tone?”

“It's proud and makes you seem,” he paused from answering, when he noticed how stupid that was. “We need to see a doctor and get you checked properly.”

Andrew turned to the lawyers and bowed slightly, as I chuckled. “I'm sorry about this, we'll reschedule. My wife seems to be going through some—”

“There's no need to apologize to them for my words and actions, I should do that myself.” I closed the distance between us. “I'm sorry about this, but are you two sent from hell?”

The two lawyers exchanged a look of surprise at my question and threw a subtle glance at Andrew, but I continued. “Tell me, did you go through this document?”

“Irene stop it, you're embarrassing me.”

“Mr. Andrew, we'll leave you two to handle your family matters.”

It was clear they were trying hard to be professional about things, but I was not going to let them leave me with the loser I called a husband.

“You don't have to leave, please stay.” I gestured for them to take their seats. “It's only fair if I leave, because I'm the odd one in this room.”

I picked up my bag and headed out of the room while he gaped at me, obviously speechless.

When I got to the door, a sly smile curved my lips and I spun around to face him.

Time for my first move.

“Oh my! I forgot to tell you, I want a divorce.”