All Chapters of Reborn before the apocalypse: from betrayed wife to survivor: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Chapter 52: The One Who Was TakenMarcus disappeared.One second, his hand was wrapped around mine.The next, there was nothing.I stared at the empty space beside me, unable to understand what had just happened.“Marcus?”No answer.I turned toward the first Marcus.“What did you do to him?”He smiled.“I didn’t take him.”“Then where is he?”“Where he has always been.”My chest tightened.“Bring him back.”“You still don’t understand.”He stepped closer.“The Marcus you know was never supposed to exist.”I shook my head.“That is a lie.”“Then why can’t you remember his childhood?”I froze.He continued.“Why can’t you remember meeting him for the first time? Why are all your memories of him connected to the moment your powers awakened?”I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.Because he was right.I remembered Marcus helping me.I remembered him protecting me.I remembered falling in love with him.But I couldn’t remember the first time I had actually met him.I looked at my mothe

Chapter 54: The Father of Every MarcusThe moment Marcus’s father stepped through the door, every version of Marcus in every world began to scream.It was not one scream, or even a hundred. The sound came from everywhere at once, from behind the thousands of doors surrounding us, from the white space beneath my feet, and from somewhere deep inside my own head. I heard Marcus’s voice breaking apart in different ways. Some sounded like children. Others sounded like old men who had suffered for centuries. One version screamed my name over and over, while another begged someone to let him die.Our daughter clung to me, burying her face against my stomach.I could barely breathe.The silver-haired man stood several feet away, studying me with the calm interest of someone examining an experiment that had finally produced the result he wanted. His gray eyes moved from my face to the little girl in my arms, and for the first time since he appeared, something resembling satisfaction crossed hi

Chapter 56“That’s the one you promised me, Father. I want my brother back.”The little girl with silver hair stood in the middle of the ruined corridor, smiling as if she had just asked for a toy. Her black eyes remained fixed on Marcus, and every child surrounding us watched him with the same unnatural stillness.I tightened my arms around our daughter.Something about the way the girl had spoken frightened me more than her appearance. She had not asked who Marcus was. She had not questioned why he was there. She spoke as if he belonged to her, as if someone had stolen him and she had finally arrived to collect what was hers.Marcus stepped in front of us.“Who are you?”The girl’s smile widened.“You don’t remember me?”“No.”“Of course you don’t.” She glanced at the silver-haired man. “Daddy always makes you forget the important things.”The older man looked as though he had seen a ghost.“Seraphina,” he whispered.The girl turned toward him.“You remembered my name.”“I never for

Chapter 58: The Key I Gave HimThe memory returned with my hand wrapped around a key that had been carved from bone.I remembered the weight of it. I remembered the blood running down my wrist. Most frightening of all, I remembered Marcus standing in front of me, begging me to give it to him, while I smiled and told him that everything would be different this time.Then I remembered the door opening.I stumbled backward, releasing Marcus’s hands.“No.”The word escaped before I could stop it.The crowned version of Marcus remained on the other side of the doorway, watching me with an expression that was almost affectionate. Behind him, thousands of versions of the man I loved struggled against invisible restraints. Their mouths moved, but only one voice reached me.“Do you remember now, Emma?”I pressed my palms against my temples. “Get out of my head.”“I am not in your head. I am the part of your history you keep cutting away.”Marcus grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t listen to him.”The

Chapter 60: Which Daughter Was Mine“That one is the fake.”The second Elodie pointed at the little girl in my arms, and my heart nearly stopped.Both girls looked identical. Same dark hair, same yellow dress, same tiny scar beneath the chin. Even their frightened expressions were the same.But I knew the child I was holding.I knew the way she squeezed my hand when she was scared. I knew how she called me Mummy, stretching the word whenever she wanted me to comfort her.I wasn’t going to let anyone convince me she wasn’t real.“Marcus,” I said, staring at the man standing beside the second Elodie. “Let her go.”He smiled. “You still don’t understand, do you? I’m the one who kept your daughter alive. The child you’re protecting is only a memory wearing a body.”The girl in my arms trembled.“Don’t listen to him, Mummy.”The other Elodie stepped forward. “He’s lying. I’m your daughter.”“Then tell me something only my daughter would know,” I demanded.Both girls answered at once.“You