You Chose Her I Chose Revenge 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 1 - 챕터 10

The metallic tang of blood filled my mouth long before the cold set in. ​Out in the blacked-out wasteland, three months into the collapse, the world had descended into complete horror. But the monsters roaming the dark weren't the ones that broke me. ​It was the sight of my husband standing behind the shelter's double-reinforced steel gate. ​"Marcus, please!" I screamed, my fingernails scraping uselessly against the heavy mesh screen. "Look at her! Look at your daughter!" ​Five-year-old Lily was hyperventilating in my arms, her tiny body trembling violently, drenched in cold sweat and covered in dust. Behind the iron bars, emergency floods illuminated the safe zone—warm, dry, stocked with crates of rations and clean water. ​Beside Marcus stood Sarah. My best friend. Her hand was wrapped firmly around his arm, her eyes glinting with a twisted, smug triumph. Standing right behind them in the dry courtyard were my stepmother and stepsister, wrapped in heavy coats, watching us with u

The real estate attorney leaned back in his leather executive chair, adjusting his rimless glasses as he flipped through the thick stack of documents spread across his mahogany desk.​"Mrs. Vance," Mr. Miller said, tapping a red pen against the signature line. "Are you entirely certain about this arrangement? Liquidating your grandmother’s estate at twenty percent below market value for an all-cash, ten-day closing is... extraordinarily aggressive."​"I am," I said, my voice smooth and unbothered. "The mountain terrain has sentimental value, but the cabin itself is aging. I want the cash cleared and transferred into my private offshore entity immediately upon closing."​"And your husband?" Mr. Miller raised an eyebrow, glancing at the empty chair beside me. "Does Marcus agree to taking out a secondary mortgage against your joint primary residence to fund the mountain renovations?"​I smiled, pulling a neatly signed and notarized authorization form from my leather tote bag. "Marcus tru

​The silence that followed my words hung in the air like smoke.​Eleanor stared at me, her painted eyebrows drawing together in a mix of irritation and sheer disbelief. Beside her, Victoria let out a short, mocking laugh.​"Bought your own doors?" Victoria sneered, shaking her head as she picked up her wine glass. "God, Clara, you’re so melodramatic. You let one nightmare from a five-year-old completely throw you off balance."​Marcus cleared his throat, his posture relaxing as the initial shock wore off. A familiar, condescending smirk touched the corner of his lips. He leaned back in his chair, looking at me the way an adult looks at a throwing child.​"She's right, honey," Marcus said, his voice dripping with that smooth, patronizing warmth he always used when he wanted to treat me like a child. "You’ve been stressed out lately. Running around talking about mountain renovations and high-yield trusts like you’re some kind of financial mastermind."​Sarah let out a soft, delicate gig

By the second month, the headlines were easy to miss if you weren't looking for them.​“Unusual Strain of Respiratory Illness Spreads in Coastal Port Cities.”“Supply Chain Delays Impact Local Supermarkets.”​The world was quietly fracturing at the edges, but inside our quiet suburb, no one noticed. Marcus certainly didn't. He was too busy enjoying what he believed was his brilliant financial maneuver.​It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon when Marcus brought Sarah over to "help" me organize the pantry. In reality, it was an excuse for them to play house while I played the clueless, overburdened wife.​"Clara, sweetie," Sarah said, leaning against the kitchen counter while I stacked canned soup on the lower shelves. She took a dainty sip of white wine. "Marcus told me you’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the house lately. If you ever need me to take over managing the household accounts, you just have to ask."​I paused, dropping a tin of tomatoes onto the floor with a clatter. I gasped, c

The breaking point of the old world didn’t happen with a nuclear bomb or an alien invasion. It happened with a quiet, suffocating sigh as the infrastructure simply gave up.​By month five, the "Covington Virus" had mutated from a mysterious coastal flu into a full-scale societal collapse.​Power grids across major metropolitan areas began to fail in rolling blackouts that lasted days. Supermarket shelves were picked clean by panicked mobs, and the local news stations stopped broadcasting regular programming, replaced instead by frantic emergency alerts urging citizens to stay inside their homes as police forces and hospitals became entirely overwhelmed.​Yet, inside our suburban neighborhood, the illusion of normalcy was maintained by pure, desperate denial.​Marcus was pacing frantically across our living room rug, his phone pressed hard against his ear. His designer suit was wrinkled, his hair disheveled, and the arrogant, condescending smirk he usually wore like armor had completel