Chapter 4

The moment those words left his mouth, I went numb.

I smacked his hand away.

The little bottle hit the concrete floor and shattered into pieces.

"Julian, get me proper allergy medicine, or I'm checking into a hotel right now."

Julian's expression turned glacial. After an agonizing silence, he ground out through his teeth:

"Fine. I'll get it."

Once I took the antihistamines, my breathing eased, and the hives slowly began to fade.

I looked around the penthouse I had lived in for five years.

The scent of fresh flowers was gone. The white roses I loved keeping in the vase had withered into brown dust.

And our framed wedding portrait had been swapped out for a massive, lavish photo of Julian and Mia.

Mia walked out of the master bedroom wearing silk pajamas, pointing casually toward the guest room.

"That's your room. The walls are kind of thin, so if you hear anything weird in the middle of the night, try to ignore it."

I looked her up and down.

"Those pajamas..."

"What about them?"

"Nothing. They look great on you."

Of course they did—I bought them myself. I just hadn't realized that while Mia threw away every single trace of me, from my toiletries to my slippers, she kept my designer sleepwear.

I guessed she really wanted to rub it in.

The next morning, Mia deliberately wore a low-cut camisole, flaunting fresh hickeys all over her neck.

I ignored her, scrolling through tech industry news on my phone.

The breakthrough AI software I had spent three grueling months developing had just been publicly announced.

The lead inventor credit was listed as: Mia Sutton.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the phone.

I walked straight up to Julian, who was getting ready to head out.

"I'm coming to the office with you."

My voice was soft, almost fragile.

Julian paused, a flicker of delight crossing his eyes.

"Okay."

I knew Julian's company inside and out. Years ago, all it took was one plea from him—Help me, Sera—and I abandoned my own path to build his startup from scratch.

To secure our first round of funding, I drank myself into a bleeding ulcer at corporate dinners, flew across dozens of cities, and pulled endless all-nighters.

Now that the company was on the verge of going public, the founding architect had been kicked out of the door.

When I stepped into the lobby on crutches, a white gauze patch over my right eye, the entire floor went dead silent.

Dozens of employees turned to stare, their whispers sharp and cruel.

"Wait, I thought she was Mr. Vance's wife. Turns out she was just a homewrecking side piece?"

"Mr. Vance only kept her around out of pity."

"Karma really is real. Homewreckers deserve to lose an eye and a leg."

Frowning, I hobbled over to the woman whispering the loudest.

"What did you just say?"

Without a word, she turned her phone screen toward me. It was a video Mia had just blasted into the company-wide Slack channel.

It was footage from that night.

Except the camera angle made it look like I was the aggressor, violently screaming and dragging Mia into traffic.

The next frame showed me getting struck by the truck and thrown across the asphalt.

Pinned beneath the video was a caption written by Mia:

I wasn't going to say anything, but an ex-wife should really know how to stay dead.

Fractured memories violently rushed back into my head—blinding headlights, blood pooling on the asphalt, the sickening snap of bone, shards of glass piercing through the darkness of my vision.

My body began to shake violently. The phantom agony and suffocating terror from that night swept over me like a tidal wave.

Julian stepped in just in time to catch my trembling shoulder.

His expression twisted with rage as he glared around the room.

"Everyone, delete that video right this second!"

Mia pushed her way through the gathered crowd, biting her lower lip with tears brimming in her eyes.

"Julian, we took care of her for weeks! We've done more than enough!"

"Besides..."

She gently placed a hand over her flat stomach, her face softening.

"I'm pregnant."

Julian's anger evaporated in an instant. Pure, unadulterated joy lit up his eyes.

He let go of me immediately, pulling Mia's delicate frame into a tight hug.

"Alright. I'll make her leave."

I froze, the air knocked completely out of my lungs.

Mia was pregnant?

I had spent years begging for a baby. But every single time, Julian brushed it off:

"Sera, the company is in a critical expansion phase. We need your brain on the tech side. You can't take maternity leave right now."

He always told me to wait. Wait until after the IPO.

I never imagined that while I waited for an IPO, Mia was carrying his child.

Right then, the lobby doors were kicked open.

A team of federal investigators in dark suits marched into the building, flashing badges and holding body cams.

"Federal Securities and Fraud Division. We have a warrant regarding illegal financial transactions. Everyone step away from your workstations."

The room fell into an icy, suffocating silence.

Julian's face darkened, his gaze sweeping menacingly across his staff.

"Who filed this report?"

Every single employee dropped their head, too terrified to breathe.

A crisp, calm voice broke the silence.

I reached up and pulled the gauze patch off my right eye. It was completely clear, bright, and unharmed.

"I did."

Julian's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

Seeing the chilling indifference in my gaze, reality finally hit him like a freight train.

"You... you never lost your memory?"