THE CEO’S FORGOTTEN BRIDE

The Price Of The Truth

The glow of the laptop screen felt like a spotlight on my crimes. I didn't even have time to close the tab before Isaac’s shadow engulfed the desk.

"I gave you everything, Christine," he said, his voice a low, vibrating hum that made the hair on my arms stand up. "Luxury, safety, a family. And yet, you still choose to go digging for filth."

I stood up, the chair screeching against the marble floor. I held the laptop toward him, my hands shaking with a mixture of terror and white-hot fury. "Filth? You call the truth filth, Isaac? I saw the video. I saw you watch my car go over that cliff! I saw what you did to Razack!"

Isaac didn't flinch. He didn't even look at the screen. He just kept his eyes locked on mine, dark and unreadable. He walked toward me, and instinctively, I backed away until I hit the cold stone wall of the bedroom.

"You saw a fragment of a story you don't understand," he whispered, placing his hands on the wall on either side of my head, pinning me. "Razack was a threat to your stability. He was an obsession that was destroying you. I simply removed the distraction so we could be whole again."

"You’re insane," I spat, a tear escaping and rolling down my cheek. "You didn't save me. You trapped me."

"I am the only one who stayed!" Isaac roared, his composure finally breaking for a split second. The mask of the polished CEO slipped, revealing a man consumed by a terrifying, possessive need. "He would have left you. I made sure you’d never have to feel that pain again."

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Marry Justine was a mistake. I should have known she still had a soft spot for the underdog. Don't worry about her anymore she won't be designing anything else for me."

My heart went cold. "What did you do to her?"

"She’s been... retired," he said with a chilling smile.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black velvet box. He opened it to reveal a needle. My breath hitched. "No. Isaac, please. Don't do this."

"You’re agitated, sweetheart. Your brain is overheated from all these lies you've found. You need to rest. When you wake up, we’ll start the 'erasing' process. The doctors tell me there are new treatments... ways to make sure the wrong memories never come back."

"You can't erase him!" I screamed, struggling as he grabbed my arm. "I'll always remember his voice! I'll always remember Razack!"

The needle pierced my skin before I could pull away. The cold liquid surged through my veins, and almost instantly, the world began to tilt. My legs turned to water, and Isaac caught me, lowering me gently onto the silk sheets of the bed.

"Sleep, Christine," he whispered, his voice sounding like it was coming from a long, dark tunnel. "When you wake up, Razack will be nothing but a bad dream. And I will be your only reality."

As the darkness pulled me under, I fought to keep one image in my mind. Not the crash, not the fire, but the way Razack’s hand had twitched in the garage. He’s alive, I told myself. He has to be alive.

But as my eyes closed, the last thing I saw was Isaac standing over me, looking like a king standing over a conquered kingdom.

I was drifting in a sea of gray when a new sound broke through the haze. It wasn't Isaac’s voice. It wasn't the beeping of a hospital monitor.

It was a scratch. A deliberate, rhythmic scratching sound coming from inside the wall.

I tried to open my eyes, but they were glued shut by the drugs. I tried to move my fingers, but they felt like lead.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

Then, a whisper. So faint I thought I was hallucinating.

"Christine... if you can hear me... look for the vent behind the wardrobe. Marry left you a way. Don't let him take your mind."

It was a woman’s voice. Not Marry’s. Someone else. Someone inside the house.

I forced my heart to beat faster, fighting the sedation with every ounce of will I had left. I couldn't slip away. I couldn't let him win.

I managed to twitch my index finger. Just once.

The scratching stopped.

"Good," the voice whispered. "Tonight, when the moon is high, I’m coming for you. Be ready to run."

The voice faded, leaving me in a deafening silence that felt heavier than the drugs in my system. I lay there, my heart battling the chemical sludge in my veins. Run. The word echoed in my mind like a prayer. But how could I run when my limbs felt like they belonged to someone else? How could I escape when the very man who claimed to love me was waiting outside that door with a syringe full of forgetfulness?

I focused on my breathing, drawing in deep, jagged lungfuls of air. I had to stay conscious. I had to fight the darkness that wanted to pull me into a dreamless sleep where Isaac was the only truth.

I turned my head toward the wardrobe, a movement that felt like it took hours. Behind those massive mahogany doors lay the vent Marry Justine had mentioned. My only exit. My only chance to see the sun as a free woman again.

The moonlight began to crawl across the floor, silver and cold, marking the passage of time. Every minute was a battle. I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted the copper tang of blood, the sharp pain acting as an anchor to keep me from drifting away.

Suddenly, the scratching returned, but this time it was louder, more frantic. A small panel at the base of the wall behind the wardrobe slid open with a groan that sounded like a scream in the quiet room. A figure cloaked in shadows emerged, moving with the grace of a cat.

"Christine," the woman whispered, rushing to the bedside.

I couldn't see her face clearly, but her touch was cold, professional. She leaned down, pressing a small, damp cloth to my forehead. "The sedation Isaac gave you... it's a neuro blocker. You have to move now, or the permanent damage will set in. Can you stand?"

I tried to nod, my neck muscles stiff. She helped me sit up, and the world spun violently. "Who... who are you?" I managed to wheeze.

"A friend of the architect," she said, her eyes darting toward the locked door. "And a ghost Isaac thought he had buried a long time ago. Now, get up. We have to reach the tunnels before the guards rotate."

As she hauled me off the bed, my legs buckled, but she caught me. I looked at the door, then at the dark hole in the wall. I was leaving the silk sheets and the rubies behind. I was walking into the unknown, chasing a memory that might be a lie and a man who might be a corpse.

"Wait," I whispered, grabbing her arm. "The children. I can't leave without them."

The woman paused, her expression hardening in the moonlight. "If you go for them now, we all die. You have to get to Razack first. He’s the only one who knows where they really are."

My heart shattered. Isaac had lied about that too? The children in the wing... they weren't there?

"Move!" she hissed, pulling me toward the darkness.

I took one last look at the red dress crumpled on the floor the skin of the woman Isaac wanted me to be. I stepped into the wall, the shadows swallowing me whole, just as I heard Isaac’s key turning in the lock of the bedroom door.