Chapter 6 – The Memory That Was Taken
855 Words
A person can survive losing almost anything.
Money.
A home.
A relationship.
But losing pieces of your own memories…
is like losing parts of yourself.
Because how do you fight an enemy when you cannot remember what they did?
How do you trust your heart when your own mind tells you a different story?
⸻
The television screen went black.
The room became silent.
Aria couldn’t move.
The photograph burned into her mind.
Her sleeping face.
Her bedroom.
The night before her wedding.
Someone had been inside her home.
Watching her.
Recording her.
And she never knew.
“Who was that?” she whispered.
Rowan stared at the television.
His expression had changed.
For the first time since she met him…
he looked afraid.
“Rowan.”
He didn’t answer.
“Who was that?”
Finally, he spoke.
“Someone who knows everything about you.”
Aria stepped back.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“No, that’s not an answer.”
She pointed toward the screen.
“Someone took a picture of me while I was sleeping.”
“Someone changed my photographs.”
“Someone erased you from my memories.”
Her voice trembled.
“And you’re standing here acting like this is normal.”
Rowan looked at her.
“It isn’t normal.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
A long silence followed.
Then Rowan walked toward the wall covered in photographs.
He removed one picture from the board.
A picture of Aria.
But this time…
she wasn’t smiling.
She was crying.
“I met you four years ago.”
Aria stared at him.
“Four years?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A hospital.”
Her heart tightened.
“I’ve never been in a hospital.”
Rowan looked away.
“You have.”
⸻
Four Years Earlier
Rain poured over the city.
Rowan remembered the night clearly.
He had been investigating a company accused of manipulating people’s identities.
False documents.
Changed records.
Missing information.
He thought it was only corruption.
Until he found Aria.
She had been sitting alone in a hospital hallway.
Confused.
Terrified.
Unable to remember the previous three months of her life.
The doctors called it trauma.
Rowan didn’t believe that.
Because before her memory disappeared…
someone had been watching her.
Someone powerful.
Someone desperate to keep her silent.
⸻
Present Day
Aria listened without speaking.
“You lost three months of your memory,” Rowan explained.
“The doctors said it was because of an accident.”
“But you didn’t believe them.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the accident happened two days after you discovered something.”
“What?”
Rowan looked at her.
“The truth about your family.”
⸻
Aria’s phone suddenly buzzed.
A message.
From her mother.
Except…
her mother had passed away six years ago.
Aria stared at the screen.
Impossible.
The message contained only one sentence.
Don’t trust the man who says he saved you.
Her eyes lifted slowly.
Rowan noticed.
“What happened?”
She handed him the phone.
His face changed.
“How did you get this?”
“I don’t know.”
“When did it arrive?”
“Just now.”
Rowan immediately checked the number.
His expression became serious.
“This number doesn’t exist.”
Aria felt a chill.
“My mother’s number doesn’t exist?”
“No.”
“Then who sent it?”
Neither of them had an answer.
⸻
The door suddenly opened.
Daniel stood there.
Aria froze.
“How did you find us?”
Daniel looked around the room.
Then at Rowan.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Rowan’s expression hardened.
“You followed her.”
“I was worried about my wife.”
Aria looked between them.
“Stop.”
Both men went quiet.
She looked at Daniel.
“You knew about Rowan.”
Daniel didn’t respond.
That was answer enough.
“You knew him.”
Silence.
“Daniel?”
His eyes lowered.
“I knew who he was.”
Aria felt something inside her break.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you weren’t ready.”
“Ready for what?”
Daniel looked at Rowan.
Then back at her.
“To remember why you left him.”
The words hit harder than she expected.
Aria turned slowly toward Rowan.
“What?”
Rowan’s face went pale.
“That’s not true.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You told me yourself.”
Aria shook her head.
“No…”
She looked at Rowan.
“Did I?”
Rowan didn’t answer.
And that silence frightened her more than any lie.
⸻
Daniel reached into his jacket and placed a small envelope on the table.
“I found this yesterday.”
Aria opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Her handwriting.
She knew it immediately.
The message said:
Rowan Hale is the reason I forgot everything.
Her hands started shaking.
She looked up.
Confused.
Broken.
Terrified.
Because now there was only one question left.
If Rowan was telling the truth…
and Daniel was telling the truth…
then who was lying?
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