CHAPTER4
1088 Words
CHAPTER FOUR
HER NAME WAS EVELYN
Adrian stared at the medical file in my hands.
For once, the powerful man who could intimidate an entire boardroom looked completely helpless.
“Give me that,” he said.
I tightened my grip.
“No.”
“Elena.”
“What happened to me?”
His silence was answer enough.
I took a step backward.
“You knew.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He looked away.
“From the truth.”
I laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.
“You keep saying that as if the truth is some kind of monster.”
“Sometimes it is.”
“Then let me decide whether I’m strong enough to face it.”
He looked at me.
Something in his expression softened.
“I know you better than you know yourself.”
“No, Adrian.” My voice shook. “You know the version of me you allowed yourself to see.”
He flinched.
I opened the file.
“October 15, 2021. Traumatic brain injury. Memory loss.”
I looked up.
“What happened the night before?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“There was an accident.”
“What accident?”
“I already told you.”
“A car accident.”
“Yes.”
“With Evelyn?”
He didn’t answer.
My heart sank.
“Was she in the car?”
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Then where was she?”
“I’m not having this conversation at three in the morning.”
“You’re not having any conversation with me!”
My voice echoed through the hallway.
Adrian stepped toward me.
I stepped back.
“Please.”
The word came out so quietly that I almost didn’t hear it.
“Please, Elena.”
I stared at him.
He looked exhausted.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Just broken.
“I promised myself I’d tell you when you were ready.”
“I’ve been ready.”
“You weren’t.”
“How would you know?”
“Because I watched you spend two years trying to build a life without remembering the one you lost.”
My breath caught.
“The one I lost?”
He looked at me.
“You don’t remember everything about yourself.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he took the medical file from my hands.
I let him.
“Go to sleep,” he whispered.
I watched him walk away.
But this time, I didn’t follow.
I waited until he disappeared into his study.
Then I went back into the bedroom and locked the door.
I couldn’t sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her.
Evelyn.
Her face.
Her smile.
Her hand holding mine.
And that voice.
You promised me.
I sat up.
Something was bothering me.
The necklace.
I reached for it on the bedside table.
The pendant was small, gold, and shaped like a teardrop.
I’d always thought it was beautiful.
But now I examined it closely.
There was something engraved on the back.
I had never noticed it before.
I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight.
Three letters.
E.H.
My heart stopped.
Evelyn Hart.
I dropped the necklace.
Adrian hadn’t given me this necklace.
He had given me hers.
A knock came at the door.
I quickly picked it up.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Adrian.
I didn’t answer.
“Elena, please open the door.”
“What did you give me?”
Silence.
“My necklace,” I said. “It belonged to Evelyn, didn’t it?”
No response.
I opened the door.
Adrian stood there.
His eyes went immediately to the necklace in my hand.
“You knew.”
He didn’t deny it.
“How long?”
“Since before I met you.”
My stomach twisted.
“You gave me her necklace knowing it belonged to your first wife?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.”
“Then how was it supposed to happen?”
He looked at me.
“I found it after she disappeared.”
“Where?”
“At the estate.”
I remembered the file.
The lakeside estate.
“You took me there, didn’t you?”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“After the accident.”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“I have never taken you there.”
“Then why do I remember the house?”
He went completely still.
I watched the realization spread across his face.
“What did you remember?”
“A garden.”
He said nothing.
“Evelyn was there.”
His breathing became uneven.
“And she was afraid.”
“Stop.”
“She asked me to protect her.”
“Enough.”
“You were there too.”
Adrian’s eyes filled with something I couldn’t name.
Pain.
Fear.
Regret.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it!”
He looked at me.
“You knew Evelyn before you knew me.”
My heart pounded.
“How?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“Who was she to me?”
His face tightened.
“Someone you loved.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You were close.”
“Friends?”
He looked away.
“Sisters?”
Nothing.
I whispered, “Then why can’t I remember her?”
Adrian finally looked at me.
“Because you weren’t supposed to.”
A cold shiver ran through me.
“Who made me forget?”
His expression changed.
I knew immediately.
He knew the answer.
“Adrian.”
He stepped toward me.
I stepped back.
“Who?”
Before he could answer, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I stared at the screen.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Don’t answer it.”
I did.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman’s voice whispered through the phone.
“Elena?”
My entire body went cold.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it in my dreams.
“Who is this?”
The woman breathed shakily.
“You need to stay away from Adrian.”
My eyes met his.
“Why?”
The woman was silent for a moment.
Then she whispered,
“Because he wasn’t the one who made you forget.”
The call ended.
I stared at my phone.
Adrian looked terrified.
“Who was that?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
I swallowed.
“Adrian…”
He finally whispered the name.
“Evelyn.”
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