Chapter Eight: Project Mercy
1135 Words
Vanessa Carrington sat alone in her penthouse suite, the lights low, her laptop casting a cold glow across her face.
Dominic thought he was clever—turning the story into a fairytale romance.
But Vanessa didn’t need to rely on rumors anymore.
She had something real. Something buried deep enough that even Dominic hadn’t uncovered it yet.
Project Mercy.
A hidden file, one she’d been building since the day Dominic came back to the city. Since the day she found out what really happened the night he lost his memory.
She clicked open a folder titled Medical Records – Mercy Clinic, and a scan of a familiar document blinked onto the screen: Dominic’s neurological evaluation from seven years ago.
Amnesia. Head trauma.
And a secret name scribbled in the attending doctor’s report:
Dr. Richard Lane.
---
Flashback – Seven Years Ago
Dominic’s eyes fluttered open to the smell of disinfectant and the blinding white light above.
“Where am I?” he mumbled, his voice hoarse.
“Safe,” came a voice. “You were in an accident.”
A man in a lab coat hovered over him, face blurred in his vision. “You hit your head and nearly drowned. Your memory might be fuzzy for a while, but don’t worry—we’ll take care of everything.”
Dominic’s mind was a blank slate. No names. No places. Just confusion and a gnawing emptiness in his chest.
The man continued, “Let’s start simple. Do you remember your name?”
He didn’t.
And Dr. Lane smiled.
---
Present Day – Kingstone Enterprises
Elena stepped into Dominic’s office, carrying two coffees.
“You haven’t slept,” she said softly, handing him one.
Dominic gave her a tired smile. “Didn’t want to.”
“Because of Vanessa?”
He nodded. “She won’t stop. And I have a feeling this time… it’s personal.”
“It’s always been personal,” Elena said, sitting across from him. “She doesn’t just want you to suffer—she wants to own the fall.”
Dominic tapped his fingers against the desk. “There’s something missing. Something I’m not seeing.”
Elena hesitated. “What if it’s something you forgot?”
He looked at her, surprised.
She continued, “You said you don’t remember everything about the night you nearly drowned. What if that wasn’t just trauma? What if someone wanted you to forget?”
Dominic stared at her.
Then he stood and walked to the safe behind his painting.
From inside, he pulled a sealed envelope marked Confidential – Mercy Clinic.
“I’ve never opened this,” he said. “My father gave it to me before he died. Said I wasn’t ready.”
He tore it open, and as the documents spilled out, his face paled.
“What is it?” Elena asked, rushing to his side.
He held up a paper with a doctor’s signature.
“Dr. Richard Lane,” Dominic read aloud. “He treated me after the drowning. He signed off on a memory suppression treatment.”
Elena blinked. “Suppression?”
Dominic nodded slowly. “He didn’t just help me recover. He helped me forget.”
---
Elsewhere – Richard Lane’s Private Office
Vanessa strode into Richard’s office, heels clicking like a war drum.
“You lied to me,” she snapped.
Richard looked up calmly. “About what?”
“You told me Project Mercy was clean. Contained. That no one would trace it back.”
Richard stood, walking around the desk. “And no one has.”
“Dominic found the file.”
Richard stiffened.
“He knows you were the one who erased his memory,” she added. “Which means the whole damn house of cards is about to fall.”
Richard smirked. “Then we push first.”
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “You want to bury him?”
“No,” Richard said, voice sharp. “I want to remind him.”
He pulled out an old photo—two children, soaked and muddy, one pulling the other from the edge of a broken dock.
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
“Who’s the girl?”
Richard smiled coldly. “Elena Hart.”
---
Meanwhile – Elena’s Apartment
Elena sat on the edge of her bed, flipping through the pages Dominic had given her.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Everything was connected.
The drowning. The memory loss. The strange familiarity she’d felt the first time she saw Dominic’s eyes.
He wasn’t just her boss.
He was the boy she saved.
And someone made sure he’d never remember her.
Tears welled in her eyes.
She’d held onto the memory of that boy for years—his quiet eyes, his desperate gasps for air, the way his hand clung to hers as she pulled him to shore.
But he’d forgotten her.
Not by accident.
By design.
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number:
> We need to talk. Meet me at Mercy Clinic.
Come alone.
—Vanessa
---
Later That Night – Mercy Clinic (Abandoned)
Elena stood in front of the rusting gates, heart pounding.
The old clinic was shut down years ago—its windows broken, its hallways silent. A shell of what it once was.
She pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
“Hello?” she called out.
From the shadows, Vanessa appeared.
“You came,” she said, voice like silk. “How predictable.”
“What do you want, Vanessa?”
Vanessa circled her slowly. “To show you something. Something you’ve been too blind to see.”
She held up a tablet and played a video.
On screen: a younger Dominic, unconscious on a hospital bed. Dr. Lane standing beside him. Vanessa, younger too, in a white lab coat.
Elena’s breath caught.
“You were there,” she whispered.
“I helped Lane erase his memory,” Vanessa said proudly. “Because he was broken. And his father—your savior billionaire king—wanted him reset. Clean slate. No messy trauma. No inconvenient memories… like the one of a poor girl pulling him out of a lake.”
Elena’s knees buckled.
“You didn’t just erase her,” she whispered. “You erased me.”
Vanessa leaned in. “And now I’ll do it again. Unless you disappear. This time, for good.”
Elena stared at her.
And then she smiled.
“I recorded everything,” she said, lifting her phone from her pocket.
Vanessa’s face twisted. “You b***h—”
“You talk too much,” Elena said, stepping back. “And now Dominic knows everything.”
A pair of heavy footsteps echoed behind them.
Dominic stepped into the room, face carved in stone.
“Hello, Vanessa,” he said coldly. “Looks like your little project just got shut down.”
- Writer
