On Day 29, I Watched Her Choose Him

Chapter 2: The Wife Who Forgot Him

Seraphina Vale did not look at her husband.

She sat at the head of the breakfast table, her silk robe tied perfectly, her hair falling in waves over her shoulders. A cup of tea steamed in front of her. A tablet rested beside her plate. She scrolled through emails as if the man who had cooked her eggs was invisible.

Kael stood by the wall, hands clasped behind his back, waiting to clear the plates.

He had done this every morning for five years.

She had not thanked him once.

"The eggs are too runny," Miranda said from across the table, pushing her plate away with a look of disgust. She was sixty-two, with sharp features and sharper eyes. Age had not softened her. If anything, it had made her crueler. "I told you yesterday. Firmer. Do you not listen, or are you simply stupid?"

Kael kept his voice level. "I'll remember tomorrow."

"You won't." Miranda picked up her coffee and took a slow sip, watching him over the rim. "You never do. Five years in this house, and you still can't cook a simple egg. My daughter married a fool."

Seraphina said nothing.

She did not defend him. She did not look up from her tablet. She acted as if he were not in the room.

Kael had stopped expecting otherwise a long time ago.

Vivian entered then, already dressed in a cream-colored blouse and tailored pants. She looked fresh and smug, the way she always did after making someone miserable. She took her seat without acknowledging Kael, then turned to her sister.

"Did you hear from Adrian?"

Seraphina's fingers paused on her tablet. Just for a moment. Then she continued scrolling as if the question meant nothing.

"He's coming back next week," she said.

Miranda's eyes lit up. "Adrian Kade? Finally. That boy has more ambition in his little finger than this one has in his entire body." She gestured vaguely in Kael's direction, as if he were a piece of furniture. "What does he want?"

"Business," Seraphina said. "He has a proposal for me."

Kael felt something twist in his chest. Adrian Kade. The name echoed in his skull like a bell he couldn't unring. He had never met the man. But something about the name made his skin prickle.

Adrian.

He tried to remember. Tried to reach into the fog that filled his mind whenever he reached for the past. But there was nothing. Just a name. Just a feeling of wrongness.

"Clear the plates," Seraphina said.

It took Kael a moment to realize she was speaking to him.

He stepped forward and reached for Miranda's plate first, as he had been trained to do. The older woman snatched his wrist before he could take it. Her grip was surprisingly strong.

"You're not eating today," she said. "The eggs were terrible. Consider it a lesson."

Kael said nothing. He simply nodded and continued clearing the table.

He had learned long ago that arguing meant losing the little food he was allowed.

When the plates were stacked and the kitchen was clean, Kael retreated to his room. The storeroom. The cold, dark space beneath the mansion that no one else would sleep in.

He sat on the edge of his mattress and stared at the wall.

Adrian Kade.

The name would not leave him.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember. Tried to push through the fog that had lived in his skull for five years. There was something there. Something important. A face. A voice. A night he could not recall.

But the fog would not lift.

A soft knock came at his door.

Not the front door — the hidden one. The service entrance that led to the back stairs. The one Elara used when she didn't want to be seen.

Kael stood and opened it.

Elara stood there, a small boy clinging to her hand.

The child could not have been more than four years old. Dark hair. Big eyes. A small face that looked up at Kael with curiosity instead of fear.

"Dorian," Elara said softly, "wait here for a moment."

The boy nodded and stayed by the door.

Elara stepped inside the storeroom and lowered her voice.

"I heard what happened," she said. "Miranda is horrible. You should have eaten something before you went up."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." She reached into her cardigan pocket and pulled out a small wrapped package. "Bread from yesterday. It's a little hard, but it's food."

Kael looked at the bread. Then at her. Then at the boy waiting by the door.

"Is that—" he started.

Elara's face tightened. "Yes. That's my son."

Kael had heard the whispers. The servants talked. The family sneered. Elara had come to the Vales five years ago, pregnant and alone, claiming the father had abandoned her. Miranda had taken her in only because Elara's parents had once been friends of the family — and because having an orphaned cousin to bully made Miranda feel powerful.

No one knew who the father was.

Elara had never said.

"He's beautiful," Kael said quietly.

Elara's eyes softened. "He's my whole world."

Dorian tugged at his mother's cardigan. "Mama, I'm hungry."

Elara knelt down and kissed his forehead. "I know, sweetheart. We'll eat soon. Go wait in the attic. I'll be right there."

The boy ran off, his small footsteps echoing on the stairs.

Kael watched him go. Something stirred in his chest. Something he couldn't name. A pull. A recognition he didn't understand.

"He has your eyes," he said without thinking.

Elara went very still.

Then she smiled. a small, sad smile. "Good night, Kael."

She left before he could say anything else.

Kael stood alone in the storeroom, the hard bread in his hands, and wondered why his heart was racing.

He did not know the truth yet.

He did not know that the boy was his son.

He did not know that Elara had been protecting him for five years.

He did not know that the man returning next week — Adrian Kade — was the one who had stolen his memory.

But he was about to find out.