THE BILLIONAIRE'S FORGOTTEN WIFE

2 THE NAME SHE BURIED

Elena couldn't breathe.

Victoria.

The name echoed inside her head again and again.

Victoria.

Someone had called her that.

Someone she couldn't see.

Someone from a memory that shouldn't exist.

She pressed her fingers against her temple.

"What... did you call me?"

Ethan stared at her.

"I didn't."

"Someone did."

"I know."

The ballroom had descended into chaos.

Guests were being hurried toward the exits while security guards flooded the room. Somewhere behind them, an alarm began ringing.

But Elena barely heard any of it.

Her eyes remained fixed on the photograph.

The girl standing outside the burning building looked exactly like her.

Same face.

Same eyes.

Same small scar beneath her left eyebrow.

Except the photograph was dated seven years ago.

Elena was supposed to have been living an ordinary life at that time.

At least, that was what she'd always been told.

"Where did you get this?"

"My father's safe."

"Your father?"

Ethan nodded.

"Three days ago, I found a hidden compartment in his study."

Elena looked at him sharply.

"Why were you searching your father's things?"

"I wasn't."

His answer came too quickly.

She noticed.

"Ethan."

He looked away.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Before he could respond, footsteps approached.

A security guard appeared beside them.

"Mr. Sterling, we've secured the west entrance. The police are on their way."

Ethan nodded.

"Take everyone downstairs."

The guard hesitated.

"And Mrs. Sterling?"

Ethan's eyes moved toward Elena.

"She stays with me."

Elena immediately objected.

"No, she doesn't."

The guard looked uncomfortable.

Ethan lowered his voice.

"Elena, someone just tried to target you."

"And somehow I'm supposed to feel safer standing beside the man who apparently knows more about my past than I do?"

His expression tightened.

"I am trying to protect you."

"Then tell me the truth."

Silence.

Ethan looked at the photograph again.

Then he leaned closer.

"I don't know the entire truth."

"How convenient."

"But I know enough to tell you this."

His eyes hardened.

"Your disappearance seven years ago wasn't an accident."

Elena's heart sank.

"What disappearance?"

"You were reported missing."

"No."

"You were."

"I would remember."

"Would you?"

The question struck harder than it should have.

Elena stared at him.

Ethan continued.

"You were seventeen."

She shook her head.

"I'm twenty-four."

"Exactly."

He took the photograph from her hand.

"Seven years ago, a seventeen-year-old girl named Victoria Laurent disappeared after a fire at a private estate."

Elena's face went blank.

"Laurent?"

Ethan nodded.

"That's your real surname."

She stepped backward.

"No."

"Elena—"

"No."

She shook her head harder.

"My surname is Vale."

"It was changed."

"By who?"

Ethan didn't answer.

"By who, Ethan?"

His jaw tightened.

"I don't know."

She laughed once, but there was no humor in it.

"You don't know anything."

"I know that my father was involved."

Elena stopped.

"What?"

Ethan looked at the photograph.

"My father knew Victoria Laurent."

The world seemed to tilt.

"And you?"

"I didn't."

"Then why did you marry me?"

His eyes met hers.

For the first time, something vulnerable appeared in them.

"I thought you were Elena Vale."

"And now?"

"Now I'm not sure who I married."

The words hurt.

More than she expected.

Elena stepped away.

"So that's it?"

"What?"

"You don't even know me."

"I know you."

"No. You know the woman you thought I was."

He opened his mouth.

Elena turned away.

Then she saw something.

At the far end of the ballroom, behind the crowd, stood a young man in a gray suit.

He wasn't running.

He wasn't panicking.

He was simply watching her.

Elena froze.

Their eyes met.

The man's expression was strangely familiar.

Not his face.

His eyes.

Something about them triggered another fragment.

A hallway.

Rain against windows.

A boy laughing.

A voice saying—

Victoria, promise me you'll never trust them.

Elena gasped.

The man in the gray suit disappeared into the crowd.

"Ethan."

He turned.

"What's wrong?"

"That man."

"Who?"

She pointed.

"Gray suit."

Ethan looked.

The man was gone.

Ethan's expression immediately changed.

"Stay here."

He started walking.

Elena grabbed his sleeve.

"Where are you going?"

"To find him."

"Why?"

Ethan looked at her.

"Because I know him."

Her stomach tightened.

"Who is he?"

Ethan didn't answer.

He simply walked away.

Elena followed.

They moved through the ballroom, past overturned chairs and abandoned glasses.

When they reached the corridor, Ethan stopped.

A security guard approached.

"Sir, we found something."

He handed Ethan a small phone.

"It was left near the service entrance."

Ethan examined it.

The screen suddenly lit up.

One message appeared.

SHE REMEMBERS.

Elena stared at it.

A second message appeared.

NOW ASK HER ABOUT THE NIGHT OF THE FIRE.

Her blood ran cold.

Ethan looked at her.

"Elena..."

She backed away.

"I don't remember."

The phone vibrated again.

Another message.

SHE DOES.

Then a photograph appeared.

Elena stared.

It showed a teenage girl standing beside a young man.

The girl was her.

There was no doubt.

But the boy beside her...

Elena's breath caught.

It was the man from the corridor.

The one she'd just seen.

Ethan noticed her reaction.

"You know him."

"I don't."

"Look at the picture."

"I said I don't!"

Her voice cracked.

She covered her face.

And suddenly—

A memory hit her.

Fire.

Smoke.

A locked door.

Her younger self pounding against it.

A boy shouting from the other side.

Victoria!

She remembered his voice.

She remembered his hand.

She remembered the promise.

And then—

A woman screaming.

RUN!

Elena opened her eyes.

Tears filled them.

"I remember..."

Ethan stepped closer.

"What?"

She looked at him.

"The boy."

"Who is he?"

Elena's lips trembled.

"I don't know."

But deep down, she knew that was a lie.

She remembered one thing.

His name.

A name buried beneath seven years of silence.

She whispered it.

"Elliot."

Ethan's expression changed instantly.

"You know Elliot?"

Before Elena could answer, the corridor lights flickered.

Then the fire alarm began screaming.

A security guard ran toward them.

"Mr. Sterling!"

"What happened?"

"The archive room."

Ethan frowned.

"What about it?"

"It's on fire."

Elena's heart stopped.

"The archive room?"

The guard nodded.

"Someone broke into the building records."

Ethan immediately understood.

"Which records?"

The guard hesitated.

"Old Sterling family documents."

"What documents?"

The guard looked at Elena.

"Files from September 17, 2019."

Silence.

Elena's fingers went cold.

The same date on the envelope.

The same night she had disappeared.

Ethan grabbed her hand.

"We're leaving."

But Elena didn't move.

She was staring toward the burning corridor.

Somewhere beyond those doors was the truth about Victoria Laurent.

Her old life.

Her forgotten memories.

And perhaps the reason she'd been turned into Elena Vale.

Then, from somewhere inside the smoke-filled hallway, a man's voice called out.

"Victoria."

Elena froze.

Ethan looked at her.

The voice came again.

"Victoria Laurent."

Elena's heart pounded.

She knew that voice.

She had heard it seven years ago.

And this time, she remembered exactly who it belonged to.

Her eyes widened.

"Elliot..."

Then the lights went completely dark. :::