THE BILLIONAIRE WHO KNEW MY SHAME

CHAPTER 4; Lucas died Anthony returned

A sudden voice cut through the tension.

“Mr. Rowland.”

A man in a university blazer hurried forward and bowed slightly.

“We were not expecting you today, sir.”

Anthony did not look at him.

“I do not need permission.”

The man swallowed nervously. “Of course, sir. The administration was only trying to...”

“I’m here for her,” Anthony said calmly.

The crowd reacted at once.

Gasps. Murmurs. Open shock.

Melissa’s breath caught.

“Me?” she asked.

Anthony turned back to her.

“Yes.”

Gold tightened her grip on Melissa’s arm. “This is getting worse.”

But Melissa could not look away.

Because something in the way he said it did not feel like desire.

It felt like recognition.

Like she was something lost that had finally been found.

Anthony stepped closer.

Not enough to touch her.

But close enough for her to feel the air shift between them.

“You were admitted here recently,” he said.

Melissa blinked. “Yes so?”

His eyes never left hers.

“You were not admitted by accident.”

A chill ran through her spine.

“What are you talking about?”

Anthony’s voice lowered.

“Someone placed you here.”

That line landed harder than it should have.

Gold frowned. “That makes no sense. She came with her aunt. She was admitted normally.”

Anthony ignored her completely.

His attention remained on Melissa.

“Tell me something,” he said quietly. “Do you ever feel like parts of your life are missing?”

Melissa’s throat tightened.

Because she did.

She always had.

Little blanks she never questioned. Memories that ended too suddenly. Feelings that came from nowhere.

But she had buried all of it.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing,” she said slowly. “But you’re wrong.”

For the first time, Anthony looked almost frustrated.

“No,” he said. “I’m not.”

A long pause followed.

Then his voice softened.

“I didn’t come here to confuse you, Melissa.”

Her name on his lips felt too intimate. Too familiar.

“I came because you were supposed to remember on your own.”

That sentence did not answer anything.

It shattered everything.

Suddenly, a loud notification rang from one of the students nearby.

Heads turned.

A video had just been uploaded.

Someone raised their phone, and the crowd pushed closer.

Then silence spread like fire.

It was Melissa.

Not now.

Years younger.

Standing outside an old iron gate, crying so hard she could barely speak.

Her voice cracked on the screen.

“Please don’t take me away. I don’t want to forget again.”

The phone slipped from someone’s hand and hit the ground.

Melissa’s body went cold.

“No,” she whispered. “That’s not me.”

Gold stared at her in horror. “Melissa... that is you.”

Melissa shook her head wildly.

“No. I’ve never seen that before.”

Anthony did not look surprised.

Only burdened.

Like he had feared this moment would come.

“You were taken once,” he said quietly. “And your memories were sealed.”

Melissa’s knees nearly gave way.

“What are you saying?”

Anthony stepped closer again.

This time, his voice was lower, rougher, more human than before.

“You were never meant to remember until I found you.”

Gold leaned toward Melissa and whispered urgently, “Run.”

But Melissa could not move.

Because Anthony’s next words were not for the crowd.

They were only for her.

And they tore through the last wall in her mind.

“You were never just a student here.”

He paused.

Then said softly,

“You were mine before you forgot me.”

The world tilted.

A sharp pain flashed through Melissa’s head.

Images burst behind her eyes.

Rain.

A train station.

A young man laughing as he spun her around.

A voice calling her name.

Not Anthony.

Lucas.

Her bag slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground.

Tears spilled down her face before she understood why.

She ran forward.

Straight into him.

Anthony caught her instantly as she collided with his chest.

She clung to him, shaking, sobbing into his shirt.

The entire campus stood frozen.

Phones lowered.

Whispers died.

Melissa pulled back just enough to stare at his face through tears.

Then she hugged him again, harder this time.

“I found you, Lucas,” she cried. “How did you become Anthony Rowland?”

A stunned silence followed.

Anthony closed his eyes briefly and held her tighter.

When he opened them again, they were fixed on someone in the crowd.

Cold. Dangerous.

“Because Lucas died the night they took you.”

The crowd slowly parted.

At the edge of the students stood Mrs. Lizzy.

Her face had lost all color.

Her hands were trembling.

Melissa’s tears stopped instantly.

“Aunty?” she whispered.

Mrs. Lizzy took one slow step back.

Then another.

And Anthony’s voice turned deadly calm.

“Ask her,” he said.

Melissa stared between them, heart pounding.

“Ask her what she did to us.”