Chapter 1
In a private hospital on the Upper East Side, the doctor studied my brain scan and chose his words carefully.
"Miss Clara, the impact put pressure on your hippocampus. Your brain went into a defensive response and cleared out the most emotionally significant memories from the last five years. To put it plainly — you've forgotten your relationship."
After he left, the room went dead quiet.
The man beside my bed was wearing a custom Tom Ford suit. There wasn't a trace of concern on his handsome face. Instead, he let out a short, insulting laugh.
"You got the doctor in on it? Amnesia?" Hunter looked down at me like I was a punchline. "Clara. You'd stoop to something this cheap just to keep me around?"
I didn't answer. There was nothing in my head. Nothing pulling me toward him. He just felt loud.
The door opened and Sienna walked in on a pair of heels.
My eyes landed on the white vintage silk suit she was wearing. Something told me I'd had it made for today — for our appointment at City Hall.
"Hunter, don't be so mean to her." Sienna took his arm and made a show of pushing her hair back. There was a dark red mark on the side of her pale neck, put there deliberately, announcing exactly how last night had gone.
I picked up my phone. The screen was cracked. iMessage was still open to the thread from right before the crash.
Hunter: Sienna's falling apart. I need to be with her. Canceling City Hall today.
Hunter: Even if I end up getting a license in Vegas with her, you're still the one who matters most to me. Be good and wait for me.
Reading it, my stomach actually turned. I'd spent five years loving this?
I didn't cry. I didn't even frown. I just looked at him.
"Who are you?"
His face froze, then twisted into something even more mocking. He braced a hand on the edge of my bed and leaned down.
"Still doing this? Clara, you can forget everyone else on earth, but you will never forget how much you love me. Stop wasting my time with this garbage excuse."
I didn't have the energy to look at him for another second.
I opened my phone and found a voice memo in a hidden folder, recorded before the crash. One line.
"I accept Adrian Frost's marriage proposal."
Adrian Frost. The coldest predator on Wall Street. The one man Hunter was genuinely afraid of.
I dialed him right there, in front of both of them.
It rang exactly once.
"Clara?" Low voice. The kind that fills a room without trying.
I ignored the way Hunter's face changed. "Mr. Frost. That marriage arrangement I mentioned before the accident. Is it still on the table?"
Half a second of silence. Then a quiet laugh through the speaker.
"Give me ten minutes," Adrian said. It wasn't a suggestion. "I'm coming to get you."
I blinked. "Now?"
"Now." He didn't bother hiding how completely he intended to run this. "The Marriage Bureau closes in an hour. We're getting the license today."