I woke up in a hospital bed remembering my parents, my best friend, the apartment I rented, and even the name of my third-grade teacher—but when Harper pointed to the handsome man on my phone and said I had spent five years destroying myself for him, I felt absolutely nothing.
Chapter 4
I left the venue through a private entrance after the show.
Rain had begun falling across Paris.
My assistants were discussing the reception when someone called my name.
“Chloe.”
I stopped.
Ethan stood several yards away without an umbrella.
His expensive suit was soaked.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I nodded politely.
“Mr. Hayes.”
His face crumpled.
“Don’t call me that.”
“How should I address you?”
“Like you know me.”
“I do know you.”
He stepped closer.
“I’ve spent two years looking for you.”
“I know.”
That startled him.
“You knew?”
“Harper mentioned it.”
“Then why didn’t you contact me?”
“Why would I?”
The question seemed to physically hurt him.
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I was cruel.”
“Yes.”
“I believed Veronica when I should have believed you.”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“Is that all you can say?”
“What would you prefer?”
He stared at me.
“I loved the wrong person.”
I almost smiled.
“No, Ethan. That would be too convenient.”
He flinched.
“You didn’t mistreat me because you loved Veronica. You mistreated me because you believed my love made me weak enough to accept it.”
Rain ran down his face.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed my arm.
His fingers tightened desperately around my sleeve.
“Chloe, please. I know what I did. I know I don’t deserve you. But I need you to remember how we were before everything went wrong.”
I looked at his hand.
“Let go.”
“I can make it right.”
“Ethan.”
“I’ll give you anything.”
“My company, my money, whatever you want. Just give me a chance.”
I gently removed his fingers one at a time.
Three years earlier, I would have traded almost anything to hear him beg me not to leave.
Now his desperation felt strangely distant.
“I remember standing in the rain outside your office.”
His face went white.
“I remember the lunches you threw away. I remember your friends calling me pathetic. I remember laughing along because I wanted you to think I could take a joke.”
“Chloe—”
“I remember the stairs.”
He closed his eyes.
“And I remember waking up in that hospital the first time with no idea who you were. Do you know what the strangest part was?”
He shook his head.
“I was peaceful.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“When I forgot you, I stopped hurting.”
“Please.”
“But then I remembered.”
Hope flickered across his face.
I almost pitied him for misunderstanding.
“I remembered every single thing, Ethan. Especially how much I loved you.”
His breath caught.
“And remembering all of it is exactly why I can look at you now and feel nothing.”
He stared at me.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“You loved me for five years.”
“Yes.”
“You can’t erase that.”
“I didn’t erase it.”
I stepped backward under my assistant’s umbrella.
“I outgrew it.”
