Heather stared at him, the weight of his words pressing on her chest like a slow, heavy hand.
*Who are you?*
It didn’t seem like a question. It was more like sothing she suspected deep down, but didn’t want to acknowledge.
She blinked. Maybe she misheard. Or maybe he was joking. It was a sick, dry joke from soone who had spent too much ti in a hospital bed.
So she laughed.
"Okay... we get it. You want a dramatic wake-up mont," she said, letting out a breath. She looked toward Adams, who was outside the room, expecting him to roll his eyes or smile, maybe start laughing and say, *Haha, we got you*.
But Adams didn’t laugh. His face was still and sad. Not the kind of sad that ca with grief, this was pity.
Heather didn’t want pity. Not from him or from anyone.
When she turned back to Caius, his face looked the sa; blank and guarded. Not cold or cruel. But... unfamiliar.
She reached out slowly, wanting to touch his forehead, to check if he had a fever. Maybe it had to be? But he shifted his head instinctively back, not fast, but sharp enough to sting.
He didn’t want her touch.
Heather froze, her hand was still suspended in the air.
"I will not be repeating myself," Caius’s voice sounded flat.
Heather was still surprised that when she heard the door click shut behind her, she didn’t turn.
"Master Caius has a minor case of amnesia." Adams’ voice ca from behind.
"Define ’minor’."
"He doesn’t have mory of the last eight years."
Heather turned slowly now, her eyes t Adams’. He looked like he’d been holding that sentence for a while, and now that it was out, he didn’t know what else to say.
Eight years.
Eight years ago, Lauren had just left the country. Caius was cold, closed, and careless. Back then, she was nobody to him.
"Fuck," she muttered more to herself than Adams.
This was the worst tiline. She wasn’t about to relive the nightmare of trying to matter to a man who once didn’t care if she lived or died.
She moved closer to his bed. He still had the disgust look on his face. Heather cleared her throat, and said quietly but clearly, "I’m going to be honest with you, Caius."
"We’ve been married for months now. We have a five-year-old son. I didn’t marry you for love, and I don’t care if you don’t love either. But don’t ever speak to like I’m nothing."
"I will not take it. And if you push too far, I will leave with my son. I won’t look back. I also will not be doing third chances with you. Do you understand?"
’What did she an by third chances?’ he asked himself. He just stared at her. Sothing about her words had surprised him. Maybe even stunned him. He didn’t think anyone had ever spoken to him like that, given the way the butler, the nurses, and the doctor reacted to him.
But...
"...Understood," he said after a long pause.
.
.
The car rolled to a stop in front of the mansion Heather and Caius once lived. This was the matrimonial ho of their previous marriage and it brought back a lot of bad mories for her. But she had to stay her, where she didn’t feel unsafe.
She got out first, ca around to open the passenger side where Caius sat before helping him into the wheelchair. Adams had gone to pick up their luggage from the estate.
She pushed the chair carefully up the curb. It was heavier than she expected.
Then she opened the backseat door. Alex had fallen asleep. She gently woke him and helped him down.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, Alex looked straight at Caius.
"Daddy, why have you been acting weird?" he rubbed his sleepy eyes with the back of his hand. He had been thinking of asking ever since his father got into the car; he hadn’t even greeted him.
Caius said nothing. His eyes moved from the boy to Heather, like he was telling her to get him off his back.
Heather smiled softly to Alex, rubbing his small head.
"Go inside, baby. It’s cold."
Alex didn’t look away from his dad. "You’re not acting like you," he mumbled.
"I know," she whispered. "It’ll get better. He just needs rest."
Alex nodded slowly, even though he didn’t believe this was sothing resting could fix. But he had to listen to his mother, so he turned and walked inside.
Heather watched him fully enter the house before turning back to Caius.
"Can you try, at least?" she asked as she pushed the chair toward the door. "Just act like a father. He thinks the world of you. If he hears that you don’t rember him... it’ll crush him."
Caius didn’t answer right away.
"I don’t know who you people are," he finally said.
"I told you," Heather said, keeping her voice calm. "We’re your family."
He looked at her again. "How do I know that’s true? That could be a lie."
Heather stopped. Slowly, she pulled her phone from her coat pocket, tapped a few buttons, then held the screen up for him to see.
"This is our marriage certificate. Still think I’m lying?"
He looked at it. Long and hard. Then he laughed, a dry, shallow kind of laugh that didn’t reach his eyes.
"What’s funny?" she asked.
"You do know certificates can be forged, right?" he said.
Heather sighed and rubbed her hand over her face.
"Why would I fake a marriage certificate... to you?"
"Because I’m Caius Thorne."
"Oh, so now you believe your na?" she shot back.
"I believed it when the man at the hospital confird it."
Heather was too tired for this. Since at the hospital, he had been asking her suspicious questions and questioning her over again.
"I’m not going to keep proving this over and over. You either believe , or you don’t."
She moved to push him inside again, but he held the wheels steady.
"What now?" she asked.
"I don’t feel safe," he said, nodding to his leg. "With you."
Heather looked at his injuries, then back at him.
"Give one good reason you think I’d lie."
"You say you’re my wife. But since we left the hospital, you haven’t even kissed . Isn’t that sothing a wife does?"
Heather blinked uncomfortably.
"Our marriage isn’t... like that."
"Doesn’t make sense."
"It was never about love. It’s more like a business arrangent."
"And the child? What was he? A mistake?"
Heather felt a lump in her throat. She knew Alex was never ant to happen. Maybe in her first marriage with Caius, this one he seed willing to get her pregnant.
Even with that, Alex was the best mistake that ever happened to her.
"No."
"So he ca before the marriage?"
"He ca before the divorce."
Caius furrowed his brows."We were divorced?"
Heather nodded. "Were."
"This is all too complicated," he muttered.
"I’ll explain more tomorrow. Right now, you need rest. A lot is happening. More than you think."
She didn’t ntion the company.
She didn’t tell him that if he wasn’t back in charge within three months, Adonis would take over everything. Permanently.
Caius finally let her push him forward. She wheeled him inside, and as the door shut behind them, she looked at the clock.
93 days.
That’s all she had.
Ninety-three days to get him back... Or lose everything.
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