Chapter One: Until He Remembers

Sera’s phone buzzed just as she stepped out of the hospital elevator.

Another call from the daycare.

Her heart sank as she checked the screen. Lily had a fever again. That made it three times this week. Guilt overwhelmed her, but she had no choice. She silenced the call and shoved the phone into her scrubs pocket.

Patients were waiting and she needed this job.

She adjusted her name tag and forced a smile as she passed through the long, white hallway. The private hospital where she worked wasn't like public ones. It was quieter, cleaner and filled with people who had money, and secrets.

Sera kept her head down. No one here knew about her past. No one knew she had once been Mrs. Knight. That chapter was buried. She had burned the photos and deleted the messages, all she had left was Lily and that was enough.

“Moore,” a voice called.

Sera turned to see Dr. Tessa Rowe, her supervisor, striding toward her with a tight expression.

“Emergency protocol,” Tessa said quickly. “Jet crash outside the city. We’ve received a VIP. Security is sealing off the upper recovery wing. I need you with me.”

Sera blinked. “Why me?”

“Because I trust you,” Tessa snapped. “No questions. Just follow me.”

Within minutes, she was swiping her ID through a locked elevator and stepping into a world she had never entered before. The top floor was silent. Guards lined the hallway. The lights were dimmer and the cameras had been turned off.

Tessa handed her a clipboard. “You’re not to talk to anyone about this patient. No records, no reports. Just monitor vitals, keep the room clean, and do exactly what I say.”

“Who is he?” she asked one of the nurses.

“No name. No ID. But he came from a private jet crash. They’ve locked down the top floor.”

Of course. VIP treatment. Some billionaire whose life mattered more than everyone else’s. She rolled her eyes and went back to the nurse station.

Then the door opened, and her world titled.

The man lying on the bed looked like a ghost from her nightmares. Tall, pale and bandaged. Breathing through a ventilator. But she knew that face better than her own.

Elias Knight. Her husband.

The man who had vanished without a word the morning after their wedding. Lying just a few feet away, with no clue she existed.

She stumbled back, shaking her head. “This isn’t possible.”

Dr. Rowe gently pushed her forward. “I was told not to overwhelm him. He woke up twenty minutes ago. He has no memory, of anything.”

Sera’s knees almost gave out. She grabbed the door frame for balance.

“The public thinks he’s dead. That’s what his father wants… for now.” Tessa said not noticing her shock.

Sera couldn’t breathe. Her hands shook.

“He’s alive,” she whispered. “But how, why….?”

Before Tessa could answer, a new figure stepped into the room.

Victor Knight, Elias' father. His eyes were cold steel, but his smile was polished like he'd always practiced it.

“Ah. We meet again, Sera,” he said.

She stiffened. She hadn’t seen Victor since the wedding, if it could even be called that.

“You’re still legally his wife,” he continued smoothly. “Which makes you the perfect solution to a very big problem.”

Sera took a step back. “What problem?”

Victor’s voice dropped. “If the press finds out he’s alive before he can speak for himself, the wrong people will come for him. He has no memory of the crash… or anything before it. Not even you. Until he recovers, I need you to play the part. Be his wife. Stay by his side. Keep him safe.”

“No,” she said instantly. “That’s insane.”

Victor didn’t flinch. “It’s already in motion, Ms Moore. The nurses believe it. The staff does too. If you leave now, you risk blowing the entire cover.”

“You want to keep your daughter safe, yes?”

Sera stiffened. “You stay away from Lily.”

“Then you’ll do as I say. You’ll be Mrs. Knight again. At least until he’s strong enough to leave this place.”

“I didn’t sign up for this.”

“You did. The moment you took that ring.”

Sera’s heart pounded. Elias was right in front of her. Alive and breathing. But he didn’t remember her. Didn’t know about Lily.

“You’ll be paid, of course,” Victor added. “More than what you make wiping blood off floors.”

Sera’s hands curled into fists. “Money isn’t why I’m here.”

“Good. Then this will be easier.”

She looked at the man in the bed. The man who once made promises to her and disappeared before morning.

She should walk away.

But instead, she whispered, “I’ll do it. Just until he wakes up.”

Victor smiled. “Good. Because when he does…”

He turned to her, eyes gleaming. “he’ll think you’ve always been by his side.”

“Wait,” Sera said, her voice low. “What if he remembers I’m not?”

Elias blinked slowly, then looked between them. His eyes landed on Sera, confused. “Do I…know you?”

She stepped closer. Her heart felt like it would tear in two.

“I’m your wife,” she said.

He stared at her for a long, frozen second.

Then his voice came, quiet but sharp.

“Who the hell are you lying to?”