Chapter 2

In an instant, all my humiliation and exhaustion vanished, replaced by a rush of joy.

I spun around, grabbed both of Julian's hands, and held on tight, my voice trembling.

"Julian, you remember, don't you? When the Sorel family opened fire on my family, everyone ran. You were the only one who rushed toward me and pushed me out of the way!

"And five years ago, when our startup turned its first profit, you drove me past this place. You promised that one day you'd restore it to its former glory and make me feel like a princess again."

I tightened my grip on his wrist, reminding him one by one of the memories seared into me.

"I... I..." Guilt and confusion clouded Julian's eyes.

The real Julian was still in there, fighting to break free of the false personality holding him captive!

Then a sharp voice cut in.

"Stop pushing him!"

I turned to see my doctor, Layla Brennan, hurrying toward us. She had been the only doctor willing to treat me back then. Once I had money, I hired her as my private physician and financed a hospital for her.

"Caroline, you know Julian suffered a serious head injury while protecting you. How can you keep pressuring him like this?"

After 10 years, she was still just as naive.

"Layla, look at me! Look at the bruises and the filth covering me. He did this!" I pointed at Julian, furious.

Layla didn't flinch. "So what? When your family was wiped out and you tried to kill yourself, you were in far worse shape than he is now. Julian still cared for you for 10 years without losing patience once. He was injured only a month ago, and you already can't handle taking care of him?"

I fell silent. One memory after another came flooding back.

After my family was wiped out, I went overnight from an heiress worth ten billion dollars to a pariah buried under one hundred billion dollars in debt. I was determined to die.

When I stood on the roof of an eight-story building, Julian stood below with his arms spread wide, ready to catch me.

When I threw myself into the freezing Hudson River, he jumped in after me without hesitation.

When I poisoned a glass of wine and tried to drink it, he caught me, snatched the glass away, and tried to drink it himself.

I thought he'd lost his mind and demanded to know why he kept doing it. He told me he'd loved me since the first time he saw me, when he was eight. Back then, he'd expected to spend his whole life admiring me from afar. Then I lost everything, and according to him, that made him lucky because it finally gave him a chance to protect me.

His eyes had held nothing but sincerity when he said it.

I looked at Julian now, frightened and lost, and couldn't bring myself to give up on him.

"I promise I'll do everything the doctors tell me so you can have your Julian back soon. Just try to get along with my Emily. Please?" He clutched my sleeve and looked up at me, begging like a child.

I reached out, brushed the tears from his lashes, and nodded with a small smile.

Fine. Emily had fooled him with a few cheap tricks. Once I ripped off her mask and showed him the truth, the real Julian would return on his own.

As soon as we returned to the city, I ordered my bodyguard, Mateo, to investigate Emily.

What he found left me stunned.

Julian's alternate personality had been a lie Emily invented from the start!

She had used her psychology training to manipulate his subconscious and create an alternate personality obsessed with her and obedient to her every word. She'd done it for one reason: she wanted to take my place.