Chapter 5

I turned and found Ryan in the entryway, holding the spare key I had once given him. I had wanted him to treat this place as his home too. Apparently, he had.

He closed the door and surveyed the nearly empty apartment. “You never lost your memory, did you?”

I said nothing.

“We grew up together. I know when you’re lying.” He came closer. “I knew from the day you woke in the hospital. I kept quiet because I wanted you to see the truth for yourself.”

“Vivian has been with me for three years,” he continued. “After your fall, she could have told you everything, but she still couldn’t let you go. I wanted to see whom she would choose when you remembered nothing.”

“Did you erase the presentation?”

“Yes.”

“You asked me to deliver the tablet so everyone would think I had done it.”

“I gave them a choice.” Ryan met my eyes. “You saw the result. Vivian didn’t believe you, and none of those employees you helped defended you. You think you matter to everyone, but once you were gone, they all chose me.”

“Even if it costs LumenWorks the investment?”

“It won’t. I brought those investors in, and they value the market channels I built. Once I submit the restored deck, today will be treated as a minor mistake.”

He had no idea that the Sterling family had introduced the firm. The evaluation was a formality, and my parents intended to end their funding regardless.

I smiled and let him remain confident.

That angered him more than an argument would have.

“Why are you always like this?” Ryan demanded. “People hurt you, and you stand there in silence. Do you think that makes everyone feel guilty?”

“I never asked for your guilt.”

“I’m sick of your kindness.” His voice echoed through the stripped apartment. “We grew up in the same foster homes, wore donated clothes, and ate whatever food was left. Then you found your birth family. Even when you refused to return to them, they helped you from a distance. Vivian loved you. Everyone at the company remembered what you did for them. No matter how hard I worked, I remained the friend you brought into LumenWorks.”

He pointed at himself, his eyes reddening.

“If one of us had to live in the other’s shadow, why was it always me? This time, I wanted your place.”

“So you chose Vivian.”

“She chose me too.”

Ryan looked around the apartment and smiled. “You kept this place because you considered it sacred. Vivian brought me here long ago. The bedroom, the sofa, even that window seat. Every place you treasured holds memories of us now.”

I struck him across the face.

His head snapped aside, and blood appeared at his lip. When he wiped it away, his smile deepened. He knew exactly where to hurt me.

Pressure tightened around my chest until breathing became difficult.

The door opened before I could speak again. Vivian saw Ryan’s bleeding lip and immediately stepped between us.

“Caleb, what are you doing?”

“Tell me whether he’s lying.”

Her expression changed. Ryan caught her arm and told her to leave it alone, but that familiar gesture gave me the answer.

“Ryan treats you like a brother,” Vivian said. “The company was facing a crisis today, and you walked out. Now you’ve hit him.”

“A brother who slept with my fiancée for three years?”

She inhaled sharply. “When did your memory return?”

“Does it matter?”

“Did you know there was something wrong with the presentation?”

Even after Ryan’s confession, I remained the person she questioned.

“He deleted it,” I said. “He wanted to test whether you would believe me.”

Vivian turned to Ryan. He did not deny it. He only murmured an apology.

After a brief silence, she placed herself in front of him again. “He made a mistake, but you can’t blame him for everything. I crossed the line first three years ago. He tried to end it. I refused.”

“So he’s the one who suffered?”

“He has carried the guilt of betraying you for three years. Of course he suffered.”

Everything I had suppressed finally broke loose.

“What about me?” My voice shook. “We were together for seven years. I helped you build LumenWorks from a rented basement office and gave you everything I had. You spent three years with the person I trusted most while I planned our wedding. Did you ever consider what that would do to me?”

Vivian stared at me. When I turned away, she approached and took my hand as she had whenever I was ill or afraid.

“The wedding will happen,” she said. “I will marry you.”

I looked at her in disbelief.

“Ryan has sacrificed a great deal for the company and suffered because of our relationship. He is still the person closest to you. There is no reason for this to destroy your friendship. I’ll spend more time with you after the wedding and settle things between you.”

She believed marriage could repair everything.

I tore my hand from hers. Vivian stumbled backward over a box and fell. Ryan rushed to help her.

The sight broke the last of my control. I swept the photographs and ornaments from the table, then shoved the remaining books from the shelves. Glass shattered across the floor while Vivian sat beside the box, watching without trying to stop me.

My gaze landed on the crystal award above the cabinet. Vivian had given it to me after LumenWorks won its first industry prize.

I seized it and hurled it across the room.