MasukEVE'S POV I couldn’t sleep worth a damn. The apartment was too quiet except for the fridge humming and the weird little creaks the building made every night. Jessica had left around eleven after hugging me tight and telling me to text her if anything felt off. I’d tried the guest room but ended up crashing on the couch in the living room instead, too wiped out to walk any farther.My mind wouldn’t shut off...Damon’s broken voice, the sound of things smashing in his study earlier, the way his eyes looked when he said he remembered signing the papers. I finally dozed off around midnight, one hand resting on my belly like that could keep the baby calm. Then the crash came. Loud, from the bedroom. Followed by another thud and this awful choking noise. “Damon?” I yelled, bolting upright so fast my head spun. Nothing, just more ragged breathing. I ran down the hall, heart slamming against my ribs. The bedroom door was cracked open. Damon was on the floor next to the bed, curled up
MARCUS POV I sat in my car outside Damon’s building for a solid ten minutes after I left, just gripping the steering wheel tight, staring at nothing through the windshield. My hands were still shaking a little. I’d just dumped the entire truth on him in one big conversation. The doctor had been crystal clear...let the memories return on their own, naturally, but what choice did I really have? He was already getting those random flashes, piecing together ugly fragments that made him look like some heartless monster without any real context. At least now he had the full story, even if it was ripping him apart inside. My phone rang. Jessica. “I assume you heard,” I said, not even bothering with hello. “Eve just texted me, she says Damon’s shut up in his study and she can hear things breaking in there. What the hell did you tell him, Marcus?” “Everything. Sophia showing up again, the fake pregnancy, the stairs, the divorce. The whole damn thing.” “Marcus! The doctor specifically s
DAMON The memories came back in pieces over the next few days. They were not in order and they were not clear. I was in the bathroom shaving when the first one hit. Sophia was crying to me. "Please, Damon. Just listen to me, I can explain why I left." My hands were on her shoulders. "It has been five months, Sophia. You do not owe me an explanation." "But I want to give you one, please." I blinked and the memory was gone. The bathroom mirror showed my confused face with shaving cream still on half of it. That event had really happened. I was sure of it. But I could not remember when Sophia had come back to New York or why I had agreed to see her after she left me at the altar. The next memory came that afternoon while I was reading in the living room. Eve stood in our bedroom doorway with her arms crossed. She looked upset. "You're being cordial her again." "It's not like that, we are just talking." "You have had dinner with her three times this week, Damon. That is not jus
EVE'S POV I stood in front of the mirror that morning, pulling my loose maternity top down over my belly for the third time. It was getting harder to hide how much I was showing now. The baby bump was round and firm, like a little basketball I carried everywhere. Three days after that kitchen breakdown with Damon, we were finally heading to this doctor’s appointment together. My hands shook a little as I brushed my hair. Part of me was excited, the bigger part was scared shitless. Damon had been quiet since that memory hit him. Sophia’s face in the kitchen, the pregnancy announcement, the mug crashing everywhere. He kept looking at me like I was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. I hated it, but I also understood. The doctor had warned me...no dumping everything on him at once. Let the memories come naturally. So I stayed patient, even when it felt like I was walking on eggshells in my own house. “You ready?” Damon called from the living room. “Yeah, coming,” I answered, grabbing my b
It happened three days after Sophia came over. I was in the kitchen fixing some coffee when it hit me hard. This time it wasn’t a headache. Nah, it was a full memory...super sharp, crazy vivid, and it hurt like hell. Sophia was standing right there in this same kitchen, rocking a blue dress, tears streaming down her face. “I’m pregnant, Damon. It’s yours.” The coffee mug just slipped right out of my hand and smashed on the floor. Little ceramic bits went flying everywhere. “Damon? What’s going on?” Eve yelled from the guest bedroom. I just stood there staring at the mess, my heart banging in my chest. Pregnant. Sophia had been pregnant with my kid. “I’m good,” I shouted back, but my voice sounded all shaky. “I just dropped something.” I got down on my knees to pick up the broken pieces, but my hands were trembling bad. The memory felt so real. I could see her crying, feel her shaking when I held her and told her we’d sort it all out. But something about it felt off. Eve popp
SOPHIA'S POV "You heard about the accident." "Of course I heard, the whole city heard. My son was in a coma." "How is he?" "Recovering, memory loss from the accident. He doesn't remember the past several months." "I know,I went to see him this morning." Catherine's voice went cold. "You did what?" "I went to check on him. To see if he was okay, but he doesn't remember me, Catherine. Doesn't remember us together of recent. He only remembers the wedding day when I left." "Good." I blinked. "What?" "I said good. You shouldn't have gone to see him, you shouldn't be contacting him at all." "But I thought...you wanted us together, you said Eve was wrong for him..." "I was wrong." Catherine's voice was firm, edged with something sharper than anger. "I was very, very wrong. And I will never forgive myself for it. I regret the day I allowed you back into my son's life, I regret every conversation where I encouraged him to choose you, where I told him Eve wasn't right for him. Tha
The silence that followed was excruciating.I took a sip of water. It went down wrong and I had to fight not to cough. Damon's hand landed on my knee under the table, just for a second, just a brief touch—before disappearing again.The housekeeper appeared in the doorway. "Dinner is ready."Thank G
Monday morning hit like a slap to the face.I stood in front of my closet staring at my usual work clothes, black pants that were getting worn at the knees, cream blouse I'd had for three years, comfortable flats and tried to figure out who I was supposed to be now.Mrs. Damon Sterling.The thought
I woke up to sunlight stabbing through the floor-to-ceiling windows like it had a personal vendetta against me.For one blissful second, I didn't remember.Then it all came crashing back.The wedding. The ceremony. Damon's cold eyes and colder words. The ring on my finger that weighed a thousand po
Two hours later, the doorman called up."Mrs. Sterling? You have a visitor. A Miss Jessica Martin?""Send her up," I said gratefully.Jessica burst through the door thirty seconds later like a hurricane in designer jeans and a leather jacket."Holy SHIT," she said, looking around the penthouse. "Th







