LOGIN(Julian's POV)"It's been four months since your last appointment."Dr. Morrison was looking at her notes, and I was sitting in my usual spot."I know," I said."Any particular reason?""Things have been good. Stable. I didn't feel like I needed to come in as often.""That's actually a positive sign. But I'm curious what's been happening. Catch me up."I settled back comfortably on the chair. "Emma started Grade one. Real school now. She's doing well. Likes her new teacher and made friends already.""That's wonderful.""The consulting firm is steady. Not growing dramatically but really profitable. I'm not working sixty-hour weeks anymore.""How does that feel?""Good. Strange at first. I kept thinking I should be doing more. But I'm not. And things are fine anyway.""What else?""I moved to a better neighborhood. More parks. Good school district. Emma has her own space."Dr. Morrison wrote something. "That's a significant change.""It needed to happen. The old place was fine but this
(Elena's POV)(...Four months later…)"Stop moving."Lena chided, her hands in my hair again. We were in the bridal suite at the venue Daniel and I had booked. Small place in Kensington. Garden ceremony and dinner reception inside. Just like I wanted.In case you, my darling readers are not aware, it's my wedding day!Today, I tie the nuptial knot with my heartthrob, Daniel Hart."I'm not moving," I defended."Yes, you are.""Because you're taking forever with my hair.""I'm taking my time. There's a difference."Charlotte was on the floor playing with the hem of my dress. She'd been following me around all morning. Toddling after me wherever I went. Almost a year old now and walking like she'd been doing it forever."Charlotte, don't pull that," Lena said without looking down.Charlotte let go immediately and went back to playing with her stuffed rabbit instead."How much longer?" I asked."Five more minutes. Maybe ten.""Lena.""Do you want to look good or do you want me to rush?""
(Adrian's POV)It happened gradually over two weeks in the eighth month.Not all at once like I'd hoped. Not a sudden switch flipping where Lena woke up one morning and us suddenly her old self. Instead it came back in bits.First was the long-term memories. The wedding stayed. BioGen stayed. Our early relationship stayed. Things from before the pregnancy that had been blurry started sharpening.Then the pregnancy itself. She remembered being sick. Remembered the appointments. Remembered working until she started working from home.Then the birth. That took one longer. It came back in pieces over several days. The labor. The delivery room. The first cry. My hand in hers.Dr. Rahman said this was normal. Memory restoration following the natural timeline. Working backward from most recent to oldest.But the baby, that was the last thing to fully return.Week one of month eight Lena could hold her without panicking. Could feed her. Could change her diaper. But it still felt clumsy. Like
(Elena's POV)The parking lot was empty when I pulled in.I'd left the house four hours ago after telling Adrian I needed to pick up groceries. That was a lie. The fridge was full, but I just needed to be somewhere that wasn't that house for thirty minutes.I turned off the engine and sat still.The steering wheel was cold under my hands, and outside the sky was getting dark. It was November again in London, and rain was probably coming soon.I pressed my palms against my eyes. Then I started crying.I let it all out. The fear, pain,anxiety, stress and tiredness. I wanted all of them out.My phone buzzed, interrupting the moment a few minutes later. The direct contact circle was small, and I knew it would be Daniel or Adrian. I was right, it was the latter.“Baby has been fussing for a while now, and all my efforts to calm her down are proving futile. I think she wants you. When will you be back?”I sniffed and typed back: “In twenty minutes.”Then I kept the phone away and resumed cr
(Adrian's POV)Elena and I had been sitting at the kitchen table for the past hour. Both of us staring at cups of tea that had gone cold. The clock on the microwave read three fourteen in the morning.She'd come downstairs first. I'd heard her moving around and followed ten minutes later when I couldn't fall back asleep anyway."You should try to rest," She said without looking at me."So should you.""I will. After I finish this." She gestured at her tea but made no move to drink it.I picked up my own cup, but set it back down without drinking. "How much longer do you think you can keep doing this?""Doing what?""Living here. Taking care of the baby. Managing BioGen. All of it."She finally looked at me. "As long as it takes.""That's not an answer.""It's the only answer I have."The baby made a small noise through the monitor. We both stopped talking and waited, but the noise didn't come again.Elena pushed her cup away. "Daniel asked me the same thing last week when he was home.
(Lena's POV)"I threw a tantrum in the car."I was sitting at the kitchen table. Adrian was making lunch, but my words made him stop with the knife halfway through cutting a tomato."What?" he said."When we were dating. I remember throwing a tantrum in your car because you were being difficult about something. I don't remember what. But I remember yelling at you and you just sat there taking it."He set the knife down, and turned around properly. "You remember that?""Yes. We were driving somewhere. London traffic. I was angry about something you'd said. I yelled for probably ten minutes straight. You didn't interrupt once.""You remember the car. The argument. All of it?""I remember you parking. Turning to me. Asking if I was finished. I said yes. You said good because you'd been waiting to kiss me and didn't want to interrupt."He came over to the table, and sat down across from me, awe and intrigue in his eyes. "That was two years ago. It was summer and we'd been seeing each othe
(Lena's POV)Adrian's hotel room was cozy and had a good view of the New York night.I stood there looking out at it with my arms wrapped around myself. Not because I was cold. The room was warm. But because I needed something to do with my hands.Behind me I heard Adrian set down his key card on t
(Evelyn's POV)I'd never painted a wall before in my life, and it showed in the painting I made in the living room. Some parts were slightly uneven and there was a patch near the window where I'd gone back to twice and it still looked different from the rest. The man at the shop had called the co
(Evelyn's POV)"Julian Hart accepted the deal this morning."I was still in bed when my lawyer called, one eye half open. But I sat up properly immediately and listened.She went through all three cases in an order. Julian came first.He got a suspended sentence. Mandatory therapy, twice a week. Tw
(Evelyn's POV)And so we spent the rest of the night preparing.Adrian's cybersecurity team went through every corner of our system. No stone was left unturned. Every folder, backup, and file that had been touched in the last three months. They worked in focused silence, and occasionally reached ou







