CHAPTER FIVE: THE STRANGER IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Thirty days, one month, that is exactly how long it took for my world to start feeling normal. Or maybe I was lying to myself to believe that somehow, it was starting to feel normal.

For one month, Liam never tried to contact me. I finally decided to admit to the fact that my Jace was gone and was now replaced by this cruel man called Liam. For one month, I constantly woke up to a cold and empty apartment, my heart was constantly ripped into different pieces and my body was a steady reminder of the secret he left behind.

I didnt give up easily. For weeks I was searching for the father of my unborn child. I called every hospital that I knew, I watched and listened to every news outlets. I asked everyone that I could with fear that maybe he had been taken or worse.

And even if he did leave me, once he finds out that I am pregnant, I was sure he would come back to me.

But no matter how much I tried, no matter how well I thought I was ready to let him go, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the television this morning.

A beautiful reporter saying "breaking news, SteeleTech heir Liam Steele finally set to confirm his engagement to heiress Ivy Morano at tonight’s annual KuraTech Gala."

The cup of water that I held droped from my hand as my stomach flipped.

"How is this possible?" Liam was alive and well. The worse part? He was dressed in a tux, smiling as he held hands with a woman whose smile could slice diamonds and then they kissed.

A tear fell from my eye as I watched the scene before me. My Liam was not mine at all. I could not see the different reporters that flooded the scene before me. All my eyes did was fix itself on Liam.

He kept smiling like he had never known pain, like he wasn't the same man who had bled in my arms, the same man who kissed me like his life depended on it. How could he just forget about me like that?

The more I stared at him, the more upset I became till finally, something in me snapped. I was tired of the pretense, tried of doubting myself, tired of bleeding for a man who did not even bother to check up on me. I needed answers, and tonight I was going to get them.

The KuraTech Gala was every bit the spectacle you'd expect from billionaires trying to prove something.

Crystal chandeliers dripped from the ceiling. Gold-trimmed champagne flutes floated on silver trays. And security hovered near every corner like buzzards in tuxedos.

The event was heavily guarded but that didnt matter to me. I was an angry woman on a mission and I was not going to fail. I walked in like a hurricane in heels and a black dress hoping that no one would dare to stop me. I was wrong.

The security guard, immediately noticing that I was out of place, stepped into my path.

"Ma please I need your name...?"

"I'm the woman that Liam Steele left at the altar," I screamed making sure it was loud enough to turn heads. They come into my house, threaten me and then Liam leaves me like a dirty piece of rug and they think I wont do something? I was about to show them how wrong they were. I was ready to let all hell break loose.

My words definitely caused a scene and I could hear the gasps and whispers coming from all round. I smiled as I brushed past the security man before he could even process his words.

The room was exactly as I had imagined it, glittering in a sea of wealth and pretension. Filled with champagne, diamonds, media and power. And there he stood, in the center of it all.

Liam Steele. I didnt need to say his name before he could feel my presence around him because he turned almost immediately and our eyes finally locked across the room.

He froze and for a moment, I thought I saw something in his eyes, fear, regret or maybe pain but it went as soon as it came.

"Liam," I called softly, hoping that maybe my voice would make him remember the beautiful moments we had.

Suddenly, his head tilted slightly and gave me a look of confusion and with a polite smile he said "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

Once again, the room was filled with gasps as people turned to look at me. The paparazzi took this opportunity to snap picture for their drama filled tabloids.

I wasn't going to allow him embarrass me like that and so with anger, I stormed up the stage in my heels and my voice trembled with rage.

“Don’t you dare pretend you don’t know me. I held your hand through blood. I kissed you through amnesia. I loved you.”

Immediately his fiancée stepped in front of him, as a way of protecting him.

"Liam, who the hell is this woman?" She asked.

"I have no idea who she is," Liam looked me dead in the eye and responded.

The world kept spinning. What the actual hell was going on? I rushed to slap him but before I could do anything, Liam grabbed my hand and his bride tackled me, pushing me to the ground and causing me to fall like a pack of sticks.

The crowd gasped as I sat on the floor, hurting all over. No one offered to help. From the floor, I cried “You left me, Liam. Said you didn’t remember anything. We planned our wedding. You said you loved me—”

"Listen here woman. I have no idea who the fuck you are and it baffles me how you think I would even know someone like you. You are the scum of this earth and I can never have anything to do with the likes of you. Now stop making a scene and if you need money, just say it," Liam bellowed and I wondered how I ever feel in love with him.

Finally, his bride spoke. "Maybe she wants a taste of what its like to be rich. Lets give it to her, shall we?" She said before pouring a whole bottle of champagne on my head as everyone in the room laughed at me.

The same man that once claimed to love me more than life itself was now suddenly pushing me to the wolves and laughing with them. I stared at him, my heart breaking all over again

He turned to the security guard. “Please escort this woman out. I don’t know who she is.”

“No,” I breathed. “You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to rewrite the past like I never existed.”

Something moved behind his eyes for the briefest second. A memory maybe, but it left as soon as it came.

They dragged me out, my heels scraping against the marble floor, my heart crumbling piece by piece and through it all, Liam did not look in my direction again.