Chapter 4: Stranger in our Bed

I stared at Gabriel’s sleeping form in the hospital bed, his face calm, unaware.

I still heard his voice from moments earlier, echoing in my ears like a cruel joke.

> “Did I miss our anniversary?”

As if none of it had ever happened.

No affair.

No lies.

No Emily.

No divorce papers in the bottom drawer of my desk, already signed.

My heartbeat thumped in my ears.

He didn’t remember anything. Not cheating. Not the betrayal. Not the way he’d gutted me and left my soul open like a wound.

He wanted to hold my hands.

And part of me wanted to let him.

—

Two days later, Gabriel was discharged from the hospital—into my care.

The doctors said the stress of his homecoming needed to be minimised. Familiar environments. Familiar people. No sudden truths.

So, I drove him back to the house he’d abandoned… now pretending it was still home.

I opened the front door, praying the walls couldn’t speak.

Gabriel stepped inside and smiled faintly. “It still smells like your cooking.”

I couldn’t answer. I felt like a stranger in my own skin.

He walked through the house like a man revisiting a dream. “You didn’t change anything.”

You did, I wanted to say. You changed everything.

Instead, I forced a smile. “No.”

—

Later that night, he sat at the kitchen island while I made tea.

He watched me.

Too intently.

“What?” I asked without turning around.

“You just… you look more beautiful than I remembered.”My hands froze on the kettle handle.

I turned, slowly. “You say that like it’s been years.”

He chuckled. “Feels like it. I don’t know why.”

I stirred sugar into the tea like it was a ritual. A defence. “You’ve been tired. Probably just exhaustion.”

He stood up and crossed to me.

His hand touched my waist.

“I missed you, Eve.”

My whole body went cold.

I remembered the messages on that burner phone. The voice notes. The naked photos of Emily.

I stepped out of his reach.

“Let’s get you to bed.”

—

That night, Gabriel lay on one side of our bed, eyes already closed.

I sat at the edge, my back to him.

I stared into the dark.

The man beside me was warm, soft-spoken, and attentive.

The man from the affair—the one who’d left me bleeding emotionally on a bathroom floor—was gone. Buried under memory loss and bandages.

And this man… this version… was the one I had begged for.

But he didn’t exist.

And I wasn’t sure if I wanted him anymore.

I slipped out of bed once his breathing deepened, padded barefoot to the kitchen, and pulled the burner phone from the back of the freezer.

Still there.

Still glowing with betrayal.

—

Meanwhile…

Emily threw her glass of wine at the wall.

It shattered. Red droplets sprayed across white walls like blood.

She paced her condo like a panther.

No calls. No updates. No visits allowed.

She wasn’t even allowed inside the hospital. The receptionist had said, “Only family.”

She wasn't family. She was just a mistress.

The woman he once said he’d leave everything for.

She’d been replaced like she never existed.

Emily picked up her phone and called him again.

No answer.

She texted.

“I’m coming over. We need to talk. You owe me that.”

No reply.

She scrolled through old photos.

She was on his lap. His hand on her thigh. Smiles. Luxury hotels. Whispered lies dressed up as dreams.

She didn’t come this far to be erased.

Emily opened a folder labelled “Assets & Leverage”.

Inside were screenshots.

Bank transfers.

Voice notes.

One of Gabriel saying, “I’ll rewrite everything. You’ll be my wife soon.”

She smiled.

Let them play happy couple.

It wouldn’t last.

—

The next morning, Gabriel sat at the breakfast table reviewing documents. His assistant had dropped them off from the office.

I set down a plate of toast beside him.

“Your coffee’s a little weaker today,” he said, sipping it anyway.

“I’ll remember next time.”

He smiled. “You never forget anything.”

I sat across from him.

He slid one of the files toward me.“What’s this?” I asked.

“Asset restructuring,” he said. “You’re co-signing everything again. Like before.”

My blood ran cold.

“You want to reinstate me as co-owner?”

“Of course,” he said casually. “We’re married. Always will be.”

My mind scrambled.

He had no idea they were mid-divorce. That I had already signed my shares away in heartbreak and rage. That he’d tried to leave me with scraps.

Now he was handing it all back.

But it wasn’t a gift.

It was ignorance.

I looked at the signature page. His name is already signed.

All it needed was mine.

—

That afternoon, Emily stormed into Grayson Holdings with a black dress, red lips, and vengeance in her eyes.

The receptionist blinked when she saw her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Dawson, you’re not on the schedule—”

“Move,” Emily snapped.

She stormed into the elevator, took it straight to the executive floor, and pushed open Gabriel’s office.

Empty.

She turned to his assistant.

“Where is he?”

The assistant looked startled. “He’s… at home.”

“With her?”

“I… can’t disclose that—”

Emily slammed the door shut and walked to Gabriel’s desk.

The monitor was still on.

She scrolled through the emails—searching.

And then she saw it.

The file: “Asset Reinstatement – E.F.G.”

Eve’s initials.

Her name is going back on everything.

Emily stared at the screen.

The ink hadn’t dried yet.

She gritted her teeth.

She had to move fast.

—

Back at home, I watched Gabriel from the hallway as he finished another phone call.

He looked good in a suit again. Healthier. Clearer-eyed.

He even laughed—like the man he was eight years ago.

I almost forgot.

Almost.

I returned to the bedroom and opened my laptop.

Typed: “Can memory loss be faked?”

Search results poured in.

I knew it wasn’t fake. The doctors had scans, proof, and a diagnosis.

But still, something inside me twisted.

What if this was all temporary?

What if he remembered… everything?

And what if he went right back to her?

Back to Emily.

My hands hovered over the keyboard.

I wasn’t ready to fall for him again.

But the worst part?

I already was.

—

Outside the house, a black car was parked across the street.

Emily sat in the backseat, sunglasses hiding her eyes.

She watched me through the curtains, standing in the kitchen, smiling as Gabriel touched my shoulder.

> He was giving her everything again.

She pulled out her phone.

Drafted a message.

To Gabriel.

“I have proof of everything you promised me. If you hand it all back to her, I’ll expose you. 

Business, media, court. I’ll bury you.”She hovered her thumb over send.

Then hit Record instead.

> “Gabriel. It’s Emily. I know you don’t remember what we had, but I do. And I’m not going to disappear like a mistake you regret. I was yours. And I still am. You don’t get to pretend I never existed. I won’t let you.

”She sent the voice note.

And smiled.

Let the games begin.