CHAPTER 2 ~ A LIFE I NEVER LIVED

CASPIAN'S POV

I have had women throw themselves at me before. Fans, socialites, clout-chasers, they came with the territory. Fame invited obsession, wealth bred delusion. I have learned to deal with it all by keeping my expression locked, my boundaries firmer than steel.

But Lyra Logan wasn’t like them, she didn’t look at me like I was Caspian Clarence, billionaire tech genius and CEO of Clarence Holdings... She looked at me like I was a man who had once held her heart in his hands and promised never to let go.

And what scared the hell out of me was I couldn’t tell her she was wrong, even when I wanted to, even when I tried.

Her words had infiltrated my thoughts and mind, her voice echoing long after she spoke.

"You hate mushrooms, you hum when you are nervous, you proposed to me in Central Park with a cheap ring because you couldn’t wait another day."

That was too specific and too personal. Although I can't remember the proposal but every other thing she said is true and the scar! The goddamn scar.

I didn’t even remember how I got the one on my knee. It had always been there, a faint slash on my left leg. I thought maybe it was from childhood, rough play, bike crash, but it wasn’t a story I ever told anyone, and yet… she knew.

I stared down at the empty glass in front of me, the condensation dripping into a small puddle on the mahogany table. My lunch sat untouched, a prime cut of steak gone cold. Charles sat across from me, sipping his whiskey slowly, watching me with that patient, probing look he only ever wore when he knew I was lying to myself or avoiding something.

Across from us, sat Lyra. Still, composed but her eyes... those soft, desperate eyes were locked on me like she was holding on by a thread.

She had followed us to the restaurant after Charles invited her along, though "invited" was a strong word. He had taken one look at my face and realized that whatever this was, it couldn’t be dismissed or resolved in my company's parking lot, and he was right. 

I needed answers but instead of asking questions, I found myself staring at her like she was a puzzle I didn’t have all the pieces to.

"You lived in Manchester," She said, her voice quieter now, more fragile. "You worked at a construction firm, and we lived in a small flat above an old bakery. The landlord always forgot to fix the hot water, and we used to laugh about it while brushing our teeth over a bucket." She said and my stomach twisted.

"Every Tuesday, we go out to get meat pies from the corner shop because they were half the price, and every Friday, you usually bring home flowers for me, even when you barely had enough for the rent."

I swallowed hard, I didn’t recognize those memories, but they felt real, it doesn't feel like she made it up, something in her eyes tells me she missed all those moments with Mason.

The name she kept calling me… it didn’t belong to me but it stirred something inside me every time it passed her lips.

"You are not crazy," I said finally. "You are too detailed to be crazy."

Her lips trembled. "Thank you."

"That doesn’t mean I remember," I added, my voice low.

"I know." She nodded. "But maybe… maybe you just forgot."

"I didn’t forget anything." I rubbed my temple, frustration beginning to settle in my chest. "I have always been Caspian Clarence. I woke up one day with a business opportunity, and I built my company from the ground up. I have memories of school, early jobs, struggles. I didn’t just appear out of thin air." But non of my memories has her in it.

"Then how do you explain this?" She asked, tugging at the chain around her neck.

A pendant rested against her collarbone, small, silver, shaped like a crescent moon. Simple but very familiar in a way that made my pulse spike. My hand instinctively flew to my neck and I mindlessly loosen my tie and I unbuttoned the first button on my dress shirt while keeping eyes on her necklace.

"I have that necklace," I said before I could stop myself as I found mine around my neck and showed it to her. "The exact same one."

Her lips parted in surprise. "You kept it." She said with a big smile on her face. "It’s a couple’s necklace, we got them at a fair in the middle of a thunderstorm. You said they were tacky, but then you went back and bought them anyway when I wasn’t looking."

It's true, the necklace is tacky but for some weird reason, I felt the need to keep it. I have never removed it, I felt like it's important and even valuable.

"Let me show you something," She whispered. "I kept everything."

She unlocked her phone and turned it toward me. Her thumb slid across dozens... no, hundreds of photos. Photos of us, laughing in bed, kissing on rooftops, holding each other in ways that couldn’t be faked.

Videos came next.

A clip of me, Mason... kneeling on one knee, holding out a ring with shaking fingers. She was crying as she said yes. My arms around her, our lips meeting.

It was undeniable, It was overwhelming... I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

"I don’t..." I pushed back from the table, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.

Charles stood instantly, eyes wide. "Caspian..."

"I need air," I muttered as I brought out some bills from my wallet and dumped it on the table to take care of the food.

"Wait." Lyra said, her voice sharp now. "Don’t just walk away again..."

But I already left, I shoved through the doors of the restaurant, the rush of traffic and New York noise barely breaking through the fog in my mind.

How was this possible? How could I not remember any of it? Not the laughter, not the apartment, not her. And why now? Why her?

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady my heartbeat as I got into the car. My whole life had been structured, precise. My rise hadn’t been easy, but it had been logical. A climb built on deals and daring, not forgotten lovers and broken timelines.

Charles caught up with me and got into the car. "She wasn’t lying, she’s not making it up, Charles." I said without looking at him. "You saw the photos, the video and that necklace."

"I know." He exhaled. "That’s why you need to calm down and actually process what just happened."

"I don’t know how!" I snapped.

He didn’t flinch, he just nodded. 

"Then what does that mean?" I asked hoarsely. "Did I live a whole other life I can’t remember? Have I been… someone else?" I asked but non of us had answers.