The Forgotten Wife Novels & Stories

“The woman? She’s not on any employee records. Apparently, she rents a room upstairs and works part-time managing the register. Paid under the table.” He turned to her now. “Name?” Amanda hesitated. “I asked the shop owner. She said the woman goes by Lena Hart.” The name dropped like ice water down his spine. Dominic sat up straighter. “Say that again.” “Lena Hart,” Amanda repeated. “Why?” His mind went blank for a split second. No. It can’t be. “She was my wife,” he said flatly. Amanda’s jaw dropped. “Wait—that’s Lena Hart? The one from the contract marriage thing?”

He stayed silent, watching me carefully, but I didn’t want to dive into the details of forged documents, hidden clauses, or the betrayal written in fine print. It was too much, too raw. So I just shook my head and continued, “Then ten years later, I decided to surprise my husband. I went home unannounced, thinking I’d find him working, maybe sleeping... Doing something.....” I gave a bitter chuckle and looked up. “But instead, I found him with another woman. Living another life. In our house. A different version of himself. And all I could think about was how I didn’t know. Not once did I question him. Not once did I even imagine it.”

Together, they had burned like summer lightning. But their marriage wasn't a fairytale. It was war in silk sheets. Love, in the Forger household, came with conditions. And when Kourtney refused to be molded into a corporate trophy wife, the fire between them turned to ash. She had left. Or maybe he had pushed her out. All she remembered was the silence that followed—the kind that clings for years. Until last week. Until the gala. Until the fire. Back in the hospital, her bandaged fingers curled around a paper cup of water as her heart echoed every footstep beyond her door.

she never failed to remind me of that stupid thing I did but I was not ready to let that deter me or make me regret fighting for what I truly wanted. “I didn’t leave. I forgot.” I slammed the marriage certificate down on her coffee table. “But you knew. You knew where I was. You knew I had no idea. And you still kept him from me! Why? Why didnt you come back looking for me and why was it that when you finally came back, you hid from me? You djdnt only hide yourself, you hid my child as well? Why did you do that?'

Questions. But one thing was certain. I would not walk into that room as the forgotten wife. And judging by the way he had looked at me that morning… He knew it too.

The truth belonged to only me. Her flowers had already wilted, but I still saw her face when I closed my eyes. My first and my only. The one mistake I’ll never forgive myself for. I told myself I’d stopped going. And yet, I stood there again today. With a fourth wife at my side, staring at a name that still knew how to cut me open. And then I kissed her. I kissed the new wife. The child my uncle forced into this madness. The scent of her skin clung to me even after she shoved me away. And instead of rage, all I felt was guilt. Because for one second, I forgot the only woman I was never supposed to forget. I forgot the ache I used to feel anytime I visited.

The woman I was becoming simply waited. Khalid stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “I read more last night. After you went to bed.” His voice was rough. “The chapter where the husband forgets her birthday because of a merger call. That wasn’t last year, was it? That was our first anniversary.” I said nothing. The silence stretched between us like a live wire. “Jesus, Evelyn.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Is this how you’ve seen me? For years?”

Then he looked up at me, ice-cold. "Bianca, don't pull anything. Maggie's waiting to keep playing after you're done." Maggie. Maggie. Always Maggie. He never once asked if I was okay with this. Somewhere along the way, he'd completely forgotten I was his wife. Forgotten that a few days ago, I'd lost our baby because of her. I was barely managing to stay on my feet tonight. When I didn't move, someone suddenly shoved me. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and do it. Don't tell me you're chickening out now?"

The same hand that must have trembled when she called after me that morning. I wonder how many times she had replayed that night in her mind. How many nights had she wondered what she had done wrong?How many times she had wished she could go back and demand an explanation. My throat feels painfully tight. “That was just terrible,” Sarah says softly. Rose shrugs. “It happened a long time ago.” A long time ago. Six years. Six years of living with the consequences of one night. Six years of raising three children without their father. Six years of believing that the man who had left her didn't even remember her.

Hyacinth let him do that, but that would be the end of him expressing his anger too. “Fine, but I’ll stay inside. That’s a non-negotiable.” “Are you kidding me? So, he’s really the one?” “Jack, this is Preston. He’s my brother.” “You think I’ll believe that? You don’t have a brother.” “I didn’t believe it either, but he is. I don’t want to explain things to you, because you don’t deserve that. All I can say is, you know I had amnesia years ago. I was already married, and that is why I don’t need to divorce you. My lawyer said that my first marriage can be considered the valid one in my case. The man that I kissed? It was my husband.”