Chapter 1The Amnesia Protocol

In the seventh year of our marriage, Arthur Sterling's true, playboy nature was finally exposed.

He tricked me into taking an experimental drug designed to induce temporary amnesia, making me forget him entirely.

While I was "forgetting," he brought another woman into our marital home, flaunting their affair.

He even threw her a massive, lavish wedding.

But what he didn't know was that my memory had already completely returned.

I continued to fake my amnesia, playing along with his elaborate performance.

When I quietly bowed out to let them be together, Arthur lost his mind trying to find me.

He broke down, sobbing hysterically:

"Chloe, it was all my fault! Will you please just take the pill one more time?"

"This time, I promise I'll make you forget all the pain, and you'll fall in love with me all over again."

* * *

In the third month of my supposed amnesia, my memories finally came rushing back.

I was just about to push open the study door and share the good news with Arthur.

When I accidentally overheard his best friend talking:

"Arthur, where the hell did you get that drug?"

"When my wife and I hit the seven-year itch, I need to give her a dose of that amnesia pill too. You get to have a mistress without getting caught, and it keeps the marriage perfectly intact."

I froze outside the door, my trembling hand pulling back from the handle.

The casual banter inside sent a violent chill down my spine.

My amnesia wasn't from a car crash... it was intentional!

And my own husband, Arthur Sterling, was the one who did it.

I clenched my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms, but I couldn't even feel the pain.

Arthur was leaning lazily against the leather sofa, holding the antidote in one hand, while kissing a sexy woman sitting next to him with the other.

"In a month, I'll give Chloe the antidote."

"Then I'll dedicate myself to taking care of her. I'll be the perfect husband and a great father from then on."

One of his friends gave him a thumbs-up, looking at him with a smirking, entertained expression.

"Arthur, just don't get addicted to the thrill. You might find it hard to give up the entire forest just for one tree."

Arthur chuckled mockingly. "The only woman I truly love is Chloe. The rest are just for fun."

"Careful, Artie."

"If that drug fails, and Chloe finds out you've been messing around... with her personality, she'll definitely divorce you."

"Yeah, man. You've had your fun tonight. Go home and slip her another pill. The more she forgets, the safer you are."

His friends were eagerly offering terrible advice, but Arthur looked incredibly confident.

"Her dad died three months ago. Chloe still doesn't even know."

"She's an orphan now. No one in the world loves her as much as I do. She will absolutely never leave me."

He twisted the wedding band on his finger, his eyes full of absolute certainty.

The men in the room were completely envious, practically begging Arthur for a few pills to slip to their own wives.

I stumbled backward, barely able to keep my balance.

Arthur and I had known each other for ten years. High school sweethearts.

For me, the notoriously lazy bad boy had studied relentlessly to get into a top-tier university.

For our future, he gave up his passion for racing to start a grounded, practical tech company.

All so I wouldn't have to struggle.

When Arthur's company went public, he held my hand and we rang the opening bell on Wall Street together.

Right there on the trading floor, he dropped to one knee and proposed:

"Marry me!"

"I, Arthur Sterling, offer the entire Sterling empire as your dowry."

I truly believed he was my forever.

Yet here he was, intentionally erasing my memory, deceiving me.