Chapter 4

I sat at our kitchen table, staring at the note Ryan had left. The house felt cavernous and empty around me, stripped of his presence as thoroughly as our joint account had been stripped of funds.

"Amy Carter?" The voice on the phone repeated, firm and professional.

"Yes," I whispered, my fingers tightening around the phone. "I'm still here."

"Ms. Carter, my name is Arthur Blackwell. I'm an attorney with Blackwell & Associates. I've been searching for you for over a decade."

I laughed bitterly. "You're the second person today to tell me I'm not who I think I am."

"Not who you think you are," Arthur corrected gently. "Who you truly are."

Something in his tone made me pause. This wasn't a prank call or a sales pitch.

"Ms. Carter—or rather, Ms. Blackwood—you are the sole heir to the Blackwood financial empire."

The phone nearly slipped from my fingers. "What did you say?"

"Your birth name is Amelia Blackwood," he continued, his voice steady. "You disappeared twenty-two years ago during a kidnapping that resulted in traumatic amnesia. You were placed in foster care when your captors abandoned you."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "That's impossible. My parents—"

"Were paid to care for you," Arthur interrupted. "They were part of the witness protection program. When they died in that car accident during your senior year of high school, the trail to your past went cold—until now."

I stood up, pacing the kitchen floor. "You're saying I'm... what? Some kind of heiress?"

"Fifty billion dollars," Arthur confirmed. "The Blackwood fortune has been growing for over a century. And you're the only living heir."

My mind raced, trying to process this information. Fifty billion dollars. It was an unimaginable sum.

"How do you know this?" I demanded. "How did you find me?"

"We never stopped looking," Arthur said. "My firm has been handling the Blackwood estate for generations. We've had private investigators searching since the day you disappeared."

He paused, and I could hear papers rustling on his end.

"There's something else you need to know, Ms. Blackwood. Ryan Carter has known your true identity for years."

The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet. "What?"

"He discovered your identity during high school," Arthur continued, his voice grim. "One of our investigators came too close to finding you, and Ryan intercepted the information."

I sank back into a chair, my legs suddenly unable to support me. "That's not possible."

"I'm afraid it is," Arthur said. "Everything—your relationship, your marriage—it was all calculated."

The room spun around me as pieces clicked into place. Ryan's interest in me when we were seventeen. The bet that had supposedly made him ask me out. The way he'd always seemed slightly distant, even when he was being affectionate.

"He targeted me," I whispered, the realization burning like acid in my throat.

"Yes," Arthur confirmed. "And he's been systematically accessing your fortune through your marriage."

I heard him take a deep breath before continuing.

"Your family established a trust fund in your name. Ryan has been drawing on it for years—his business ventures, his lifestyle, even the house you live in."

My fingers trembled as I touched the countertop to steady myself. "How is that possible? I never signed anything."

"You didn't need to," Arthur explained. "The trust was set up to provide for your care regardless of your... mental state. Ryan convinced the trustees that as your husband, he had the right to manage these funds."

The betrayal cut deeper than I thought possible. Every memory of our life together suddenly looked different in this new light.

"There's more," Arthur said, his voice gentler now. "Emily Hayes was hired by Ryan."

I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear it but needing to know.

"She was paid to torment you in high school," he continued. "To make you feel inadequate and unworthy. And she's been on his payroll ever since."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "So every cruel word, every time she made me feel worthless..."

"Was part of Ryan's plan," Arthur finished. "He needed to create a narrative of your instability. When the time came for your identity to be revealed, he wanted everyone to believe you were unfit to inherit your fortune."

I felt sick. The reunion, the public humiliation—it wasn't just about Emily winning Ryan back. It was the final act in a decade-long performance.

"I need proof," I said, my voice stronger than I expected. "I need to see evidence."

"Of course," Arthur replied. "I'll send everything to you immediately. Bank statements showing the trust fund withdrawals. Records of payments to Emily Hayes. And something else you should know—your inheritance can only be accessed when you regain your memories."

I froze. "What?"

"It was your great-grandfather's stipulation," Arthur explained. "The fortune can only be claimed by Amelia Blackwood with full knowledge of her heritage."

A strange calm settled over me as the pieces fell into place. Ryan had known all along that I needed to remember my past to access my fortune. That's why he'd kept me in the dark, why he'd surrounded me with people who made me doubt myself.

"He never intended to divorce me," I said slowly, understanding dawning. "Not until I remembered."

"Precisely," Arthur confirmed. "Once your memories returned, he planned to claim half your assets through the divorce."

I looked around the hollow shell of what I'd thought was my home. Everything had been a lie. Every kiss, every promise, every moment of what I'd believed was love.

"Ms. Blackwood," Arthur said, his voice suddenly urgent. "There's one more thing you should know. Ryan has accelerated his timeline. He's planning to force your memories to return through... unconventional means."

My blood ran cold. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Arthur said gravely, "that you need to leave immediately. I'm sending a car for you now."

As I hung up the phone, my hands shaking uncontrollably, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the kitchen window. For the first time in my life, I didn't recognize the woman staring back at me.

But perhaps that was fitting. Perhaps it was time to find out who Amelia Blackwood really was—before Ryan forced her to remember.