Chapter 1

After waking up from a three-year coma, Rainer Thornton's secretary started calling me "Mrs. Helena Thornton."

He told me that Rainer had gone to a church to pray for me. Then, he fell off a cliff, lost all memory of me, and was rescued by his second wife.

Now, his second wife, pregnant, knelt before me, begging me to give them my blessing and let her and Rainer be together.

Rainer stood protectively by her side, telling me not to make things difficult.

Clutching the divorce papers, I gave a faint, self-mocking laugh and didn't bother to say a word.

Later, when I married someone else, Rainer came to sabotage my wedding, refusing to leave.

*****

It felt like my mind had been drowning underwater for years, finally clawing its way back to the surface.

My eyelids were so heavy I couldn't pry them open. First came a ringing in my ears, then the harsh, all-too-familiar stench of disinfectant hit me hard.

I wondered where I was.

My throat was so parched I couldn't even croak out a word, but my fingertips managed a weak twitch.

"Mrs. Thornton, are you awake?" A voice, surprised but deliberately hushed, spoke in my ear.

That title snapped my foggy mind awake for a split second.

Only the people around Rainer would call me that.

I forced my eyelids open, and a hazy light flooded in, slowly bringing the world into focus.

Standing by my bedside was Doyle Conrad, Rainer's secretary.

His face showed just the right amount of respect, but his eyes held none of the old warmth from three years ago, only a detached, almost cold scrutiny.

As soon as he saw me fully awake, he pressed the call button, then bowed slightly and spoke in a steady, almost indifferent tone. "Mrs. Helena Thornton, how are you feeling? The doctor will be here soon."

The way he addressed stabbed right into my barely-awake nerves like a needle.

I wondered why he called me by my full name.

I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a hoarse, raspy breath.

Doyle seemed to pick up on my confusion. He lowered his gaze, his voice steady but laced with a matter-of-fact cruelty. "Mrs. Helena Thornton, you've been in a coma for three years. Mr. Thornton...

"Three years ago, he went to Miracle Mountain to pray for you and ended up falling off a cliff. Mr. Thornton was lucky to survive, but..."

Doyle paused, weighing his words. "When he woke up, he lost some memories. The one thing he forgot was you."

His words thundered through my mind, shattering everything inside me.

After I fell in a coma for three years, he prayed for me, fell off a cliff, and forgot about me.

I recognized every single word, but put together, they formed a reality I just couldn't make sense of.

I wondered if everything we went through together, all those moments that cut deep, all those vows to love each other through life and death would no longer be valid since Rainer forgot about me.

I wondered why Doyle called me Mrs. Helena Thornton. If Rainer didn't remember me, I wondered which woman was with him at the moment.

Questions and fear crashed over me like a tidal wave, leaving me so weak I couldn't even reach out to demand the truth. All I could do was stare helplessly as the ache in my chest kept spreading.

The doctor and nurses hurried in and checked me over, running a bunch of tests.

"Mrs. Thornton's body is slowly recovering, but after being out for so long, she'll need a long road of rehab. Just make sure she stays calm and doesn't get too worked up," the doctor told Doyle.

Just then, the hospital room door opened softly.

I instinctively looked over, and for a split second, my heart stopped.

It was Rainer.

He was dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit, standing tall as ever, but on that ridiculously good-looking face was an expression I'd never seen before, cold, distant, and with a trace of impatience he didn't even bother to hide.

Nestled against his side was a woman in a soft cashmere dress.

She had a gentle, almost ethereal beauty, and her baby bump was impossible to miss. She looked at least several months pregnant.

When she looked at me, there was a careful, almost rehearsed pity in her eyes, along with the unmistakable air of someone who thought she'd already won.

Rainer's gaze fell on me like I was nothing more than a meaningless object, utterly devoid of warmth or recognition.

"You're Helena Thornton?" he asked, his voice cold, every word edged with frost.