Chapter 1

After Ethan was rescued from the fire, he claimed he'd lost his memory.

He remembered everyone but me. His own wife of five years. Completely forgotten.

To keep his little assistant around, he called me a desperate, clingy lunatic in public.

At first, I thought the injury had messed with his head. So I held back my pain and took care of him.

Then I found out it was all an act. A disgusting lie to replace me with someone younger.

Since he loved to act, I decided to play along. I'd pretend to lose my memory too.

Right in front of him, I threw my arms around the most powerful heir without hesitation and called him "husband" in the sweetest voice.

Today was my birthday.

At ten o'clock at night, Ethan Grey still hadn't come home.

I called him, but his personal assistant Susan answered instead.

On the other end, Ethan's voice was muffled and indulgent. "Susan, stop fooling around."

I hung up in fury and sent him a text about divorce.

One minute later, Ethan's call came through. "Miranda Walsh, are you ever going to stop? I booked a hotel. I'll celebrate your birthday there, okay?"

Not wanting to ruin my birthday completely, I reluctantly took a cab to South Mountain.

But halfway up the mountainside, the road ahead was completely blocked by police tape.

South Mountain Restaurant had caught fire. The flames had turned half the sky red.

I don't know how I made it to the emergency building at City Hospital.

The nurse's station told me he was in a special care room on the third floor.

I didn't even wait for the elevator. I ran up the emergency stairs like a madwoman, losing a shoe along the way without bothering to pick it up.

At the hospital room door, it was left slightly ajar.

I pushed it open.

Ethan was wearing a hospital gown with a white gauze bandage on his forehead, sitting safely against the headboard.

And his arms were wrapped tightly around a completely uninjured woman.

It was Susan, the assistant who'd been fooling around with him on the phone.

Ethan was looking down at her, coaxing her in a gentle voice. "As long as I'm here, I'll never let anything happen to you."

I froze in the doorway, my nails digging into my palms.

Hearing the door open, Susan jumped out of his embrace like she'd been electrocuted.

She turned around, looking at me with reddened eyes, though a barely perceptible flash of panic crossed her gaze. "Miranda..."

Ethan's eyes followed.

The tender look from moments ago turned to ice the instant he saw me.

He showed no guilt at being caught in an affair. He pulled Susan behind him, his defensive gaze sweeping over me from head to toe.

"Who are you? Who gave you permission to barge into my hospital room?"

I stood stunned, my breathing stopped for a beat.

"Ethan, what kind of joke is this?" I forced down my trembling voice and took a step forward. "I'm Miranda Walsh! I'm your wife!"

"Wife?"

Ethan let out a cold laugh, his lips full of mockery.

"Did you suffer some kind of shock that made you lose your mind?" Ethan's eyes were ice cold, his ridicule merciless. "Even if my brain got burned by the fire, I would never marry you."

I stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

Susan hid behind him and spoke timidly. "Mr. Grey, the doctor said you inhaled dense smoke that damaged your nerves, causing retrograde amnesia. Miranda... she really is your wife."

Ethan's expression instantly darkened.

He grasped Susan's hand in return, his tone somewhat displeased. "Susan, you don't need to speak up for her. The only person I've ever loved in my life is you. I've never been married!"

He stared at me intensely, his eyes full of undisguised rejection.

"Even if I did get married, who knows what methods she used to force me! Please leave immediately and stop disturbing us!"