Chapter 4

Back in the car, my parents and Audrey showed me countless photos and screenshots of text messages.

The massive amount of information perfectly pieced together my life after meeting Scarlett.

After graduating college, I ignored my family's objections and followed Scarlett to Boston, after which I went completely off the grid.

The three of them had gone frantic searching for me.

But by the time they found me and rescued me, I was already completely broken. I had lost my mind.

To block out the trauma of Scarlett, I forgot her and hallucinated a perfect woman named Vivian. I was so obsessed with finding her that I eventually lost control and hurt someone.

"Logan, I admit we bribed the doctor to use aggressive therapy to cure you," Dad said, his eyes red.

"But we had no choice! Normal medicine wasn't working. Only by wiping your memory completely could we help you escape that dark shadow."

"After you were discharged, we wanted to prevent you from relapsing. We wanted to find a perfect woman who closely matched your fantasy of Vivian. But where does a perfect woman like that exist? Chloe was the best candidate we could find."

"But she was already engaged. In our desperation, we had to hire someone to play her part..."

With tears in their eyes, they laid out the entire truth.

Including things I didn't know.

For instance, the woman playing Chloe was actually Stella. She wasn't the heiress of the Chloe Group, but she was an ambitious self-made businesswoman worth millions.

She knew the truth all along and helped my family keep up the charade in exchange for my family's business resources and connections.

Audrey swore to me that as long as our family stood, Stella would stay by my side.

She would become the Vivian of my dreams.

"Logan, for your sake, we haven't slept peacefully in years."

"Do we have to rip our hearts out for you to believe we only want what’s best for you?"

Their tears didn't seem fake.

And the memory of Scarlett in my mind was absolutely real.

With everything perfectly connecting, how could I not believe them?

My eyes grew wet, and I hugged them. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry... I shouldn't have made you worry. But losing my memory and seeing those carved words in the room... I was so scared. I couldn't stop overthinking."

"Please give me some time, okay? I will get through this..."

After that, my parents and Audrey treated me even better.

But they also watched me even closer.

Whenever I went out on dates with Stella, the bodyguards didn't even bother hiding anymore. They followed me openly.

Sometimes, when I showed discomfort, Stella would squeeze my hand to comfort me.

"Logan, your family is just doing this for your own good. They’re scared you’ll do something reckless again."

"We’ve cleared up all the misunderstandings, haven't we? Promise me you won't overthink anymore."

"We didn't stop you these past few days. We even helped you search. Have you found a single trace of Vivian’s existence?"

I nodded quietly, holding her hand back.

"You’re right. If Vivian were real, she would have left some trace."

"Anyway, thank you for coming to Boston with me so I could personally teach Scarlett a lesson. It felt good to get that out of my system."

Behind us, Scarlett was kneeling on the floor, begging for mercy.

Stella didn't hear the whisper I threatened Scarlett with when her back was turned.

“If you want to live, help me find that old iPhone 7 I sent to the repair shop.”

No one knew that I had already found proof of Vivian's existence.

The iPhone 7 and the cracked watch.

I was incredibly glad that before leaving the asylum, I had scraped off the third line of text on the wall. Otherwise, they would have found a perfect excuse for those two items as well.

A few days later, I pretended to wake up from a nightmare.

My parents rushed into my room immediately, asking what was wrong.

I said, "I dreamed of Scarlett again."

"Does Stella have time? Take me to Boston one more time."

I didn't know how they had managed to erase every trace of Vivian.

But I knew that the iPhone 7 must contain messages left by Vivian, or by my past self before the memory wipe...