Chapter 1

When the hallway outside my hospital room was in absolute chaos, I was staring blankly at a single obsidian cufflink and a separation agreement on my bedside table.

On the last page of the contract, two names sat side by side: Summer Vance and Julian Vance.

I had absolutely no idea who Julian was.

My father pushed the door open, followed by a man in a long black wool coat. "This is Julian, your adoptive uncle. A few months ago, you went crazy and forced him to get engaged to you. Now that you've got brain damage, you can finally forget all that nonsense and start fresh."

I slid the agreement toward them. "If this was my mistake, then let’s end it."

The room fell into a dead silence. The man named Julian stared at me, his voice so low it sounded like steel scraping against ice. "Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I do," I replied. "I don't remember you. You're free."

The moment the word free left my mouth, I saw something shatter deep within his eyes.

Summer's POV

I woke up to a screaming match outside my hospital room.

My father was furiously questioning the doctor, demanding to know if I had lost my mind along with my balance.

The doctor calmly explained that my fall down the estate's stone steps on that rainy night had damaged my temporal lobe. I had lost a chunk of my memory. As for how much of it would return, that depended entirely on my recovery.

The door wasn't fully closed, and my father’s agitated voice cut right through the crack. "Of all the people to forget, she had to forget Julian!"

Hearing that name stirred absolutely nothing in my heart.

Looking down, I noticed a faint, pale ring mark on the ring finger of my left hand, as if something had occupied that spot for a very long time. On the nightstand sat a single obsidian cufflink and an unsigned annulment agreement.

I flipped to the last page. In the signature section, two names were written side by side: Summer Vance and Julian Vance.

I was tied to this man, yet my mind was a total blank.

The door clicked open. The man who walked in wore a heavy black coat, bringing with him the cold scent of early spring rain. His features were sharp and cold, dark circles of exhaustion shadowing his eyes. He stood two paces away from my bed, not even offering a polite "Does it hurt?"

Instead, his icy gaze locked onto the faint mark on my ring finger, and his brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Summer," my father said, walking in behind him like he had finally found the man who could clean up my mess. "This is Julian. He's your grandfather’s adopted ward—technically your uncle, though you two grew up together. You acted like a total psychopath recently, forcing him into an engagement and dragging him back to the estate. Now that this happened, you can just forget that toxic history and start over."

"Engagement?" My throat tightened.

I looked back at the agreement. Termination of cohabitation, annulment of the engagement, and the return of Julian’s proxy voting rights.

Every single line was a silent accusation: the past version of me had used the Vance family's power to trap this man.

Julian finally spoke. "You don't have to rush your memory."

His voice was deep, distant, and cold. But I saw his hands, resting at his sides, clench so hard his knuckles turned white.

Without hesitation, I pushed the papers toward him. "If this was my mistake, let’s end it now."

The room instantly went dead silent.

My father froze. Julian didn't reach for the papers.

He stared into my eyes, the cold mask on his face cracking for the very first time.

"Do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"I do." I pushed the papers a little closer to him. "I don't remember you, and I have no interest in holding you hostage with a relationship I don't even recall. You're free."

The moment the word free left my lips, Julian's gaze darkened even further.

He didn't take the agreement. Instead, he took a half-step forward. Rainwater dripped from the hem of his coat, and his voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "And what if you get your memory back? Are you sure you won't regret this?"

"Julian! She doesn't remember a thing. Why are you picking a fight with her now?" my father interrupted impatiently. "Just take her back to the estate. We can't let the media get wind of this!"

I understood then. They weren't worried about my pain, nor were they sympathetic to Julian's misery. They only cared about the Vance family reputation and our stock prices.

I pulled the papers back, laying them flat on my lap, and met Julian's gaze. "If I regret it later, that's my problem. But the person I am today cannot keep making mistakes for the person I was yesterday."

Julian stared at me, the flash of panic in his eyes quickly swallowed by an intense coldness. "You better remember what you said today."

"I'll write it down."

I immediately asked the nurse for a pen and paper. Right then and there, I wrote: Day One of waking up. Summer Vance decides to terminate all arrangements holding Julian Vance against his will.

I folded the note and tucked it into the annulment agreement.

Since memory could lie, I needed to leave myself a piece of undeniable evidence.