Chapter 4

I watched the socialites fawn over Chloe and Ethan, a strange sense of calm washing over me. Their whispers, their judgments, they didn't touch me anymore. I was an observer in my own life, detached, waiting.

Chloe, flushed with champagne and attention, turned to Ethan. "Oh, Eth, I wish we could just get married right now! Start our future together, officially."

The crowd cooed. Someone shouted, "Kiss her, Ethan!"

Ethan, ever the showman, grinned. He leaned down and gave Chloe a lingering kiss. The crowd applauded.

His eyes, however, flickered towards me for a split second over Chloe's shoulder. A strange, almost challenging look.

I turned away. I couldn't watch. It wasn't jealousy, not anymore. It was a profound weariness.

As I moved towards the edge of the room, a group of Chloe's friends, women I vaguely knew from college, cornered me.

"Well, well, Ava Miller," one of them, Tiffany, sneered. "Playing second fiddle must be hard. Especially when Ethan was so obviously head-over-heels for Chloe back in the day. He never looked at anyone else the way he looked at her."

"He used to follow her around like a puppy," another added, her voice dripping with malice. "Wrote her poems, even. Can you imagine Ethan Carter writing poems?"

They were trying to provoke me, to humiliate me.

I just smiled faintly. "Liam is a wonderful man. I'm very happy."

Tiffany's eyes narrowed. "Happy? Or settling? Because everyone knows Ethan and Chloe are endgame. Always have been, always will be."

She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a vicious whisper. "He was never going to marry you, Ava. You were just a placeholder. A warm body until Chloe came back."

Her words, meant to wound, barely registered. I already knew.

Then, Tiffany did something unexpected. She shoved me. Hard.

"Oops," she said, not sounding sorry at all.

I stumbled backwards, losing my balance. Behind me was the ornate railing of a balcony overlooking the Hudson River. The party was on a renovated pier.

My heel caught. I flailed, trying to grab onto something, anything.

And then I was falling.

The cold, dark water of the Hudson rushed up to meet me.

I hit the water with a shocking impact, the air forced from my lungs. The currents were strong, pulling me under. Panic seized me. I couldn't swim well, not in this current, not in my dress.

I saw Ethan's face at the railing above, his eyes wide with shock. "Ava!" he yelled. He looked like he was about to dive in.

For a fleeting second, a wild, irrational hope surged. He'd save me.

Then, Chloe shrieked. A high-pitched, theatrical sound. "Ethan! Oh my god, I think I'm going to faint! The shock! My head!" She swayed dramatically, clutching her forehead.

Ethan's head whipped around. His focus shifted instantly.

He rushed to Chloe's side, catching her as she "swooned" into his arms. "Chloe! Baby, are you okay?"

He didn't look back at the water. He didn't look back at me.

He chose her. Again.

The current pulled me further out, further down. My lungs burned. Darkness crept at the edges of my vision.

Then, strong hands grabbed me. Liam.

He'd dived in without hesitation. He pulled me to the surface, his arm securely around my waist, fighting the strong undertow.

He got me to a nearby ladder, helping me climb out, coughing and sputtering.

On the pier, Ethan was still comforting a "distressed" Chloe, who was now sobbing into his chest. He hadn't even noticed I was out of the water.

Liam wrapped his own jacket around my shivering shoulders. His face was grim.

The Hamptons weekend, a few weeks later, was supposed to be a "family bonding" experience, insisted upon by Eleanor and Richard Carter, Ethan and Liam's parents. They were wealthy, influential figures, concerned about Chloe, but also increasingly aware of Ethan's deceptions and Liam's quiet integrity.

We were at their sprawling beach house. Chloe, ever playful, decided to try paddleboarding. Ethan, of course, was her eager instructor.

She "accidentally" fell off the board into the relatively shallow water, shrieking with laughter, then feigned panic.

"Ethan! Help me! I can't swim!" (A lie, I knew she was a strong swimmer).

Ethan, ever the hero, dived in dramatically, pulling her from the water with a flourish, carrying her to the beach like a conquering hero rescuing a damsel.

I had waded in to help, concerned despite myself. As I turned to go back to shore, a rogue wave, stronger than the others, knocked me off my feet. I was pulled into a surprisingly strong undertow.

I struggled, swallowing water, the current dragging me out.

It was Liam, again, who noticed. Liam who dived in, calm and efficient, and pulled me out while Ethan was still toweling off a giggling Chloe on the beach, oblivious.

Chloe visited me later, while I was resting, wrapped in a blanket.

"Oh, Ava, are you okay? Tiffany and the girls can be so mean. I'm so sorry they pushed you. They told me it was an accident." She sounded so sincere, so innocent.

I just nodded, too tired to argue.

"They were just jealous, I think," Chloe continued, fluffing a pillow. "Because Ethan and I are so happy."

She paused, then looked at me curiously. "So, Liam... he's nice, right? Quiet, though. Not like Ethan."

"Liam is a good man," I said.

"Ethan told me you two are planning to get married soon. That's why I was asking about him. Future brother-in-law, you know."

She sighed contentedly. "I want to marry Ethan too. As soon as possible. He was so devoted to me before... before I lost my memory. Did you know him back then? He was so love-struck. It was adorable."

Love-struck. Yes, I'd seen glimpses of that Ethan. The Ethan who wrote poems. The Ethan who would give up his jacket.

The Ethan who would dive into the ocean for Chloe, but not for me.

My heart ached with a dull, familiar pain. He was capable of that all-consuming love. Just not with me. It was always Chloe.

"My amnesia is so frustrating," Chloe said, her brow furrowing. "Ethan won't tell me much about the accident. Just that I was sailing, and there was a storm. Do you know any more details, Ava? You were... around then, weren't you?"

I looked at her, at her genuinely puzzled expression. She deserved to know. She deserved the truth about how she'd ended up back in Ethan's orbit.

"Chloe," I began, "the accident..."

The door opened. Ethan walked in, a tray with tea in his hands. "Here we are, ladies. Just what the doctor ordered." He smiled, but his eyes darted between me and Chloe, a sudden tension in his posture.

He'd heard. And he was stopping me.