Chapter 1

Ava Miller picked up the tiny, pearl-studded tiara.

It was supposed to be her "something new."

Her wedding to Ethan Reed was only three weeks away. Seven years. They had been together for seven long, happy years.

Or so she had thought.

Now, Ethan didn't remember her.

Not her face, not her name, not a single day of those seven years.

The doctors called it selective amnesia. A minor knock on the head during that stupid "charity Tough Mudder" he'd insisted they do. He remembered his parents, his business, even his damn dog, Buster.

Just not Ava.

"I'm so sorry," he'd said, his eyes, usually warm and full of love for her, now held only polite confusion. "You seem like a nice person, but I... I just don't know you."

Ava put the tiara down. Her hands were shaking.

She had to make him remember. Their whole life was in boxes, labeled "Ethan & Ava's Future."

She spent days turning their apartment into a museum of their love.

Photo albums stacked on the coffee table. His favorite, their trip to Montauk, opened to the page where he'd pretended to propose with a seashell.

She played their song, a soft indie track from a concert they'd stumbled upon in their first year.

He just smiled politely. "Catchy tune."

Her best friend, Maya Rodriguez, a paralegal with a bullshit detector sharper than any lawyer's, wasn't buying it.

"Ava, honey, this is... convenient," Maya had said, stirring her iced coffee, her eyes narrowed. "Loses memory of just his fiancée weeks before the wedding? What is this, a soap opera?"

"It was a head injury, Maya."

"A 'minor' head injury," Maya corrected. "Look, I just want you to be careful."

Ava waved it off. She had to believe. She was researching neurologists, joining online forums for partners of amnesia patients. She was going to fix this. She had to.

She was in Ethan's home office, searching for an old concert ticket stub. Dr. Matthews said familiar objects could be triggers.

The office was messy, Ethan's usual organized chaos.

His laptop was open, a video call still active but minimized. She heard voices.

Ethan's voice. Laughing.

"... total genius move, I'm telling you. Best idea I've ever had."

Ava froze.

Another voice, one of his old frat brothers, Mark, cackled. "So, this amnesia thing is legit working? She buys it?"

"Hook, line, and sinker," Ethan boasted. Ava could hear the smirk in his voice. "Another month of freedom, boys. Chloe Vance, that influencer I was telling you about? She's definitely on board for a good time. A little hall pass before I settle down."

Her breath caught. Chloe Vance? The one with millions of followers and barely-there outfits?

"And then what?" another friend, Dave, asked. "You just magically get your memory back?"

"Exactly!" Ethan's laugh was loud, carefree. "Right before the wedding. She'll be so relieved, so grateful I 'remember' her. Forgive and forget any little... confusion during my 'illness.' Ava always forgives me. She's a keeper that way."

The concert ticket stub slipped from Ava's fingers. It fluttered to the floor.

The world tilted.

Her father's smiling face, then his strained excuses. Her mother's tears. The slam of a door. The word 'divorce' hanging in the air like poison.

This was that, all over again. The same sickening betrayal.

Trust didn't just crack; it vaporized.

She backed out of the office, silent. Her heart hammered a painful rhythm against her ribs.

He thought she'd forgive him. He was counting on it.

She walked into their bedroom, the room they were supposed to share as husband and wife.

She looked at the wedding dress hanging on the back of the door, pristine and white.

A lie. It was all a lie.

She wouldn't marry him. She couldn't.

But she couldn't let him know she knew. Not yet.

A tiny, cold seed of a plan began to sprout in the wasteland of her heart.

She would play along. For now.