Introduction

A dull ache throbbed at the back of my head.

I woke up in a stark white hospital room, not knowing where I was, or even who I was.

Then they came-my adoptive parents, my wife Olivia, and my brother Liam.

Instead of concern, their faces were etched with annoyance.

They called me Ethan, but the name felt foreign.

They spoke about me as if I were furniture, criticizing my "stunts" and how I always sought attention.

Olivia, stunning and cold, entered, her eyes reflecting deep dislike.

Liam softened instantly for her.

Then Olivia spoke, revealing a devastating truth: "The CEO of Reed Tech' s husband tried to kill himself again. It' s humiliating."

Worse, whispers from the hallway confirmed it: "She' s in love with his brother."

I was married to a woman who despised me, living a pathetic life in a favored brother' s shadow.

It was a life of begging for love that was never given.

Panic started to build, but then a strange calm washed over me.

The amnesia wasn' t a curse; it was a mercy.

It was a blank slate, a chance to escape a prison I didn' t remember entering.

They thought I was the same weak, desperate Ethan.

They were wrong.

I wasn't him anymore.

I was no one.

And I could become anyone.

I made a decision, right there in that sterile room, surrounded by people who wished I didn't exist.

I would grant them their wish.

I reached for the phone.

I didn' t call a friend.

I called a lawyer.

"I need to file for divorce," I said, my voice steady.

"And I want to discuss severing ties with my adoptive family."

A new chapter was about to begin.