Chapter 2

Eleanor Hayes stared at Chloe, her face ashen. The confirmation of Chloe' s identity, spoken so calmly amidst the unbearable tragedy, was a final, devastating blow. She knew, in that moment, that she had lost. The fragile peace she had tried to maintain for five years had shattered along with Chloe's broken memories.

"Chloe, I..." Eleanor began, her voice thick with unshed tears. "I am so, so sorry."

The apology was five years too late. Chloe looked at her, the woman who had placed a family heirloom bracelet on her wrist on her sham wedding day, sobbing about how Jake had "wronged" her. Chloe had thought the wrong was about tricking her into donating a kidney. She had even joked that marrying Jake was the happiest thing in her life, a cruel irony that now felt like a shard of glass in her heart.

The truth was too monstrous, and for five years, her mind had protected her from it. Now, with Leo' s death, the shield was gone.

"When Jake switched your identities," Eleanor confessed, her voice barely a whisper, "I was furious. I wanted to help you leave, to expose him. But he was afraid. Afraid you'd recover your memory, afraid you'd tell everyone what he did to get that kidney for Ava. So he married you. To keep you close, to control you."

Chloe's heart, already numb with pain, felt a fresh wave of turmoil. She had believed Jake was her salvation, the man who would love her despite her "illegitimate" status. She never imagined he was the architect of her entire nightmare.

"I thought... I thought Ava Miller just wanted her mother's position," Eleanor continued, her hands twisting in her lap. "She resented your mother for being Mrs. Davis. She purposefully approached Jake, knowing about our families' potential alliance. She's the one who deliberately told you the truth about Jake's motives, forcing you and your mother to run."

The car accident. It was all coming back. They were fleeing a cheating husband and a manipulative man, hoping for a new beginning. Instead, her mother died, and Chloe was plunged into a five-year-long lie.

"I never imagined she would come back for Jake," Eleanor wept, her composure crumbling. "I truly didn't know she was so greedy. I thought... I thought Jake would eventually be softened by your love, by Leo..."

Chloe' s gaze was cold. The kindness Eleanor had shown her over the years was now tainted. It wasn't for her, not really. It was for Jake. To keep his secret, to maintain his life.

"Chloe Miller is calling him right now, isn't she?" Chloe asked, her voice flat.

Eleanor flinched, then her face hardened with a sudden fury. She pulled out her phone and dialed Jake's number. It was answered almost immediately. The seductive, breathless voice of the other woman, the fake Chloe Davis, filled the quiet room.

"Jake, gently... I can't take it..."

The sounds of passion that followed were unmistakable. Eleanor' s face turned purple with rage.

"JAKE HAYES!" she screamed into the phone.

There was a rustle, and then Jake's annoyed voice came on the line. "Mom, can't you be less of a spoilsport? Today is Ava and my wedding. If you still want grandchildren, stop bothering us."

"Leo is dead!" Eleanor roared, her voice cracking with grief and fury. "He's dead! Get to the hospital now!"

A short, dismissive scoff from Jake. "Mom, you'll say anything to get me to come back, won't you? Aren't you afraid your curse will come true? Leo is my son. I know how to discipline him. Now that Ava is back, I need to make up for everything she's lost!"

He hung up.

The silence in the room was deafening. Eleanor covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with uncontrollable sobs. "Chloe... I'm so sorry... I was wrong... I shouldn't have let him steal your identity, or let him treat you like a prisoner under the guise of 'making amends'..."

She trembled, reaching into her handbag and pulling out a yellowed, folded document. She pressed it into Chloe's hand. It was a divorce agreement, dated five years ago.

"I knew," Eleanor whispered, her eyes filled with a despair that mirrored Chloe's own. "I knew the truth would come out one day. And I knew that once you knew, you wouldn't stay."

Chloe looked down at the document. A bitter, humorless laugh escaped her lips. Five years ago, Eleanor knew her son was a monster, yet she allowed Chloe to live in a gilded cage of lies. Five years later, she knew she couldn't stop him, so she hoped Chloe would just quietly accept his twisted version of "love."

Without a word, Chloe took a pen from the nurse's station and signed her name-her real name, Chloe Davis-on the divorce agreement.

The hospital staff helped her arrange for the funeral home. As they wheeled Leo's small, covered body away, Chloe followed, her back straight, her face a mask of stone.

Eleanor clung to the door of the funeral home car, sobbing. "Let me give him a grand funeral, Chloe. He deserves it. Let me make it up to him."

"He doesn't need it," Chloe said, her voice cold. She wouldn't let the Hayes family's blood money defile Leo's final journey.

Eleanor finally let go, her face crumpling. "Take the ashes, then. I'll... I'll use his belongings for a memorial service. Just let me do that."

Chloe nodded once. She granted her that freedom, but she would not interfere with the choice. It meant nothing to her anymore.

An hour later, Chloe returned to the house she had shared with Jake for five years. She held Leo's urn tightly against her chest. The sound of the front door opening startled the two people entangled on the living room sofa.

Jake quickly pulled a silk robe over Ava Miller's disheveled state. He looked up, a flicker of annoyance on his face.

"I didn't think you'd be back today," he said casually, as if she'd just returned from grocery shopping.

Chloe didn't want Leo, even in this form, to see the sordid scene. She clutched the urn tighter and turned to walk towards the bedroom.

Her silence and the act of being ignored clearly irritated Jake. He frowned, his eyes scanning the doorway behind her.

"Did you leave Leo with my mom again?" he asked, his voice taking on a condescending edge. "Bring him back to apologize to his aunt immediately, and I won't hold him accountable for scaring her into fainting."

His aunt. Chloe wanted to laugh. How could this illegitimate daughter, this woman who had a hand in her mother's death and now her son's, be Leo's aunt?

She stopped and slowly turned to face him. She raised her eyes, meeting his gaze directly.

She articulated each word with chilling clarity.

"Leo is dead."