Fake Amnesia, Real Betrayal: I Left, He Crawled Back

In the fifth year of Irene Shaw's marriage to Ethan Hart, he was involved in a car accident and lost his memory.

No matter how she tried to prove that they had once loved each other, Ethan still insisted on a divorce.

His reasoning was hard to refute. "If I really loved you as much as you claim, how could I forget you?"

The childhood sweetheart who had once cut him off without hesitation had now become his sole emotional anchor.

He looked at Irene coldly. "Since you know this is a mistake, why not end it cleanly?"

The hands that had once refused to let her go now recoiled from even her lightest touch.

Disheartened and exhausted, Irene signed her name and pushed him completely out of her life.

Not long after, Ethan stopped her in the rain, his eyes red from crying.

"Irene, don't leave me. You said I'd never lose you."

As the car window slid shut, the arm around her waist tightened instinctively, and someone spoke before she could. "Drive on. Irene said she doesn't know him."

......

Irene glanced at the thermometer. The fever had subsided.

It seemed the scheduled procedure would not need to be postponed.

Suppressing the headache threatening to flare up, she paused at the turn of the staircase.

Downstairs at the dining table, Sophie Lewis was calmly letting Ethan feed her.

A smile rested on his face, his expression visibly relaxing as he watched her take a few more bites.

Irene frowned without realizing it. Her grip on the handrail tightened, the blood draining from her knuckles. After steadying her breath, she went back downstairs and sat across from them.

"You're awake?"

Sophie hurried to stand, only to be pulled back, a knowing smile playing on her lips.

Acting like the mistress of the house, she called for the servant to bring another set of utensils.

"Ethan had the kitchen make all my favorites. Probably not to your taste, right?"

Irene paused briefly as she took the fork and knife, her peripheral vision catching Ethan's expressionless face.

"It doesn't matter. She's not picky."

Her appetite vanished completely. She picked up a slice of toast, chewed it mechanically, swallowed, then stood and headed out.

Ethan suddenly stopped her. "Wherever you're going, have the driver take you. Sophie wants to use your car."

Irene took a few deep breaths, pulled the keys from her pocket, tossed them onto the table, and left without looking back.

That silver Porsche had been a gift from Ethan.

After five years, she was tired of it too.

A month earlier, Irene's mentor, Caleb Grant had been surprised when he received her application to study in Valemont.

"Ethan agreed to let you go that far? You'll be gone for at least three years. He can accept that? When I tried to persuade you back then, Ethan practically wanted to hold a knife to my throat. I still remember the way he proposed to you in public, eyes red with emotion."

Irene remembered it too. At the time, Harborhaven had been drenched in rain for three straight days.

Ethan had stood there in the rain, holding the ring, for three days. In the end, she softened and said yes.

She thought they would grow closer day by day, their lives finally set into perfectly meshing gears, turning steadily together.

That devotion, however, lasted only five years.

On their wedding anniversary, Ethan was supposed to meet her, but instead was involved in a car accident on the airport expressway and lost his memory.

Sitting in the passenger seat was Sophie, the childhood sweetheart who had once walked away from him without looking back.

The accident report showed that at the moment of impact, he had instinctively shielded her with his own body.

What an instinct.

His memory seemed frozen in the days when he and Sophie were deeply in love, erasing Irene completely.

For more than half a year, she had tried desperately to prove that they had loved each other, accommodating nearly every demand he made.

All she received in return was indifference, disdain, and a divorce agreement.

The look he gave her was filled with nothing but disgust. "If I really loved you the way you say I did, how could I forget you?"

She had to admit that she was beginning to waver.

His question forced her to interrogate herself again and again. What did she really mean to Ethan?

Had giving up her dream of becoming a designer for his sake been a mistake?

Soon enough, the truth struck her like a blow to the head, snapping her fully awake.

Three days earlier, she had mustered the courage to go to his office, intending to tell him she was pregnant.

Instead, she heard Ethan's voice outside the door, along with his mother Elaine Hart's.

"Ethan, even if Sophie is ill, we can give her the best medical care. Pretending to have amnesia for her sake, what are you thinking?"

For a brief moment, it felt as though all the blood in her body had stopped flowing.

Ethan spoke confidently. "I just want to stay close and take care of Sophie. If I didn't pretend to lose my memory, do you think Irene would agree?"

"Taking care of her is one thing, but haven't you gone too far? You've practically been inseparable this entire month. How dare you bring up divorce with Irene?"

Ethan smiled lightly. "If you're acting, you commit fully. Irene can't live without me. She won't agree. Once Sophie finishes her surgery overseas in a month, I'll immediately make things right with Irene. Mom, I do care about Irene. But Sophie and I grew up together. We loved each other once. I can't just let her go."

Irene did not go inside. She turned and walked down the emergency stairwell, one step at a time.

By the time she reached the bottom after more than ten floors, her body was trembling, but her heart had gone cold.

Standing by the roadside, she scheduled the abortion. When she looked up, she realized her eyes were wet.

That very day, she signed the divorce agreement and submitted her application to study in Valemont.

In a month, she would be gone from this place.

Irene went to the hospital, and the surgery went smoothly.

During the observation period, a faint dizziness lingered. It took her a bit of effort to fumble her phone out.

More than a dozen missed calls were from Ethan, mixed in with a stream of messages.

Without exception, every single one was about Sophie.

The silver Porsche had been wrapped in a flashy rose-pink vinyl, because Sophie liked it.

The interior accessories had been completely replaced too. In the photos, an eyesore of a storage box lay on the ground, stuffed with Irene's belongings.

Ethan had rarely bothered to ask her opinion, "Do you want me to bring them back, or throw them away?"

She pressed her lips together before replying, "Throw them away. None of it matters."

The lipstick was a gift from him. The keychain had been a matching pair. Mixed in among them was a lone wedding ring.

She had taken it off the day she learned the truth and tossed it in without a second thought.

None of it mattered anymore.

But Ethan called her directly. "I'm at the hospital with Sophie. Did I just see you?"

She was just about to brush it off when she looked up and saw Ethan coming up from a side elevator, his arm linked with Sophie's.

For a brief moment, the first thought that flashed through Irene's mind was relief.

At least her observation period was over, and she had come downstairs for some air.

Ethan walked over, his expression flat. "What are you doing here?"

"Getting a prescription for nutritional supplements."

Sophie interlaced her fingers with his, tilting her head as she looked at Irene with a half-smile.

"What a coincidence. No matter where I go, I always seem to run into you, Irene."

She had an innocent, first-love kind of face, her tender, luminous skin setting off a pair of eyes that shimmered softly.

Irene felt nothing but irritation at the sight.

She had deliberately chosen a hospital with no ties to the Hart family, yet still managed to run into them.

Ethan didn't notice her pallor at all, or the slight tremor running through her as she stood there.

He only frowned, tightening his grip on Sophie's hand.

"Perfect timing. Sophie wants beef stew. I had Agnes buy the ingredients. Go back and make it."

Irene ignored him completely and walked straight past.

Ethan kept talking behind her, "And nutritional food too. Sophie will want it as soon as we get home."

She had no choice but to stop. Turning back, she looked at him with a mix of anger and disbelief.

"Ethan, if you want to please her, you don't need to order me around. Why does your precious childhood sweetheart insist on eating something I made?"

Before Ethan could respond, Sophie spoke up softly.

"Irene, I heard from Agnes that you used to stay up late cooking all the time. Why is it suddenly not okay when I want some?"

The moment it was mentioned, Irene felt a tight, suffocating pressure in her chest.

In the first two years after the marriage, Ethan had thrown himself entirely into work, exhausting himself fighting his father's illegitimate sons for the family inheritance.

She had set aside everything else, cooking and taking care of him so he could have no worries at home.

Her homemade warm milk for easing hangovers had become famous among his circle of friends, something Ethan often brought up to show off his wife.

But those days were long gone.

With a faint, ironic smile, she glanced at Sophie, who was practically leaning into Ethan's arms.

"Didn't Agnes tell you that myocardial ischemia isn't suited for greasy food? Oh right, Agnes's son died from this exact condition, after all..."

"Irene!" Ethan cut her off sharply, his face livid.

"Irene, why would you curse me out of nowhere?" Sophie's eyes reddened, her lips trembling, looking utterly pitiful.

Irene instantly lost any desire to keep sparring with words. Looking at Sophie for even another second felt unpleasant.

Just as she was about to leave, Ethan suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Apologize to Sophie. You know she's sick. How could you talk to her like that?"

Irene tried to pull free but realized Ethan was using all his strength. She wrenched herself away fiercely, her wrist already ringed with bruises.

"If she's sick, she should go see a doctor. And if saying sorry were enough to cure her..." Irene stared coldly at Ethan's ashen face. "Then what, she's supposed to beg me on the spot?"

"You-" Ethan suddenly raised his hand, only to freeze it mid-swing.

He breathed hard, forcing himself to calm down, his tongue pressing against his cheek.

In a cold, low voice, he said, "Irene, you'll regret this."

Irene didn't spare him a glance. Rubbing her wrist, she turned and walked away.

It didn't take long for her to understand what Ethan meant by regret.

When Elaine informed her about the shareholders' meeting, she hesitated, as if holding something back.

"Irene, Ethan has lost his memory, he doesn't even know what he's doing himself. Don't take it to heart."

In the past, Irene would have teared up at those words of comfort.

But ever since she realized how closely aligned mother and son were, she knew exactly what Ethan was plotting and how Elaine was trying to keep her in place.

There was nothing left for her to cling to.

From the moment she stepped into the meeting room, almost every shareholder looked at her with curious, probing eyes.

Back when Ethan held absolute power, he had coaxed and pestered her into coming to the office with him, claiming he couldn't be away from her for even a second.

"You can sketch or work on your designs next to me. I just don't want you out of my sight."

He had been willful then, reckless in the way only someone intoxicated by love could be.

But after he lost his memory, Irene had never set foot in the company again.

The shareholders whispered among themselves, making no effort to lower their voices despite her presence.

"Why is she still here? Didn't we hear that Mr. Hart already filed for divorce?"

"The Shaw family landed plenty of projects through Mr. Hart over the years. As Gordon Shaw's daughter, how could she possibly give up her position?"

Irene sat there calmly, twirling a pen between her fingers, until Ethan finally arrived, Sophie's arm looped through his.

He pulled out a chair for Sophie, seated her beside him, and naturally took her hand.

Then he cast a scrutinizing glance toward Irene.

"Ms. Shaw, please leave now. I've already signed the equity transfer agreement. You're no longer qualified to sit here."

She laughed softly, the kind of smile that came only when words were pointless.

Irene stood up calmly. She didn't look at Ethan, fixing her gaze instead on Elaine, whose face betrayed a guilty unease.

"I suppose, for now, I still count as your daughter-in-law. Is this really what you wanted?"

Before Elaine could respond, Sophie spoke first, her face ashen. "Irene, this was Ethan's decision. Please don't make things difficult for Elaine."

It was obvious she and Ethan had rehearsed this line of reasoning long ago.

"My parents entrusted all their assets to Ethan back then. Now that they're gone, he wants me to carry on their wishes. That's why he's returning the shares that should have been mine."

Utter nonsense poured from her lips with righteous conviction, bold enough to twist black into white in public.

"Besides, your marriage to Ethan was a mistake to begin with. Your father has caused him plenty of trouble over the years. How much more do you want to take before you're satisfied?"

Seeing the chill deepen in Irene's eyes, Elaine had no choice but to step in.

"Irene, let's talk about this when we get home. Why don't you... head back first?"

Before she could finish, Ethan pressed a call button, his expression icy.

"Security, come escort Ms. Shaw out."

That public display of cutting ties only drew sharper, more mocking looks from the already curious shareholders.

Someone couldn't hold back. "Mrs. Hart... ahem, Ms. Shaw, why not leave on your own? What are you waiting for?"

"If security has to drag you out, it won't look good. What would that do to Gordon's reputation?"

Blood rushed to Irene's head, until her phone began to buzz.

She glanced down quickly. Caleb had sent his congratulations, her application approved.

She let out a quiet breath, pushed back her chair, and walked out without looking back.

If she stayed even one second longer, she feared she might slap that hypocritical face of Ethan's.