Chapter 1

"I'm going to do it, Ethan. I'm going to forget him."

My voice was flat, empty of the tears I had already shed. I stood by the window of my apartment, staring down at the city lights that blurred into a meaningless smear.

"Ava, are you sure? Self-hypnosis… it's not some party trick. Erasing a person from your mind, completely? That' s a huge risk."

My brother, Ethan, stood behind me, his voice tight with concern. He was always the protective one, the steady rock in my life.

"What's the alternative?" I turned to face him, my hands clenched at my sides. "Living with this? Remembering every day how he looked at me, knowing it was all a lie? Knowing he faked amnesia just to marry Chloe without a fuss? I can' t. It's eating me alive."

The story was like something from a cheap drama. Liam, my fiancé, the brilliant tech entrepreneur, got into a car accident. He woke up with "amnesia," conveniently forgetting only me. He then announced his engagement to his childhood friend, Chloe, who supposedly needed a risky brain surgery and wanted her dream wedding before she went under the knife.

It was all a carefully constructed lie. Ethan had found the proof, the texts between Liam and Chloe, planning the whole thing. The "amnesia" was a way to discard me without looking like the bad guy. The "brain surgery" was a ploy for sympathy.

"I know it hurts," Ethan said, his expression pained. "But you're strong. You can get through this without resorting to something so drastic."

"I don't want to be strong," I said, my voice cracking for the first time. "I just want peace. I want to wake up one morning and not have his name be the first thing that cuts into me." My gaze drifted to the engagement papers on the coffee table, the ones that had nothing to do with Liam. "I have to marry Daniel. It's the only way to clear dad's debt. I can't walk into that life carrying this baggage. It's not fair to him, and it's not fair to me."

I walked over to my desk and picked up a small, worn book on hypnotic techniques. I had studied it in college, a strange hobby that had fascinated me. The ability to access the subconscious, to reshape perception. I never thought I would use it on myself, for something like this. It was a special skill I had, a private talent, and now it felt like my only escape.

I remembered the past three years with a clarity that was agonizing. I was the dedicated architect who put her own projects on hold to help him design his new company headquarters. I was the one who listened to his endless rants about venture capitalists and coding bugs, my own dreams taking a backseat. I poured everything I had into him, into us. I designed our future home, every line drawn with love and a belief in our shared destiny. I remember showing him the blueprints, his smile distracted, his eyes already looking somewhere else. It was an unequal love, and I had been too blind to see it.

The awakening was brutal. Ethan had placed Liam' s phone in my hands, open to the message thread with Chloe. "The amnesia act is working perfectly," Liam had written. "Ava is devastated, but she'll get over it. We can finally have the wedding you've always wanted, my love. No more obstacles."

Reading those words felt like a physical blow. The air left my lungs. The world I had built with him, the future I had designed, crumbled into dust around me. The betrayal was absolute, a cold, sharp thing that lodged itself in my chest. He hadn't just left me, he had orchestrated my heartbreak with cold, calculated precision.

"I'm ready," I said to Ethan, my voice firm again. I sat down on the sofa, the book in my lap. "I'm erasing Liam. All of it. The engagement, the love, the betrayal. He will become a stranger."

Ethan watched me, his face a mixture of fear and resignation. He knew he couldn't stop me. He saw the brokenness in my eyes and understood that this was my last resort.

"Okay," he whispered, sitting across from me. "I'll be right here. The whole time."

I opened the book to the marked page. I focused on my breathing, letting the rhythmic sound fill my mind. I followed the steps I had memorized, guiding myself down into a state of deep relaxation. I pictured my memories of Liam as a collection of photographs in a long hallway. One by one, I took them down. His smile, his voice, the feel of his hand in mine. The arguments, the late nights, the final, gut-wrenching discovery. I packed them all into a box, sealed it shut, and pushed it into a black, endless void. The name 'Liam' became a meaningless sound. The face became a blur. The pain associated with him dissolved into nothingness.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Ethan' s worried face.

"Ava? How do you feel?"

I blinked, my mind feeling strangely quiet, clean. "I feel… fine." I looked at him, confused by his anxiety. "Why? Did something happen?"

Ethan' s shoulders sagged in relief. "It worked," he breathed out. He pointed to a picture frame on the mantelpiece. It was a photo of me and a handsome, dark-haired man, both of us smiling. I didn't recognize him. "Do you know who that is?"

I squinted at the photo. "No. Should I?"

He let out a shaky laugh. "No. You shouldn't." He walked over, took the photo out of the frame, and tore it into small pieces, dropping them into the trash. He had confirmed it. The memory wipe was a success. He explained that a man had hurt me deeply, and I had chosen to forget him to start fresh.

"A man hurt me?" I asked, a flicker of curiosity but no pain. It was like hearing a story about someone else. "Well, that's in the past. What's next?" I looked at the papers on the table. "I need to get ready. I' m meeting my fiancé' s representative tomorrow to finalize the travel arrangements to his estate." My voice was practical, focused. I was marrying a reclusive billionaire named Daniel to settle a family debt, a man rumored to be disfigured in a fire. The thought didn't scare me, it was simply a fact, a step in my new life.

The next day, as I was leaving a coffee shop after a meeting with Daniel's assistant, a man blocked my path. He was tall and had the kind of charismatic face that usually graced magazine covers. He was staring at me with an expression of intense, angry disbelief.

"Ava," he said, his voice a low growl. "What the hell is this? Marrying some disfigured old man? Is this your new game to make me jealous? It's not funny."

I stared back at him, completely baffled. "I'm sorry," I said, trying to step around him. "Do I know you?"

His face contorted with fury. "Stop it! Just stop this ridiculous act!" he spat, grabbing my arm. "You're not forgetting me that easily."