What the Fake Amnesia Revealed

After faking amnesia, I looked my husband and son in the eye and asked, "Who are you?" My husband went quiet for a moment before he answered, "My son and I are here to see my wife. Sorry, we must have the wrong room." The second the words left his mouth, my son grabbed his father's sleeve and pulled him toward the door. "Bye, Ma'am. My daddy and I are going to go see my mommy." The room next door belonged to my husband's first love. Chapter 1 I'd fallen from the top of the stairs and ended up in the hospital. Standing in the doorway with a fruit basket in hand were my husband, Dwayne Arnault, and our son, Carl Arnault. The sight of them brought back something Carl had complained about once, "Mom, why are you always so serious? It's boring." I'd fallen because Carl had scattered a handful of glass marbles at the top of the stairs while he was playing around. So when he and Dwayne walked in, I put on a look of confusion and asked, "Who are you?" I'd expected to see panic on their faces, maybe some worry. What I got instead wasn't anything close. Dwayne went quiet for a moment, then said, "My son and I are here to see my wife. Sorry, we must have the wrong room." I looked at Carl next. He was young, and no matter how hard he tried to hide it, I could still see a flicker of pure delight on his face. I froze. Carl tugged at Dwayne's sleeve and motioned for him to bend down, then whispered something in his ear. His voice was too quiet to hear, but I'd studied lip-reading once, and I could "see" what he said. "Dad, now that Mom's lost her memory, can't you just trick her into signing the divorce papers? Then you can marry Laurel... I really like Laurel. I want her to be my new mommy." My heart dropped straight into a frozen abyss. I went cold all over, shaking. I never imagined that the child I'd carried for nine months, the one I'd nearly died giving birth to, would be the one pushing his own father to divorce his own mother. I knew Carl well enough to know he wasn't joking. He meant every word. Before Dwayne could even answer, Carl was already tugging him toward the door. "Bye, Ma'am. My daddy and I are going to go see my mommy." I bit down on the pain tearing through me and crept to the doorway of the room next door. Through the gap in the door, I watched everything unfold inside. Carl was holding the hand of a woman lying in the hospital bed, while Dwayne wrapped his arms around both of them. Father and son wore the same expression — one of tender concern for her. When I finally got a clear look at the woman's face, it hit me like a bolt out of a clear sky. My whole body went rigid. The woman was Laurel Winters — Dwayne's first love, the woman he'd never gotten over. I watched the two of them fuss over Laurel, coaxing her to take her medicine, practically dancing around her to keep her happy. No one would have believed that the ruthless CEO who ran boardrooms like a battlefield and the prodigy son everyone praised could look so pathetic. Carl said to her, "Laurel, you have no idea. Mommy just lies there in bed like a sack of meat — it's disgusting to even look at! When can you be my mommy already? Then you could go to my parent-teacher conferences instead of her..." He rattled it off sweet as honey, but every word cut into me like a blade, leaving me raw and bleeding. I never thought the two people I cherished most in the world could look at me with such contempt. I couldn't stand to watch their happy little family scene any longer. Numb, I made my way back to my own room. A nurse spotted me and rushed over, steadying me with obvious concern. "You just woke up — you need to rest. The doctor said you have a mild concussion..." As she efficiently administered my medication, she kept talking. "That family next door, I don't even know what to say. The woman cut her finger, and those two — father and son — acted like the world was ending. They practically wanted to tear the hospital apart, like that little cut could hurt the baby she's carrying..." Her words sent a wave of shock crashing through me. Once she'd finished with my medication, she asked gently, "What about your family? Your condition isn't mild — you really should have someone looking after you." I gave a hollow smile and said, without any strength left in my voice, "I don't have any family. My husband and son are dead to me." Chapter 2 I checked myself out of the hospital that same day, over the doctor's objections. I stuck to my story — that my husband and son were dead, that I didn't know Dwayne or Carl, though everything and everyone else was still clear in my memory. The doctor told Dwayne it was probably temporary amnesia brought on by the concussion — I might never get my memory back, or I might wake up remembering everything the next morning. Both Dwayne and Carl looked thrilled at the news. After that one brief appearance in my room, they planted themselves at Laurel's bedside and didn't leave. The day I was discharged, it was the same kind young nurse who walked me out. She looked worried the whole time. She hesitated for a long moment before finally getting the words out just as I was about to get in the car. "Ms. Winslet... that Mr. Arnault and his son — are they your family? They've been by Ms. Winters's side this whole time. I just thought you should know." She'd overheard part of Dwayne and Carl's conversation with the doctor, and now her face was full of sympathy for me. I thanked her silently for her kindness, then said flatly, "That's not possible. My husband and son died a long time ago — in a fire. Mr. Arnault and his son are strangers to me." I got into the car after that, but my mind drifted back to a fire from three years ago. I'd never forget that day. It was the day I lost the child in my womb and the ability to ever get pregnant again. I'd just found out I was pregnant that day, and I'd been about to tell Dwayne the good news when he came home drunk out of his mind. The moment he saw me, he started in with the mockery — told me I didn't know my place, that I was nothing but a parasite clinging to him to survive. Carl had gotten sick again that same night. Between nursing him and dealing with a drunk husband, I was run ragged. I brewed Dwayne a pot of black coffee to sober him up, coaxed him into drinking it, then turned all my attention to Carl. By the time I'd finally gotten Carl to settle down, I was pregnant and exhausted beyond what I could take, so I slumped against the edge of the bed and dozed off for a moment. That was when I lost track of what Dwayne was doing. He'd lit a row of candles in the living room — for what, I never found out — and then passed out drunk before putting them out. He hadn't fully extinguished them. The last embers caught, and by the time I woke up, the house was already on fire. I carried Carl on my back and dragged Dwayne, dead drunk, out of the burning house. I made sure both of them were safe. But my own cheek was burned by the flames, and the shock and terror sent me into a miscarriage — one that cost me my ability to ever carry a child again. Afterward, Dwayne blamed me for not being more careful. I was so deeply in love with him back then that when he frowned and asked me how I could have let it happen, I drowned in guilt and took every bit of the blame onto myself. If only I'd stayed alert that night, I told myself. If only. That was the day their eyes toward me changed — thick with disgust every time they looked at the scar on my cheek that would never fully heal. Chapter 3 When I got home, I found Dwayne and Carl already there, with Laurel at their side. They were seated at the dining table, a spread of extravagant dishes laid out in front of them. The moment I stepped inside, I saw Dwayne and Carl served Laurel. I let out a cold laugh. The instant they saw me, the smiles vanished from their faces. The air turned tense, like I was some unwelcome intruder who'd wandered in off the street. Dwayne frowned. "Why did you come back?" he asked, clearly annoyed. Hearing the accusation in his voice, all I wanted to do was laugh. I ignored him, changed out of my shoes, and climbed the stairs. Then I looked down at all three of them from above. "This is my house. Why wouldn't I come back?" Laurel spoke up, sounding uneasy. "Mrs. Arnault, Dwayne and Carl just feel bad that I'm pregnant, so they wanted to look after me. There's nothing more to it." I looked at her. Honestly, I didn't hate Laurel. If anything, I owed her something like gratitude — she was the one who'd shown me exactly what kind of men the two people I loved most really were. Laurel was Dwayne's first love. Back in college, the two of them had been the golden couple everyone on campus talked about. I'd never once seen Dwayne love anyone the way he loved her — like he wanted to hand her the whole world. But Laurel's family hadn't had money, and near the end of their senior year, the Arnault family's business hit a rough patch. To pull them through it, Dwayne's father brought him to my family's door, hoping to arrange a marriage with the Winslets. My family combined old money with political power — not the kind of family the Arnaults could ordinarily reach. But my father owed Dwayne's father his life from an incident years earlier, and I'd just come back from studying abroad and fallen for Dwayne at first sight. So the marriage was settled. Looking back on all the years Dwayne and I were together, it was like he'd cast some kind of spell over me. I gave him everything, wholeheartedly, even when he treated me with cold indifference, even when he kept in touch with Laurel the whole time and dropped everything to be there for her the second she needed him. None of it mattered to me. As long as I could stay by his side, I kept telling myself that if I was just a little better to him, I could eventually take Laurel's place in his heart. So when I was sick, he was out watching the ocean with Laurel because she couldn't sleep. When I went in for every one of my prenatal checkups, he was never there, because Laurel always had some small thing or another she needed his help with. He even sat by Laurel's side the night she had a nightmare, the same night I gave birth to Carl. Thinking back on it now, I was such a fool. I actually believed I could take the place of his precious first love. Dwayne had been right about one thing — I truly didn't know where I stood. What hurt the most was that in the end, even my own son chose Laurel over me. The moment he said those words — "I want Laurel to be my new mommy" — something in me died. Chapter 4 Carl said, annoyed, "Why didn't you even say hello to Laurel?" I looked at the disgust written across his face. My heart was already dead, but somehow it still found room to ache. This was the child I'd loved for seven years... Then, out of nowhere, Carl took Laurel's hand and said, "Laurel, just move in with us! You've got my baby brother or sister in there — you can't be careless! Our house is huge and gorgeous, you'll be so comfortable here. You need to rest and take care of yourself, and I can't wait to start teaching my little sibling!" He shot me a glance, then announced loudly, "The bedroom on the third floor is really nice. Laurel, you should sleep there!" The third-floor bedroom belonged to Dwayne and me. Hearing that, Dwayne shot Carl an approving look. Whatever Carl had just said, it had landed exactly where he wanted it to. On the drive home, I'd already looked into everything. The fire three years ago traced back to the fact that Laurel's parents had died in a car accident. At the time, the Arnault family happened to need the Winslet family's backing for a project, so Dwayne hadn't been able to go be with Laurel while she handled her parents' funeral — under pressure from my family, he hadn't even been allowed to show his face near her. That was why he'd come home that night blackout drunk. He hadn't wanted to face me. And under Dwayne's careful steering, Carl had slowly grown attached to gentle, considerate Laurel, while all I ever did was check his homework — no jokes, no charm, not even pretty to look at, dressed in clothes that had gone out of style years ago. Frumpy, through and through. Thinking about it, I glanced down at what I was wearing and gave a bitter little laugh. After I got together with Dwayne, I'd noticed he didn't care for anything extravagant, so I'd stopped wearing my expensive jewelry and carrying my designer bags. Later, once Carl was born, he refused to let any nanny near him — he'd cry the second I left the room — so I ended up raising him myself, with no time or energy left to think about how I looked. No wonder I couldn't compare to Laurel, who always dressed with such effortless, fashionable ease. Laurel noticed the look on my face and hesitated, sounding troubled. "Carl, you two are the real family here. I'm an outsider — I shouldn't be staying in your house. And if I move in like this, Ms. Winslet won't be happy about it." Carl clung to her hand, whining. He stuck out his lower lip. "Janine wouldn't dare be unhappy about it! Don't worry, she always listens to me and Dad. You don't need to worry about her at all. I really, really want us to be a family, Laurel! You're the most beautiful woman in the whole world. I wish you were my mom." Carl really was Dwayne's son through and through. He'd seemed to understand, from the moment he was born, exactly how much I cared about the two of them — and exactly how certain he could be that I'd never fight back against either of them. Watching their little performance play out below me, I laughed out loud. "Did the two of you forget something? This is my house. My name's on the deed. So who exactly are you, putting on a show in my home?" Chapter 5 At my words, Dwayne gave me a cold look. "Janine, have you had enough of this? Laurel's pregnant. She needs to be taken care of properly. Could you please stop causing scenes?" My eyes drifted, without meaning to, toward the spot where I'd fallen. It had been cleaned spotless by now, and the glass marbles that had nearly killed me were long gone, thrown out by the butler. But I remembered exactly what he'd shown me on the security footage. I'd watched Carl scatter a handful of glass marbles across the top of the stairs, then lean over the railing with a malicious little smirk and shriek, "Mom, my head hurts so bad!" I'd watched him stand there after I tumbled down the stairs, watched him look at me lying unconscious on the floor without so much as calling for help — not until the housekeeper and the maid he'd sent away came back and found me, and only then did he throw himself at me, looking suitably terrified. Those images were burned into my mind. Just thinking about them made me shake all over. I couldn't wrap my head around it — the child I'd nearly died bringing into this world actually had a heart that cruel. Before, when he'd sided with Laurel, I'd been able to tell myself he was just young, that he didn't understand what he was doing. But there was no comforting myself out of this one. Hadn't I been good enough to Dwayne and Carl? Hadn't I debased myself enough for them? Why were they doing this to me? I let out a cold laugh and turned to the butler. "Since when does this house let strangers walk in and throw their weight around in front of me? Get them out... oh, and that woman's pregnant, so don't let anyone rough her up on the way out. I don't want it pinned on me later." The butler acknowledged me and called for the bodyguards. Dwayne's expression darkened. "What are you trying to say? You don't want a peaceful life anymore?" I pressed a hand to my mouth in mock surprise and asked, all innocence, "Who are you people, exactly? What does your wife being pregnant have anything to do with you three living in my house? Is this some kind of shelter for refugees?" Dwayne exploded. "Enough! Have you lost your mind? How dare you insult us like that!" I let the smile drop from my face and stared him down. Seven years ago, one glimpse of him at the old family estate had been enough to root him deep in my heart. Now, looking at him, all I could see was a stranger. A stranger frightening enough to make my skin crawl. Dwayne kept going. "If you hadn't forced me to break up with Laurel back then, I'd have already married her and had kids with her!" I laughed at that. The bodyguards arrived quickly and escorted Laurel out with perfect courtesy. Dwayne and Carl didn't get the same treatment — they were physically thrown out of the villa. I stood in the doorway and watched father and son sprawled in a heap outside, and some of the resentment inside me finally eased. Dwayne snapped at me, furious. "Janine, you'll regret treating us this way!" He helped Carl up, then turned, worried, to ask Laurel if she was all right. Laurel's eyes flicked toward me, and she clutched her stomach and cried out in pain. Seeing that, Carl came charging at me, furious. He was fast, and I'd only just been discharged from the hospital, still weak. He knocked me straight to the ground. Pain tore through my body. Still not satisfied, Carl raised his fist. "If anything happens to my baby brother or sister, I'll never let this go..." His fist came down fast, but the bodyguards reacted in time and caught his arm before it landed. I stared at him coldly while he strained to lunge at me, teeth bared like he wanted to tear into me. I laughed, hollow and hopeless. "I really did raise an ungrateful little monster. "Let's get a divorce."