"Did you do this? Hugh, why?" Something inside her had cracked open, and the way he was looking at her, cold and completely unmoved, made it worse. A sound tore out of her before she could stop it.
She threw herself at him. The bodyguards caught her before she could get close.
Hugh got up from his seat, walked over to her, and crouched down to her level. His fingers closed around her chin and tilted her face up toward his. "Did you already forget what you did last week? This is nothing compared to that. A small taste of what Rosalie felt."
Hugh had been the love of her life for years.
A year ago, he had been planning to propose. During the rehearsal for the occasion, the helicopter went down into the sea and Hugh disappeared with it.
Nobody could talk her out of looking for him. She spent six solid months searching, putting everything she had into it, before she finally found him on a remote island far from anywhere. When Kaitlin got to him, he didn't know who she was anymore. His memory was gone, and standing beside him was another woman.
Her name was Rosalie Douglas, the daughter of one of the company's business partners. She had gone after Hugh once before and been turned down without any ambiguity, and yet she had never quite managed to stay away from him over the years.
Following the plane crash, Hugh spent six months living on an island with Rosalie while claiming he had no memory of his former life with Kaitlin.
Despite being shown photographic evidence of their past relationship, Hugh chose Rosalie every time and viewed Kaitlin's efforts as a mere annoyance.
Still, Kaitlin felt grateful to Rosalie for saving Hugh's life. But their lives changed forever during a shopping trip where Rosalie got bullied.
Blaming Kaitlin for it, Hugh decided to seek revenge in the exact same manner.
"I am telling you the truth; I had nothing to do with that!" Kaitlin sobbed as tears filled her eyes.
Looking at him, she realized that the man she loved had become a cold stranger whose presence only caused her more pain.
Hugh snorted with pure disgust. "You set the whole thing up," he accused. "You are simply facing the consequences for your actions."
The irony of the situation was almost too much for her to bear.
Waiting for the silence to stretch out, she finally let out a raspy laugh. "You are going to regret this day for the rest of your life, Hugh."
Hugh narrowed his eyes. "My only regret is that I didn't remove you from my life sooner after what you did to the woman I actually love."
Stunned, Kaitlin repeated his words about his love for Rosalie in her mind.
To her horror, he had discarded all their memories to focus on Rosalie.
Suddenly, the tension was broken when Hugh's assistant approached. "Mr. Williams, you have a call from Miss Douglas," the man announced.
Hugh's sneer softened into a tone of pure tenderness as he spoke into the phone. "Rosalie, has the dress arrived yet? Make sure to try it on. If there's even a slight issue with the fit, I'll have the designer over immediately to adjust it. I want you to look absolutely flawless for the wedding next month."
From the other end of the line, Rosalie's voice sounded delicate and shy. "I love it, Hugh, really. Thank you. But... what about your ex-girlfriend?"
Hugh's face instantly hardened into a mask of ice as his gaze flicked toward Kaitlin, who sat with her head bowed, looking as though her very soul had been hollowed out. "You are being far too kind and trying to defend her. The truth is, when I think of love, I only see the memories we shared. I feel nothing for her-it's a blank space. Surely, if she meant anything to me, I wouldn't have been able to forget her so easily."
At those words, Kaitlin's head snapped up with mechanical stiffness. Her eyes were completely parched-void of light, void of hope, and finally, void of tears.
A jagged, hollow laugh escaped her lips as her entire frame began to shudder; finally, she forced out the words with a chilling finality. "Hugh, there is absolutely nothing left for us now."