Her Fake Memory Loss, His Real Goodbye

tered a seven-year-

convinced that science and love could bring back the woman who had accepted his proposal. However, an overheard phone call plunged him into despair-Avery had never suffered from amnesia. She

came the sharpest blade, Holden didn't break down, didn't confront her. He simply picked up his

planned disap

ned unaware-her puppet had cut all its strings, and the sc

pte

e rain lashing against his apartment window. "Dr. Alistair. He's the bes

ar that the plastic groaned. On the other end o

id you

was flat, distant. Like she was speaking

in favors he'd saved for years, to get an appointment with a man who w

eyes shut. She's not herself. The accident. The amnesi

d, forcing warmth into his tone.

n." The line

and inside him. This would fix it. This would bring back the woman he'd asked to marry him six months ago, before a patch of black ice and a careless driver

old beneath his bare feet. As he reached for a glass, his phon

talk?

bs. Something was wrong. He hit call,

" he asked, h

s laugh in the background. It wasn't the flat, empty sound he'd been hearing for weeks.

ough the phone, clear as a bell. "'We'll get through this. Together.' He

ing over the whiskey bottle.

aid, her voice a nervous whisper. "It'

idea of being my savior, he'd never suspect. This whole 'selective amnesia' thing is genius. It's a consequence-free hall pass. And the

feel them. He couldn't feel anything except a spreading, glacial coldness

just put back on the she

o a conspiratorial purr. "He's my toy. And no matter

e counter, the tinny sound of their voices continuing to spill into the

confirmation. Dr. Alistair.

remor that quickly escalated into a violent, uncontrollable shaking

per from the desk. He ripped it in half. Then again. And again. He kept tearing until the pieces

gone. All that was left was the

subsided, replaced by an unnerving stillness. He walked ba

ethodical precision. He bypassed her name, bypassed his f

ked up on th

tly level, devoid of any emotion. "I need to make an appointment. W