Christian sat alone in his penthouse that night, staring at the skyline. The city glowed beneath him, but he felt no joy in it. For years he had built his empire, conquered markets, bought luxury no one else could touch. Yet tonight, all he could think of was Bella.
It broke him that she still did not remember. Six years had passed, but to him it was yesterday.
He could still see it the gala. He had not wanted to attend at all. His father had just handed him the reins of Hampson International and insisted he learn the art of networking. Christian had walked into the glittering hall with irritation in his chest, but that irritation had vanished the moment his eyes fell on her.
Bella.
She was in a red dress that hugged her curves and shimmered under the chandeliers. The moment he saw her smile, his entire world shifted. She was beauty and innocence wrapped into one, and Christian had felt, for the first time in his life, like a prince in a story he had never believed in.
He had approached her, his heart beating faster than it ever had in a boardroom.
"Hey," he said.
"Hello," she answered, smiling up at him, her eyes sparkling like green flecked gems.
"I am Chris. And you are?"
She laughed softly, her voice a melody. "You can call me Butterfly."
The name had stuck. To him, she would never be anything else.
They danced. They talked. They laughed like old friends. He had never felt so alive. And then the night blurred. The alcohol, the music, the heat between them. He only remembered waking the next morning in a hotel room, Bella asleep beside him. Naked. Beautiful.
His breath had caught when he noticed the blood on the sheets. Realization struck him like a blade, he had been her first.
He had stood in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity, wrestling with the guilt and the tenderness warring inside him. But when he returned to the bed, she was gone.
Vanished.
He searched for weeks, months. The only lead he found was through Bianca, her best friend. Bianca told him the truth that shattered him all over again: Bella had been in an accident on her way home that very morning. She had suffered memory loss. The doctors had warned against forcing her to remember.
"You mean she lost the last two months of memory?" he had asked, desperate.
"Yes," Bianca had said quietly. "And you were part of those months. She has no recollection of you."
Christian had begged to see her, but fate was cruel. He had been sent to the United States to expand the company's branch. Two years swallowed him whole. And by the time he returned, Bella was nowhere to be found.
Until the day she crashed into his car.
He had not cared about the damage. He had only cared that it was her. She was older now, even more breathtaking. He had thought it was divine intervention. Yet she had looked at him as though he were a stranger.
And that was what he was to her a stranger.
He clenched his jaw, remembering how he had threatened her about her application. It was never about intimidation. It was fear. Fear that she would walk away again, slip through his fingers like smoke. Fear that someone else would see what he saw.
Christian had watched her fight him boldly, never cowering like others did in his presence. He admired that fire. He cherished it. And when she fainted in front of him, he had nearly lost his sanity.
Seeing her again after all those years had reignited everything in him. She was still the only woman who had ever unsettled his heart.
He had even sent her a graduation gift a necklace with matching earrings hoping the word "Butterfly" might stir something in her memory. But she had worn it without recognition. The reminder meant nothing to her, though it meant everything to him.
So he made a decision.
If she could not remember their past, he would build new memories with her. He would protect her from anyone who might try to steal her away. He had already warned her coaches and employees at Hampson Aviation. To them, she was untouchable. His. Even if she did not know it yet.
Christian leaned back against the couch, his hand over his eyes. The ache in his chest was sharp. It hurt every time she looked at him and only saw Christian Hampson, the ruthless billionaire. Not Chris, the boy who once held her under the stars and called her Butterfly.
He whispered to the night, to no one but himself, "One day you will remember me, Bella. But even if you never do, I will never let you go again."