"I remember the betrayal… not the crash."
The world came back in blinding slivers of light. Blinding. Soft at the edges. Floating in a sea of white. Then came the beeping. A slow, rhythmic sound that tugged at her consciousness, anchoring her to a body that felt far too heavy to belong to her.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, her head pounding like a thousand tiny fists were knocking inside her skull. The air smelled of antiseptic and flowers - lilies. Someone must've brought lilies.
Voices.
Distant. Warped.
"...she's waking up..."
"...call the nurse… the doctor…"
"...Cassi?"
Her throat burned like sandpaper. Her mouth was dry. Her limbs were numb. For a moment, she thought she was dreaming. Floating in some strange, weightless space between memory and oblivion.
"Cassi?"
That voice.
Her stomach twisted.
She turned her head and saw him.
Rick Burke.
His handsome face was lined with concern, eyes wide with a forced smile, like everything was perfectly normal. Like he hadn't-
The memories hit like shattered glass, quick, sharp, and impossible to ignore.
The hotel room. The scent of his cologne. Her stepsister's laugh from behind the half-closed door. His shirt on the floor. Their limbs tangled. Her world - broken.
And her… standing there, frozen in betrayal.
Her heart seized. The pain was instant, raw, as if it had just happened. Because to her, it had.
Rick's hand slid into hers gently, his voice coated in false warmth. "Cassi… baby. You're awake. Thank God."
She tried to speak, but only a rasp came out. Her lips cracked as she forced out a word. "W… water…"
The doctor and nurse rushed in and started checking her vitals while her eyes never left Rick's face. 'Why is he here?'
"You scared us all," he said, brushing her hair off her forehead like he still had the right to touch her, unbothered by the doctor and nurse trying to check on her."You've been out for six months. But you're back now, and that's all that matters."
'Six months?'
Cassi blinked, trying to process the time she had lost. Her last clear memory was driving, windshield streaked with rain, her vision blurred by tears, hands shaking on the steering wheel.
Then nothing. A crash. Darkness.
Now this. Rick sitting beside her, acting like nothing had happened.
"You… stayed?" she croaked.
"Of course," he said with a wounded smile. "You're my fiancee, Cassi. Where else would I be?"
His words stabbed through her fog like a dagger. 'Fiancee? After what he'd done?'
Her pulse spiked. Machines beeped louder. Her fingers clenched the blanket.
From the corner of her eye, movement stirred. The door opened, and in walked her father, Marlon Jones, followed by her stepmother Rica and stepsister Anne.
Anne looked perfect.
Her freshly bob cut styled, shoulder-length blonde hair framed her face flawlessly. She wore a designer coat, and her lips were tinted a soft pink. She offered a smile, polite, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
Fake. Just like her.
'You're also a snake!' Cassi's chest tightened.
She wanted to scream. To rip off the wires in her body. To lunge at Anne and demand an answer. 'How long? Why? How could you?'
But instead, she stayed quiet. She couldn't survive this if she broke now.
Rick moved to stand. "We didn't want to overwhelm you, but… your family's here. Everyone's been praying for you."
Cassi looked past him, her gaze landing on a figure just behind them.
Her grandfather on her late mother's side, Randall Valemont. Tall and commanding despite his age, with silver hair and eyes as sharp as ever. He didn't approach with tears or theatrics. Just calm pride and quiet strength.
She remembered something then. Something from long before Rick. When she was fifteen and her mother had just died, Randall had sat beside her and said, "One day, you'll marry someone who will protect the family name. Someone worthy of you."
She had rolled her eyes. Told him she'd pick her own husband. He'd respected that. Never pushed. But he never truly let go of the idea either.
And suddenly, a plan clicked in her mind like puzzle pieces snapping into place.
A way out.
A way to never let Rick claim her again.
A way to burn the bridge behind her with no way back.
Rick leaned close again, that same concerned look on his face. "I know things are a little hazy right now, but don't worry. We'll get through this. Together."
Cassi turned to him, eyes wide and confused… no, calculated.
"I… I don't remember," she whispered.
Everyone froze.
Rick frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I don't remember being engaged to you."
A beat of silence.
Anne's smile vanished. Rica blinked. Her father's brows drew together.
Grandpa Randall tilted his head, watching closely.
Rick forced a laugh. "You're just disoriented, babe. We were in Daris before the accident, remember? I proposed on the rooftop of that hotel you loved-"
"No," Cassi interrupted, her voice stronger this time. "I remember something else."
All eyes turned to her. She turned toward her grandfather.
"I remember… being engaged to someone else."
Rick's face drained of color. "What?"
Her grandfather took a cautious step forward. "Sweetheart?"
Cassi's eyes stayed on him. Her heart pounded in her chest, but her voice came out clear, firm, laced with just enough innocence to sell the lie.
"You told me once… there was a man. Someone you arranged for me to marry years ago. I remember now. That's the man I agreed to marry."
Rick sputtered. "That never happened-!"
Ignoring Rick's outburst, Grandpa Randall stepped forward, eyes sharp now. "What name do you remember, Cassi?"
She paused, took a breath, and sealed her fate.
"I'm already engaged. To Ezekiel Hastings."
The air in the room shifted.
Rica gasped softly. Anne stiffened. Rick looked like he'd been slapped.
Grandpa Randall, on the other hand, had an unreadable expression but something flickered in his eyes. Approval. Pride. Strategy.
"Well then," he said, voice steady. "If that's what you remember, then I suppose it's time the Hastings and Valemont families meet again."
He turned toward the door, already pulling out his phone. "I'll set a dinner meeting with the Hastings."
Cassi's breath caught in her chest.
It was just supposed to be a bluff. A wall to block Rick. A name to shut them all up.
She didn't expect her grandpa Randall to act so fast. So… decisively.