The room went still.
Lyvana blinked slowly, her eyes looked a bit unfocused.
"Why am I in a hospital?" she murmured.
Damon exchanged a worried look with Isabel. Sothing was wrong.
"Do you rember what happened, darling?" Lady Glowen asked.
"I was at... my engagent party with Mark," she said slowly, her eyes searching the ceiling for mories. "Then... I don’t rember much after that..."
Her voice faded away.
"I don’t rember anything after that. What happened? Why is everyone looking at like that?"
"Emily," Damon said sharply. "I think you should get the doctor."
Emily didn’t wait. She turned and rushed out of the room.
Her mind was spinning. If Lyvana didn’t rember Julian, she wouldn’t rember that the pregnancy belonged to him. She would think they were Mark’s. How would she react to being told?
The family had just found out about the pregnancy themselves, and they had no idea that Lyvana and Julian were even in a relationship.
Oooh, this is getting a bit complicated, Emily thought, her stomach twisting in knots.
Inside the room, the others were equally worried.
Lady Glowen’s grip on Lyvana’s hand tightened. It was clear that her mind had stopped at the night of the party.
"It’s alright, honey," Lady Glowen said softly, her voice calm despite the panic rising in her chest. "Don’t force it. Just breathe. You’re safe now."
She leaned over and kissed her forehead.
A few minutes later, the doctor hurried in and moved straight to the bed.
After careful examination, he looked at the family and sighed.
"This is common after a shock, The doctor explained. "Her brain is blocking recent mories to protect itself. It’s retrograde amnesia. It might be temporary, but we need to perform an MRI to check for swelling."
"When will she get her mory back?"
"It is hard to say," the doctor replied. "Sotis it returns in a few hours, or a few days. Sotis it takes much longer "
The room fell into a heavy silence as the family processed the doctor’s words.
....
All the way in Spain, Frederick, Mark’s father, paced back and forth as he barked into the phone.
"The entire family is laughing, Susan! We’re the lead story in every gossip forum from here to the coast because of that buffoon you call a son."
On the other end, Susan sighed, sounding bored.
"Relax, Frederick," Susan said, dismissing his anger. "People have short mories. They will forget about this soon enough."
"I don’t believe that for a second," he snapped. "As usual, I am the last person to know what is going on in my own family."
"Well, you chose to be an outsider," Susan replied coldly.
"Nonsense! I am busy making money for all of you. Not that it matters. It’s never enough for you. You refuse to face the simple truth. Our money is gone, Susan. But you just keep living your lavish lifestyle like nothing has changed."
"If the money is gone, it’s because you weren’t smart enough to keep it. Don’t bla my taste for your failures. Besides, my lifestyle is the only thing keeping up our reputation!"
Frederick let out a harsh, bitter laugh.
"Our reputation? Our son is a laughing stock, and we are drowning in debt. Image won’t pay the bills, Susan. We are one step away from losing everything."
"Then fix it," Susan snapped.
"What we need is for Mark to get back with Lyvana. Once they are back together, we will get her trust fund money to pay off our debts. That was the initial plan. I don’t know when you and your son decided to change it."
"I didn’t change anything!"
"No? You were the one who told him to sow his wild oats before the wedding! You encouraged his distractions, and now the girl is gone because our son couldn’t keep his pants zipped for six months."
"Don’t you dare pin this on ," Susan hissed. "I told him to be discreet, not stupid. If he had played his cards right, they would be married by now and we wouldn’t be counting pennies."
Frederick leaned against his mahogany desk, feeling tired.
"It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. The situation has changed. From what I hear, Lyvana isn’t exactly waiting for him with open arms. There is another man involved now. A Blackwood sothing."
"How do you know that?"
"I read the papers, Susan, and she is a bit popular now, isn’t she?" Then he paused. "Do you rember Amos?"
"That blockhead nephew of yours?"
"Watch your mouth. He is better than most of the people on your side of the family."
"Better at what? Getting into trouble?" Susan scoffed. "If you’re thinking of using him to solve this, we are really not that desperate."
"Shut up and listen! Amos has modified the video. He has deep-faked the faces. Now, we can claim it was a sar campaign by a competitor. The family will buy it because they want to believe anything. The problem however is how to convince Lyvana to take him back."
"That’s easy she has always loved Mark and believed in him."
"I don’t think you realize she has changed. A lot. Where is Mark?"
"I don’t know where he is."
"Then find him!" Frederick snapped. "Tell him to send her flowers. Tell him to cry. I don’t care what he has to do. He needs to make her forgive him for that... ss."
He paused
"And tell him to stay away from that Clarisse woman until this is settled!" Frederick added.
Susan went quiet for a mont, then let out a slow breath.
"Fine," she said at last, her tone sharpening with purpose. "I’ll find him. And I’ll fix this."
"You’d better," Frederick muttered.
Then the line went dead.
Susan lowered her phone slowly, her eyes darkening as she stared at her reflection in the mirror across the room.
Everything... was becoming complicated.
She used to be able to control Lyvana easily. Now, she had suddenly beco famous and more confident.
Susan’s lips pressed into a thin line.
"Ungrateful girl," she murmured.
She turned sharply and grabbed her handbag.
Back in the hospital, Julian stood outside Lyvana’s room, his eyes fixed on the door.
He contemplated whether to enter or not. Behind him, Ethan stood quietly.
Everyone else was gone now. Only Emily was still inside the room with Lyvana.
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