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“Please stay calm. I know this is stressful, but just bear with me for a moment.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. There were bags under his eyes, his clothing wrinkled. “What’s the last thing you remember?” His eyes burned into mine, and I looked away.
“Um…” I stared at my fingers, a giant diamond ring on my left hand. What the hell? My head throbbed, and I closed my eyes. “Uh, I was with Juliet. We were moving into an office. Our business, the Shiver Box. We were just moving in days ago.” I shook my head.
Ryzen’s face was unreadable as he gazed down at me. “You and Juliet moved into that office three years ago, Nova.”
My mouth fell open as his words sank in. Three years? I was missing three years of memories? No, it couldn’t be. Ryzen paced around the bed, his hands stuffed into his pants pockets.
“We met last year when you moved into my building. It was love at first sight. We’re engaged, Nova. Happy. In love.” A dimple appeared on his cheek when he smiled, and I blinked my eyes rapidly. He grabbed a stack of photos from the nightstand and handed them to me. “See for yourself.”
My hands shook as I grabbed the photos. I stared at the one on top without blinking for a moment. It was a picture of me, except I was dressed like a rich bitch, and Ryzen’s arm was draped over my shoulder. The smile on my face was spread from ear to ear. The next photo was nearly the same. They were all of me smiling or laughing, Ryzen kissing my cheek or holding my hand, or us kissing. To say it was jarring would be an understatement.
It was me, but I didn’t recognize myself. Who the hell had I turned into? There were so many photos of us, and in almost all of them, I was looking adoringly at him. Clinging to him, kissing him. He handed me a newspaper clipping, our picture front and center under the wedding announcement section.
Another man walked into the room and shut the door softly, taking a seat in the corner. He was big and bulky with a bandage wrapped around his neck. I went back to looking through the photos, trying to find the right words.
I had just lost three years of my life.
I was engaged to this man.
This man I didn’t know, but obviously loved based off of these photos.
What was I supposed to do? Could it be fixed? A desperate feeling washed over me, tears welling up in my eyes. I needed to see Juliet. She would help me understand all of this.
“Is Juliet here?” I looked around the room, peeking behind Ryzen at the man in the chair.
“Nova.” Ryzen shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed. “You and Juliet are no longer friends.”
The man sitting behind Ryzen narrowed his eyes for a moment, but when he saw me looking tried to hide his expression.
“What?” I breathed, my hand flying to my chest. “What do you mean?”
Ryzen’s shoulders slumped forward, and he sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you this right now, but… you broke off all contact with her over a year ago. You said she wasn’t a good friend.”
I reached up and rubbed my temples, shaking my head. “Why? Why would I say that? She was my best friend,” I choked out. This was the icing on the cake. Not only had I lost my memory, but also my best friend? My ride-or-die? The one person in this world I would kill for. Was Stepford Wife Nova a total bitch?
“Don’t worry about it, Nova. You are much happier without her, believe me.” He gripped my hand and smiled.
“What about the Shiver Box, our business?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “Inoperable at the moment.”
My palms were sweating, and I hoped he wouldn’t notice. This was all terrible. Everything coming out of this man’s mouth was making me nauseous. The need to crawl under the blankets and burrow into a dark hole was overpowering.
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “How did we meet, me and you?”
“You moved into a building I own, and like I said, it was instant love. We’ve been inseparable since.” He scooted closer to me, moving my hair out of my face.
I searched his face, screaming inside my head for me to remember something. Anything. Just one sliver of information. But nothing, not a single memory or feeling, was there. “You own a building?”
“Several.”
“You’re rich?” I scrunched up my nose. Great, non-amnesiac me was probably a gold digger who didn’t need friends because she had a rich fiancé.
He chuckled, rubbing his thumb across my cheek. “Yes, and now so are you.”
Was that supposed to make me feel better? Because it didn’t. I’d been brought up around money, and I’d seen what it did to people. I had always sworn I would never be that way. I’d work hard, be dedicated, never take a handout. But apparently, I’d also lied to myself.
“I’m scared, Ryzen.” My voice trembled and I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.
