Chapter 4 - The Night I Was Forced to Forget
The video played.
And I watched myself destroy the life I thought I had lost.
The screen showed a younger version of me walking through the entrance of an old office building.
Six years earlier.
Same face.
Same voice.
Same person.
But I didn't remember being there.
Emily stood beside me in the airport, watching the footage over my shoulder.
My mother looked like she wanted to disappear.
The video continued.
My younger self walked into a small conference room.
Emily followed.
A man was already sitting there.
Richard Vale.
Even though I had never met him before today, I recognized him immediately.
The confidence.
The cold expression.
The way he sat like every person in that room belonged to him.
My hands started shaking.
Because the strangest part wasn't seeing Richard.
It was seeing myself.
I looked calm.
Not angry.
Not confused.
Calm.
Like I knew exactly why I was there.
The video had no sound at first.
Then the audio appeared.
My younger voice filled the airport.
"I want this handled quietly."
Emily looked at me.
I felt her eyes.
But I couldn't look back.
Because I was watching myself say words I never remembered saying.
Richard leaned forward.
"You understand what this means?"
My younger self nodded.
"I understand."
The video paused.
Nobody spoke.
The airport noise returned.
Announcements.
Footsteps.
Suitcases rolling across the floor.
Everything normal.
Except my life.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
Emily looked at me.
"I know."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I would remember this."
My mother finally spoke.
"You don't."
I turned toward her.
"What does that mean?"
She looked exhausted.
For the first time, she looked like a woman who had carried a secret too heavy for too long.
"After that night, you were in an accident."
My heart stopped.
"What accident?"
She looked down.
"The car crash."
I remembered.
A highway.
Rain.
Headlights.
A hospital room.
Doctors telling me I was lucky.
But there was one thing I never questioned.
The missing hours.
The days before the crash.
The things people told me I had forgotten.
I thought it was just trauma.
I thought it was just bad luck.
"You knew?"
My mother nodded.
"You lost pieces of that night."
I stared at her.
"And you never told me?"
Her eyes filled.
"I thought it was better."
Better.
That word almost made me angry enough to break something.
"You decided what I was allowed to remember?"
Nobody answered.
Emily hugged Lucas closer.
The children were watching us now.
They didn't understand the details.
But they understood emotions.
They knew something was wrong.
I walked away from them.
Only a few steps.
But it felt like I was leaving my entire life behind.
"Why was I there?"
Emily looked at me.
"Because you asked me to come."
The words stopped me.
"What?"
She nodded slowly.
"You called me that night."
My mind searched.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
"You said we needed to talk."
She looked at the floor.
"You told me you had made a mistake."
My breathing changed.
"What mistake?"
Emily's eyes met mine.
"You said your mother had found out about the babies."
The airport became silent again.
Even though hundreds of people were around us.
"You knew?"
Emily nodded.
"I was pregnant when I disappeared."
My eyes moved toward the twins.
Five years old.
My sons.
"You knew before I did."
She looked hurt.
"I tried to tell you."
"Then why didn't I know?"
Her voice broke.
"Because after the crash, your mother told me you had chosen."
I looked at my mother.
"No."
My mother closed her eyes.
"Daniel..."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"Don't explain. Just answer."
She looked at me.
"Did you tell Emily I didn't want them?"
A long silence.
Then:
"Yes."
The word hit harder than I expected.
Not because I didn't suspect it.
Because hearing it made it real.
"You lied."
"I was trying to protect you."
"You keep saying that."
My voice rose.
"But you never say who you were protecting me from."
My mother looked away.
That was the answer.
I turned back toward Emily.
"Why didn't you fight harder?"
The moment I said it, I regretted it.
Her expression changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
"I did."
She reached into her bag.
She pulled out a stack of letters.
"I sent you forty-three letters."
I stared.
"What?"
"I emailed you."
She showed me her phone.
"Thirty-seven emails."
My chest tightened.
"I called."
She showed me another screen.
"Twenty-one blocked calls."
I looked at my mother.
She didn't deny it.
She didn't have to.
Emily wiped her eyes.
"I thought you hated me."
I had no answer.
Because for six years, I hated someone who had been trying to reach me.
And I never knew.
My phone suddenly rang.
This time, it was my assistant.
I almost ignored it.
Then I remembered something.
My company.
The deal.
The meeting I canceled.
I answered.
"Mark?"
His voice was urgent.
"Daniel, where are you?"
"Why?"
"The investors just received an anonymous file."
My stomach tightened.
"What file?"
"A recording."
I looked around.
"Of what?"
There was a pause.
Then Mark said:
"Of you."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"What?"
"The recording is from six years ago."
I looked at the frozen video still on my screen.
My younger self.
Richard.
Emily.
The contract.
"What does it say?"
Mark lowered his voice.
"Daniel... they're claiming you approved everything."
My eyes moved toward my mother.
"What everything?"
Another pause.
"The transfer. The agreement. The removal of your name from the company."
My body went cold.
"What?"
"Someone is telling the board that six years ago you secretly planned to disappear from your own company."
I felt like the ground moved.
That wasn't true.
Was it?
I looked at the video again.
At myself.
At the man who looked like me.
The man who apparently knew everything.
"Send me the file."
"I already did."
I opened my email.
There was a new attachment.
A recording.
The title:
Daniel Carter's Final Decision.
My finger hovered over it.
Emily stepped closer.
"Daniel."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She whispered:
"Before you open that... there is something you need to know."
"What?"
Her face turned pale.
"The man in that video wasn't forcing you."
I froze.
"What are you saying?"
Emily looked at my mother.
Then back at me.
"You weren't tricked into signing those papers."
The airport disappeared.
The sound disappeared.
Everything disappeared.
"Then what happened?"
Emily took a breath.
"You signed them because..."
She stopped.
A message appeared on my phone.
From Richard.
Only four words.
Watch the full recording.
I pressed play.
The screen showed me sitting across from Richard six years ago.
May you like
Then my younger self leaned forward and said something I never expected to hear.
"I want Emily to believe I abandoned her."
