Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO WOKE UP
The hospital erupted into chaos.
Doctors surrounded Julian.
“Can you hear me?”
Julian's eyes moved toward the window.
“Yes.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“The hospital.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“A crash.”
The doctor stared at him.
“You've been unconscious for seven months.”
Julian's expression barely changed.
“Evelyn?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Your family is on the way.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Minutes later, Richard Sterling arrived.
He looked relieved.
“My son.”
Julian stared at him.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Richard stopped.
“Why are you asking about her?”
Julian's eyes hardened.
“Because she was the last person I remember seeing.”
Richard lied.
“She left.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Julian studied his father.
Something was wrong.
He remembered the night of the accident.
He remembered following someone.
He remembered a black SUV.
And he remembered Evelyn screaming his name.
Then darkness.
Richard tried to change the subject.
“You need rest.”
Julian grabbed his wrist.
“Who arranged my marriage?”
Richard froze.
Julian had remembered.
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Evelyn rented a small house under a different name.
For the first time in her life, nobody knew where she was.
She had $200 million.
But she felt completely empty.
Three days later, Dante married Vivian.
The wedding was enormous.
Mafia families from across the country attended.
Cameras flashed.
Vivian walked down the aisle wearing a diamond-covered gown.
Dante waited at the altar.
When he saw her, his expression softened.
“My angel.”
Vivian smiled.
Nobody noticed the tiny tremor in Dante's hand.
Because somewhere in his memory, another woman existed.
A woman with the same face.
The same bracelet.
The same eyes.
But something didn't feel right.
After the ceremony, Dante pulled Vivian close.
“I spent seventeen years looking for you.”
Vivian forced a smile.
“I know.”
But Dante suddenly noticed something.
The bracelet on her wrist was new.
“Where did you get that?”
Vivian froze.
“My mother gave it to me.”
Dante stared at it.
Something inside him whispered:
That's not the bracelet.
That night, Dante found Evelyn's old photograph hidden inside his safe.
He placed it beside Vivian's.
Same family.
Different women.
His expression darkened.
May you like
For the first time…
he wondered if he had married the wrong sister.
