His Betrayal, My Erased Memory

Four years after my son Leo drowned, I was still lost in a fog of grief. My husband, Eli Stark, the tech mogul, was the public' s saint, a devoted father who built a foundation in Leo' s name.

But when I went to finalize Leo' s death certificate, a clerk' s casual comment shattered my world: "Mr. Stark has another dependent child listed."

The name hit me like a physical blow: Cody Sharpe, son of Kasey Sharpe, the woman who had stalked Eli for years. I found them, a perfect family, Eli laughing, a happiness I hadn't seen in years. Then, I overheard Kasey confessing to Eli that his affair with her was why he wasn't watching Leo the day he died.

My world crumbled. For four years, I had carried the guilt, believing Leo' s death was a tragic accident, comforting Eli who blamed himself for a "work call." It was all a lie. His betrayal had killed our son.

The man I loved, the man who had built a prison of grief around me, was living a happy life with another family. He had watched me suffer, letting me blame myself, while his secret festered.

How could he? How could he stand there and lie, knowing his actions led to our son' s death? The injustice burned, a cold, sharp rage replacing my grief.

I called my lawyer, then my former mentor, Casey Long, whose experimental memory erasure research was my only hope. "I want to forget," I whispered, "I need to forget everything. Erase him for me."

Chapter 1

Four years.

It had been four years since my son, Leo, drowned. Four years of a thick fog I couldn't seem to walk out of.

My husband, Eli Stark, was a saint to the public. The tech mogul who stood by his grieving wife, his undying devotion a story everyone loved.

Today, I decided to do something. Something to feel like I was moving forward, even an inch.

I was going to the city records office to finalize Leo' s death certificate.

A small step. A final goodbye. Maybe it would bring some kind of peace.

The office was plain, the air stale. I waited in line, my hands cold. When it was my turn, I gave the clerk Leo' s name.

She typed into her computer, her face neutral. Then she paused, her brow furrowed.

"Ma'am, I'm seeing a flag on your husband's file," she said, not looking at me. "Eli Stark."

"A flag? What does that mean?"

"It' s just a standard cross-reference for dependents. When finalizing one dependent's record, the system notes any others. For insurance and estate purposes." She kept typing. "It shows Mr. Stark has another dependent child listed."

The world tilted. My breath caught in my throat.

"That's impossible," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "We only had one child. Leo."

Eli loved Leo more than anything. After Leo died, Eli built a public foundation in his name. He gave speeches with tears in his eyes. He held me every night as I cried myself to sleep. He was the perfect, grieving father.

"The system says otherwise, ma'am." The clerk turned her monitor toward me.

There it was. In black and white.

Dependent: Cody Sharpe.

Mother: Kasey Sharpe.

Kasey Sharpe.

The name hit me like a physical blow. My blood ran cold.

Kasey. The woman who had stalked Eli for years.

I remembered her at our charity events, her eyes fixated on Eli, ignoring everyone else.

I remembered her showing up at his office, screaming that she loved him, that I didn't deserve him. Security had to drag her out.

I remembered our wedding day. Kasey, dressed in a white gown just like mine, trying to force her way into the church. She' d screamed that she was the one he was supposed to marry.

Eli had been furious. He got a restraining order. He used his power to make her disappear from our lives, or so I thought. He' d wanted to ruin her completely, but I stopped him. I told him to let it go. I felt a strange pity for her. A misguided, stupid pity.

And now, her name was on an official document, next to my husband's. As the mother of his other child.

It couldn't be true. It was a mistake. A horrible, cruel mistake.

I stumbled out of the office and into my car, my mind a blank. My phone buzzed. A text from Eli.

"Thinking of you, my love. I' ll be home early tonight. Let' s have dinner at your favorite place."

Tears streamed down my face. I remembered how we met in college. How he pursued me with a relentless, gentle passion. He was the most brilliant man I knew, and he' d looked at me like I was the center of the universe.

When I was deep in my research, forgetting to eat or sleep, he would bring me food and wrap me in a blanket, whispering that my mind was the most beautiful thing he' d ever known.

He gave up a partnership at a rival tech firm because they wanted him to move overseas, and he refused to leave me. He said his world was wherever I was.

All lies. It had to be.

My hands shook, but I found the address for Kasey Sharpe on the document I' d photographed with my phone. I had to see for myself. I had to prove this was all a nightmare.

I drove. The address led me to a private, gated community not far from our own. My heart pounded against my ribs.

I parked across the street. And then I saw him.

Eli.

He was in the front yard of a beautiful modern house, laughing. A little boy, maybe three or four years old, was chasing him with a water gun. Eli scooped the boy into his arms, spinning him around. The child' s laughter filled the air.

Then the front door opened. Kasey Sharpe walked out, a serene smile on her face. She walked right up to Eli and kissed him. Not a peck on the cheek. A real, lingering kiss. The kind he only gave me.

He didn't push her away. He smiled back at her, a smile of pure, unadulterated happiness. A happiness I hadn't seen on his face in four years.

I couldn' t breathe. My lungs seized. A tear rolled down my cheek, hot and sharp.

They went inside. The perfect little family.

I didn't know what I was doing. I got out of my car and walked toward the house, my movements robotic. I crept around the side, to the large glass windows of the living room.

Eli was on the floor, building a tower of blocks with the boy, Cody. He was patient, his voice soft. He was a different man. The man I had fallen in love with, but a version I had lost. A version he was giving to someone else.

Kasey sat on the sofa, watching them, her hand resting possessively on Eli's shoulder.

He looked up at her and smiled. "He's getting so big."

"He looks just like you," she said, her voice full of pride.

My own son, Leo, had looked just like me.

Eli' s phone rang. He glanced at it, and his smile faded. He got up and walked toward the basement door.

"It' s Harper," he said to Kasey. "I' ll take this downstairs."

I moved without thinking, following the sound of his footsteps, peering through a small basement window. It was a wine cellar. Eli was pacing, the phone to his ear.

"Harper, my love. Is everything okay?" His voice was the one I knew. The one filled with fake concern.

I couldn' t hear my own voice on the other end, just his replies.

"Of course, I'm on my way to the office. A last-minute meeting... Yes, I'll be home right after."

He hung up and sighed. Kasey had followed him down. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind.

"Is she still a mess?" Kasey asked, her voice dripping with venom.

"She went to finalize Leo's death certificate today," Eli said, his back to me. "It's a hard day for her."

Kasey laughed, a low, ugly sound. "It's always a hard day for her. It's been four years, Eli. When are you going to get tired of playing the saint?"

"Kasey, stop."

"No, I won't stop." She pressed herself against him. "Do you ever think about it? If you hadn't been with me that afternoon, you would have been watching Leo by the pool. He'd still be alive."

The world stopped.

Everything inside me went cold and silent.

The day Leo died.

Eli was supposed to be watching him. He'd told me he just stepped inside for a minute to take a work call. A crucial, life-or-death call for his company. He' d come out to find Leo in the pool. He' d blamed himself, tortured himself for years over that one phone call.

And I had comforted him. I had told him it wasn't his fault. It was a tragic accident. I' d carried the guilt with him, feeling I should have been there, that I had failed as a mother.

For four years, that guilt had been eating me alive.

And it was all a lie.

He wasn't on a work call. He was with her. His affair had killed our son.

I trembled so violently I had to clutch the window frame to stay upright. I pressed my hand over my mouth to stifle a scream.

"Don't say that," Eli's voice was sharp, but there was no denial. "Harper can never know. It would destroy her."

"She's already destroyed," Kasey purred, kissing his neck. "And whose fault is that? You love seeing her broken, don't you? Helpless and completely dependent on you. That's what you love, Eli. Not her."

He didn't answer. He just stood there, letting her touch him.

"You know," Kasey said, her voice turning sly. "Since she misses Leo so much, maybe we should let her meet Cody. He could be a replacement. It might make her feel better."

Eli turned, and for a second I thought I saw a flash of anger. "Don't be ridiculous. Cody is my son. My heir. He's not a replacement." He then pulled her into a rough kiss, his hands tangling in her hair.

I tore myself away from the window, stumbling back to my car. I drove, not knowing where I was going, until I found myself at the cemetery.

I knelt in front of Leo' s small headstone, the cold marble biting into my knees. The tears I' d held back finally came, a storm of silent, agonizing sobs that left me empty and raw.

My phone buzzed again. It was Eli.

"On my way home now, my love. Can't wait to see you."

The words made my stomach turn. His love was a poison. His touch was a lie. He had watched me grieve for our son, knowing his betrayal was the cause. He had let me blame myself.

I was trapped in a prison of grief he had built, while he lived another life, a happy life, with another family.

The love I had for him curdled into something cold and disgusting.

As I sat there, shivering in the dark, another call came in. Not Eli. An old number I hadn't seen in years.

Casey Long. My former mentor.

I almost didn't answer. But some instinct made me press the green button.

"Harper?" His voice was hesitant, but warm. "It's Casey. I know it's been a long time. I heard about a new research grant, and it made me think of you... of your work. I was just calling to see how you were."

His kindness was a shock to my system. A single drop of clean water in an ocean of filth.

"Casey," I whispered, my voice cracking.

"Harper, are you okay? You sound..."

"I need your help," I interrupted, the words tumbling out before I could stop them. I remembered his research. His controversial, brilliant, experimental work on memory erasure. "Your clinical trial. The one for erasing traumatic memories. Is it ready?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. "Harper, it's experimental. It's not approved. The risks are enormous."

"I don't care," I said, a desperate resolve hardening inside me. "I want to be your first subject."

"Harper, what's going on?"

"I'll sign anything. I'll take all the risks. I just want to forget. I need to forget everything." I choked on a sob. "Please, Casey. Erase him for me."