### Natalie’s POV

My hands wouldn't stop shaking.

I gripped the steering wheel so tight my knuckles turned stark white, the engine idling loudly in the suffocating heat of my car. On the passenger seat beside me lay my resume—crisp, pristine, and representing every single dream I had ever dared to nurse. I was on my way to **Vance Enterprises** to submit my CV, praying with every breath in my body for just *one* shot. Just one chance to be in the same building as him.

*Gavin.*

He was a titan. A man far above my world, a man I had pined for from afar until my heart felt bruised by the sheer impossibility of it.

"Please, God," I whispered into the quiet car, closing my eyes for a fraction of a second to pray. "Just let them glance at my application. Just let him see me."

I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal, pulling out into the road. But my mind was spinning, my focus splintered between my desperate prayers and the overwhelming nerves fluttering in my chest.

*I didn't see him.*

It happened in a brutal, horrifying flash. A shadow stepped into the street. The sickening *thud* of metal against human flesh echoed through the cabin.

"No, no, NO!" I screamed, slamming my foot onto the brake.

The car shrieked to a halt. My heart leaped into my throat, hammering violently against my ribs as sheer terror paralyzed me. I threw the door open and scrambled out, the world turning into a blurry nightmare.

There, crumpled on the cold pavement, lay a man in a tailor-made suit. Blood pool beneath his head, staining the asphalt.

I fell to my knees beside him, breathless, hysterical. *"Oh God, please no, please wake up!"*

I gasped as I brushed the dark hair away from his face. My soul froze.

It was **Gavin.**

The very man I loved from the shadows. The man whose attention I had begged the universe for just moments ago. And I had just struck him down with my car.

"Help! Somebody, please help me!" I shrieked, my voice breaking as I desperately looked around the quiet street. Tears spilled down my cheeks, blinding me. "Please! He's dying!"

Footsteps thundered toward us. One of his personal bodyguards, who had been trailing behind, lunged forward with a look of pure horror.

"What happened?!" the guard roared, his eyes wide with panic.

"I—I don't know!" I lied instinctively, the sheer dread of prison and ruin seizing my lungs. "I saw him hit by a car! Someone hit him and sped off! Please, we have to hurry, help me get him to the hospital!"

Together, driven by adrenaline and panic, we lifted Gavin's limp, heavy body into the back seat. Every second felt like an eternity. Every drop of his blood on my hands felt like an unforgivable mark of guilt.

### The Hospital

Hours stretched into a agonizing abyss.

I paced back and forth outside the operating theater, rubbing my trembling hands together, unable to wash away the phantom feeling of his blood on my skin. I prayed as I had never prayed before—begging for his life, offering my own in exchange if only his eyes would open again.

Finally, the glowing red light above the doors flickered off.

After the surgical team wrapped up, I was summoned into the chief doctor's office. My legs felt like lead as I walked in.

"Sit down, ma'am," the doctor said smoothly, looking up from her clipboards. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, Doctor," I stammered, grabbing the edge of her desk just to keep myself upright. "How... how is he? Is he going to live? Please tell me he’s okay."

The doctor lowered her glasses, examining my distraught face. She ignored my frantic questions for a second before asking coldly, "Who are you to the patient? Are you a relative?"

The air vanished from my lungs. If I said I was a stranger, if I admitted I hit him, they would call the police. I would be dragged away in handcuffs, branded a monster. Gavin's family would destroy me.

Panic overtook reason.

"I'm... I'm his girlfriend," I gasped out, the lie burning the back of my throat like acid. *"I'm his girlfriend."*

The doctor’s tense posture softened slightly, nodding in understanding. "I see. Whoever hit him with that vehicle is an absolute heartless monster. To leave a man like him bleeding in the street..."

Her words stabbed through my heart like a hot blade. I squeezed my eyes shut, choking down a sob.

"The good news is, the surgery was successful and he is stable," the doctor continued. "However... the blunt force trauma to his head was severe. He has suffered temporary amnesia."

My heart stopped. *"What?"* I breathed.

"He has lost some of his memories," the doctor explained gently. "It is likely temporary, but right now, he is fragile. He will need intense, loving care to recover. I hope you are ready to stand by him, miss. As his girlfriend, he is going to need you now more than ever."

"Yes... yes, ma'am," I whispered, barely recognizing my own voice. "Thank you, ma'am."

### The Deception

I dragged my feet down the quiet, sterile hallway toward his private ward. My conscience was screaming at me, tearing my soul into shreds.

*You're a liar. A coward. How are you going to look him in the eye? How are you going to lie to his powerful family when they arrive?*

I pushed the door open softly.

Gavin lay in the center of the room, hooked up to monitors that beeped softly in the dim light. Bandages were wrapped around his head, but even in this broken state, his face was impossibly handsome. Sculpted, fierce, yet utterly vulnerable.

I stepped closer to the bedside, reaching out a trembling hand, hovering just inches over his cheek.

> *"I always wished for us to be close,"* I whimpered into the quiet room, tears streaming freely down my face now. *"I spent so many nights wishing you would just notice me... but I never wanted it like this. How do I tell you the truth? How do I tell you that the girl standing beside you is the monster who almost ended your life?"*

>

I covered my face with my hands, sobbing silently. I couldn't do it. My conscience wouldn't let me keep this up. I had to confess. The second he woke up, I would tell him everything, accept the consequences, and go to prison if I had to—

A soft rustle of bedsheets broke the silence.

I froze.

Gavin’s long eyelashes fluttered, and slowly, his deep, dark eyes opened. He blinked against the harsh fluorescent lights, looking disoriented and pained.

"Y-You're awake!" I gasped, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs as his gaze slowly shifted... and locked directly onto mine.

"Hold on—don't move, I'll get the doctor!" I turned on my heel and bolted out the door, sprinting down the corridor toward the doctor's office. "He's awake! Doctor, please, he's open his eyes!"

The doctor immediately stood up and rushed back to the room with me, two nurses trailing close behind.

We burst into the ward. Gavin was leaning back against his pillows, a deep frown creasing his brow as he looked around the sterile room.

"Where... where am I?" Gavin’s voice was gravelly, low, and laced with confusion. He wreathed his hands in the bedsheets, looking bewildered. "What happened to me?"

The doctor stepped forward with a warm, reassuring smile, shining a tiny light into his eyes to check his pupils.

"You are in the hospital, sir," the doctor replied gently, before gesturing toward me with a wide smile. "You had a very serious accident, but you're safe now. You should thank this good-hearted young lady here who saved your life and brought you to us..."

The doctor smiled fondly at me, delivering the final blow that sealed my fate.

"...your girlfriend."

### Natalie’s POV

The doctor’s words hung in the sterile, air-conditioned room like a heavy, suffocating smog.

*"...your girlfriend."*

The silence that followed was agonizing. The sharp, rhythmic *beep... beep... beep* of the heart monitor felt like a countdown to my own execution. My blood ran cold, pulling away from my extremities until my fingertips tingled with numbness. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Every nerve in my body was screaming at me to run, to fall to my knees and confess, to scream the ugly, agonizing truth into the pristine walls of this hospital room.

I looked at Gavin.

His striking dark eyes, previously filled with confusion, flicked from the doctor’s smiling face over to me. His brows pulled together, searching my face with a desperate, vulnerable intensity. He didn't remember. He truly didn't remember a single thing.

"Is... is that right, ma'am?" the doctor prompted warmly, turning back to face me. "You *are* his girlfriend, correct?"

A lump the size of a fist formed in my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, my lungs burning for oxygen. This was a nightmare. I had crossed a line, and now the web of deceit was wrapping tightly around my neck, threatening to strangle me.

"Yes..." my voice was barely a squeak, trembling so hard it hardly sounded like my own. Tears flooded my eyes once more, spilling over my lashes and trailing down my pale cheeks. The sheer weight of my guilt was crushing my chest. I took a step closer to the side of his bed, unable to look him directly in the eye.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered, my voice breaking completely into a pathetic, sob-laced murmur. I dropped my head, my shoulders shaking violently. "I'm sorry... I am so, *so* sorry for everything..."

I wasn't just apologizing for the lie. I was apologizing for the shattered metal, the screeching tires, the sickening *thud* of his body hitting the hood of my car, and the crimson blood that had stained the cold street. I was apologizing for stealing his memory, for standing over his broken body like a fake savior when I was truly the villain who had brought him low.

I waited for the blow. I waited for him to sense the falsehood in my words, to push me away, or to remember the headlights rushing toward him.

Instead, a gentle warmth wrapped around my cold, trembling wrist.

I gasped softly and looked up. Gavin had reached out, his long, sculpted fingers lightly encircling my wrist. Despite the deep physical trauma his body had just endured, his grip was tender, astonishingly reassuring.

"There's no need to be sorry..." Gavin said softly.

His voice was a low, velvet rasp—a deep, melodious tone that sent a strange, electric shiver straight down my spine. Even with dark bruises smudging the skin beneath his eyes and a thick white bandage wrapped around his brow, his voice held an irresistible, commanding grace.

*He actually has such a beautiful voice,* a quiet, foolish voice whispered inside my head. It was a fleeting, selfish thought that immediately made me feel even more dirty with guilt.

"There is really nothing for you to be sorry about," Gavin continued, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my knees feel like water. "You were the one who saved me, weren't you? You brought me here. You stayed."

"I..." I swallowed hard, the lies sticking like needles in my throat. "It was... it was nothing, Gavin. Truly."

"It isn't nothing to me," he murmured, his thumb gently brushing against the pulse point on my wrist. I could feel my heart hammering frantically right beneath his skin. He looked so fragile, so utterly reliant on the single anchor he thought he had in this terrifying, memoryless void. "Please... just promise me one thing."

"Anything," the word slipped out of my mouth before my brain could stop it.

"Please... always stay by my side," Gavin whispered, his eyes searching mine with a raw, desperate vulnerability that shattered whatever remained of my composure. "Don't leave me alone in this."

The room seemed to shrink until there was only him and me. My conscience raged against my chest, screaming at me that I was trapping him in a delusion, that I was taking advantage of his head injury. But as I looked down at his pained, hopeful face, I realized I was already too deep in the quicksand. If I pulled away now, if I told him the truth while he was in this delicate state, the shock could ruin his recovery. Or worse... he would hate me forever.

"I... I will," I promised softly, my voice barely audible above the quiet hum of the room. "I won't leave you."

A faint, relieved smile touched the corners of his lips, relaxing the harsh lines of pain on his face.

The doctor cleared her throat with a soft, satisfied smile, breaking the heavy atmosphere. "Well, now that the patient is awake and stable, I will leave you two to rest. Nurse, let's prepare the updated chart."

With a polite nod, the medical staff turned and slipped out of the room, shutting the heavy wooden door behind them. The quiet settled over us like a thick blanket.

Suddenly, before I could gather my scattered thoughts, the door burst open with a loud, dramatic clatter.

"Gavin! My baby!"

A stunning, middle-aged woman swept into the room like a sudden storm. She was dressed impeccably in an elegant, tailored designer suit, her hair styled to perfection, radiating an aura of immense wealth, authority, and high society. Yet, beneath her regal exterior, her face was twisted with pure maternal agony.

She glided past me as if I were invisible, dropping her expensive leather handbag onto the floor and rushing straight to the side of the hospital bed.

"Oh, my sweet boy! What happened to you?!" she cried out, her manicured hands hovering frantically over his bruised face, touching his shoulders, checking his arms, tears instantly filling her sharply lined eyes. "When the security detail called and said you were in surgery, I thought my heart was going to stop! Who did this to you?!"

Gavin winced slightly at the sudden explosion of energy, but his expression softened with familiar affection.

"Mom... please, calm down," Gavin replied softly, his raspy voice trying to soothe her. "I'm okay now. The doctors fixed me up. I'm going to be fine."

"Fine?! You look like you barely survived a war!" his mother gasped, pressing a trembling hand to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She turned to inspect the monitors, her eyes darting across every piece of medical equipment in the room. "I am going to hire the best specialists in the country! I am going to tear this city apart until I find the heartless monster who ran you over!"

I flinched violently at her words, stepping back into the shadows near the corner of the room. My skin burned hot, cold sweat pooling at the nape of my neck. *She's going to find out. A woman like her... she will destroy me.*

"Mom, stop worrying," Gavin said gently, leaning back against his pillows. A subtle, mischievous glint entered his dark eyes as he gestured toward where I was standing in the shadows. "Besides... if you're worrying about who is going to take care of me, you don't need to hire anyone."

His mother paused, frowning slightly. "What do you mean, son?"

"Your future daughter-in-law is already here," Gavin said smoothly, his eyes sliding over to me, holding my gaze captive. "She's going to be taking care of me."

"My... what?"

His mother slowly turned her head. For the very first time since she had stormed into the room, her sharp, piercing eyes landed directly on me. She scanned me from head to toe—taking in my messy hair, my plain, rumpled clothes, my tear-stained face, and the subtle, lingering scent of hospital disinfectant clinging to my clothes.

The atmosphere in the room turned ice-cold.

"Who... is *she*?" his mother asked, her tone instantly shifting from frantic grief to sharp, aristocratic suspicion. She stepped away from Gavin's bed, walking toward me with slow, deliberate, terrifying grace. "Gavin... who is this girl?"

## Chapter 3: Web of Lies

### Natalie’s POV

"Who is this girl?" she asked, stepping slowly toward me. Each click of her designer heels on the cold tile sounded like a judge hammering a gavel.

My heart hammered against my ribs like a caged bird. *God, I thought this would be simple.* I thought keeping up a little lie to save myself from ruin would be easy—a temporary fix until he remembered. I didn't realize how suffocating, how utterly agonizing it would be to pretend to be in love with a man who had no idea who I really was.

"She’s my fiancée, Mom," Gavin answered smoothly, his deep, gravelly voice cutting through the tension.

His mother stopped in her tracks, her sharp eyes widening before softening with a mixture of disbelief and sudden warmth. She scanned my plain clothes, my trembling hands, and my tear-stained face. "So... *you're* the one he’s been keeping hidden? The reason he hasn't brought anyone home to meet me?"

"N-No, ma'am... it's not like that," I stammered, shrinking under her intense gaze.

"And yet, here you are, staying by his side, taking care of him when he needs it most," she noted, taking my hands into her manicured ones. The gentle warmth of her palms felt like a burning iron against my guilty skin. "You don't have to call me 'ma'am,' my dear. You can call me Mom."

"O-Okay... Mom," I whispered, the word tasting like ash in my mouth.

"I'm going to find his doctor and make sure he gets the best post-op care possible," she said, squeezing my hands before walking toward the door. "I have a flight back home tonight, so I'm trusting you to look after my boy."

The heavy door clicked shut behind her, leaving us in a heavy, suffocating silence.

Gavin turned his head on the pillow, his dark, piercing eyes locking onto mine. A tiny, amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Why are you so nervous? You look utterly terrified."

"I-I am not nervous. Or shy... sir," I choked out, taking a step backward.

His eyebrows pulled together, a flicker of confusion crossing his sculpted face. "Why are you calling me 'sir'?"

"It's... nothing," I blurted out quickly, crossing my arms to hide my trembling hands. "I'm just tired. I'm not nervous at all."

He let out a low, amused chuckle. "If you say so."

"I... I need to excuse myself for a moment," I squeaked, practically bolting out of the room before he could press any further.

The moment I stepped out into the crisp evening air, I practically threw myself into the driver's seat of my car. I gasped for air, clutching my steering wheel as a tidal wave of sweet relief and dark thrill washed over me. I couldn't believe it. Against all odds, against every rational thought in my head... *I was his girlfriend.*

A wicked, desperate hope flared up in my chest. I liked him so much. I had pined for him from afar for so long, and now fate had dropped him right into my hands. He was so impossibly handsome, carrying his mother's regal grace and breathtaking features. I caught myself smiling like a fool—I would do *anything* to keep him from remembering. Anything to stay in this dream.

Determined to clear my head, I drove straight over to my childhood best friends' house. Golden and Silver were brother and sister, the only two people in the world who truly knew me.

"You did *what?!*" Silver shrieked, bouncing on the sofa the moment I finished laying out the entire chaotic story. "Natalie! This is your chance! God literally handed you your dream man on a silver platter!"

"Silver, stop it, she hit him with her car!" Golden snapped, standing near the window with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. His storm-cloud eyes locked onto mine, filled with deep concern and something unreadable... something heavy. "Natalie, this is dangerous. You are building a house of cards on a foundation of lies. When he gets his memory back—"

"He *won't*," Silver interrupted sharply, throwing a pillow at her brother. "The doctor said it's temporary, but if Natalie plays her cards right, he'll fall in love with her for real! Don't listen to him, Nat. You shouldn't be afraid. Just keep acting like his loving fiancée."

I looked between the two of them—Silver’s ecstatic encouragement and Golden’s grim, quiet resentment. I could see the sharp disapproval burning in Golden’s eyes, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I was already too deep in the fire.

"I have to go discharge him," I whispered, standing up. "Wish me luck."

"Don't do this, Nat," Golden said quietly as I reached the door, his voice laced with a subtle heartbreak.

I ignored him, waving a quick goodbye, and drove back to the hospital.

An hour later, the paperwork was signed. I packed Gavin’s designer clothes into a duffel bag while he called his private driver.

A sleek, midnight-black SUV pulled up to the hospital entrance. The driver stepped out, bowing respectfully as he held the rear door open. We slid into the plush leather seats, and the vehicle glided silently through the city streets toward his private estate.

When we pulled through the massive iron gates, my breath caught in my throat. Armed guards in sharp suits lined the sweeping driveway, instantly bowing their heads as the car rolled past. I caught a few of them shooting darting, curious glances at me through the tinted glass—*Who is this girl with the boss?*—but none of them dared to ask out loud.

The driver parked in front of a sprawling, architectural mansion. One of the guards swiftly opened the door, and I offered Gavin my arm, helping him brace his weight as we walked inside.

The grand foyer was jaw-dropping. Soaring ceilings, crystal chandeliers, marble floors, and art that belonged in a museum.

"Your house... it's so beautiful," I murmured under my breath, my eyes wide as I drank in the sheer luxury of his world.

Gavin stopped in his tracks. He turned his head slowly, his dark eyes locking onto mine with a sharp, unsettling focus.

"Have you... never been here before?" he asked softly.