Jay's POV]
The weight of the last six days had finally crushed my "Empress" firewall. I was standing in the kitchen with Mamma Serina and Bridget, trying to prepare a simple tea for Keifer, but my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him looking at me with those beautiful, empty blue eyes. Every time I walked past the Blue Suite, I heard Kiara's laughter—a jagged, false sound that felt like a virus spreading through our home.
"I can't do it anymore, Mamma," I whispered, the first sob breaking through my throat like a shard of glass. "I'm losing him. The doctor said seven days, but every hour he spends with her, I feel like our history is being overwritten. What if he never comes back? What if he wakes up and decides he likes the lie better than the truth?"
Bridget stepped forward, grabbing my shoulders. "Jay, look at me. You are the Constant. He is fighting for you even in his sleep!"
"But he doesn't know me!" I wailed, the grief finally exploding out of me. I collapsed onto the velvet stool, my head in my hands. I wasn't just crying; I was mourning the living. I was mourning the man who was ten feet away but a thousand miles out of reach. "I miss my Hubby. I miss the way he looks at me like I'm his entire world. I miss the 1,000% devotion. Right now... I'm just a shadow. I'm just 'the Assistant' who makes his head stop hurting."
I cried loudly, the sound echoing off the cold marble walls—a raw, guttural scream of a wife who had been deleted from her own life.
[Keifer's POV]
I was halfway down the grand staircase when the sound hit me.
It wasn't just a cry. It was a frequency of pure agony that resonated deep in the marrow of my bones. My "System" didn't just react; it went into a Total Emergency Lockdown. My brain didn't have a name for the sound, but my soul recognized it as the sound of my world ending.
I didn't walk. I ran.
I ignored the sharp spike of pain in my temples. I ignored Kiara calling my name from the parlor. I followed the sound of the weeping like it was a homing beacon.
I rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw her. Jay was slumped over the counter, her small frame heaving with sobs that sounded like they were tearing her apart. Mamma and Bridget were there, but they looked helpless against the tide of her grief.
The Primal Instinct
A surge of protective rage and desperate love slammed into me. I didn't care about the amnesia. I didn't care about the "Data." I pushed past the others and grabbed her, pulling her up and into my chest with a force that nearly knocked us both over.
"Jay! Jay, stop," I rasped, my voice sounding like it had been dragged over gravel.
I wrapped my arms around her, crushing her into me. I tucked her head under my chin and swayed with her, my hands tangling in her hair, trying to physically absorb her pain into my own body.
"I'm here. I'm right here," I whispered into her ear, my eyes closed tight.
She didn't pull away. She buried her face in my shirt and let out a wail that made my heart feel like it was being squeezed by a fist. She gripped my jacket so hard I could feel her fingernails through the fabric. She was clinging to me like I was the only solid thing in a collapsing universe.
The Caring Protocol
I felt a tear of my own roll down my cheek. I didn't remember the wedding. I didn't remember the son we lost. I didn't remember the "Powerhouse" we built. But as I held her, the Attraction was replaced by something much more dangerous: Absolute Ownership. This woman is mine. My brain might be a blank screen, but my DNA was screaming that I belonged to the girl crying in my arms.
"Everything else is a lie," I muttered, more to myself than to her. "I don't know the truth yet, Jay, but I know this cry. I know I would burn this entire city to the ground to make you stop making this sound."
I picked her up—her weight feeling so familiar, so correct in my arms—and carried her to the large armchair in the corner of the sunroom. I sat down with her in my lap, refusing to let an inch of space come between us.
"Mamma, get some water," I commanded, my "CEO" voice returning with a lethal edge. "Bridget, clear the perimeter. If Kiara tries to enter this room, tell her I will have her removed from the estate permanently."
The Midnight of the Soul
For the next hour, I didn't move. I just held her. I took a damp cloth and wiped her face with a tenderness I didn't know I possessed. I kissed her forehead, her temple, her tear-stained cheeks.
"I can't find the memories, Jay," I whispered, my lips against her skin as she finally began to settle into a quiet, exhausted breathing. "The files are still locked. I see the 'Glow' when I look at you, but I can't see the past. But I promise you... by the end of this day, I'm going to find the key. I can't live another hour watching you break because of my failure."
I pulled her closer, my heart beating a steady, 1,000% rhythm against hers. The amnesia was still there, a wall of gray fog in my mind—but as I looked down at the woman sleeping on my chest, I knew one thing for certain:
The lie ends tomorrow.