I sat perfectly still on the edge of the narrow hospital bed and felt the weight of the word fiancée pressing down on me with more force than the car accident itself.
My mind was racing because I knew for a fact that I had never even been in the same room as Devon Dominico before this moment, yet he was standing there with an expression of deep and convincing concern.
I looked down at my left hand and gasped audibly when I saw a massive diamond ring resting on my ring finger. It was a heavy piece of jewelry with a clear stone that caught the harsh overhead lights, and I realized that he must have slipped it onto my finger while I was being wheeled back from the radiology department.
I had been so focused on my plan to trick Tyler that I had not even noticed the addition of a several-carat diamond to my own body.
Devon did not look away from me as he reached out and took my hand in his much larger one. His skin felt very warm and slightly rough, and the physical contact sent a strange jolt of electricity through my arm, making it difficult for me to maintain my blank expression.
I had to remind myself that I was supposed to be a woman who had no idea who she was or who this man claimed to be.
I pulled my hand away slowly and tucked it under the thin hospital blanket because I needed to create some physical distance between us before I accidentally broke my own character.
"We are engaged?" I asked him, and I made sure my voice sounded small and uncertain so that I would appear genuinely vulnerable.
"We have been engaged for nearly six months, Alexia, and we were planning to finalize our wedding date at dinner this evening," Devon answered smoothly as he sat down on the very edge of my bed.
He spoke with so much conviction that I almost wanted to check my own brain for actual damage because it seemed impossible for a stranger to lie so effortlessly. He looked at me with eyes that seemed to see right through my deception, yet his voice remained gentle and comforting. I wondered if he was a professional actor or if he was simply a very dangerous man who was used to getting exactly what he wanted through manipulation.
"I am so sorry, but I truly do not remember you or any wedding plans," I whispered while I looked at the white linoleum floor to avoid his intense gaze.
"The doctors explained that your memory might be foggy for a while because of the trauma to your head, but you do not need to apologize to me for something you cannot control," Devon said, and he reached out to stroke my cheek with the back of his hand.
I leaned away from his touch instinctively because the intimacy felt entirely too real for a situation that was built on a complete lie. The door to the room opened quietly, and a young nurse walked in carrying a small plastic bag filled with my personal belongings and a stack of discharge papers. She looked at Devon with wide eyes that were filled with obvious admiration, and she seemed to be holding her breath as she approached the bed.
"Mr. Dominico, the discharge forms are all ready for your signature, and the pharmacy has already sent the pain medication down to the main entrance for you," the nurse said in a very high-pitched and nervous voice.
"Thank you, and please tell the administration that I appreciate the privacy they provided for my fiancée during this difficult time," Devon replied as he stood up and took the digital tablet from her hands to sign his name.
I watched him sign the forms with a quick and decisive motion that showed he was a man who was very used to being in charge of every situation. The nurse nodded quickly and took the tablet back before she handed the plastic bag to Devon. He took the bag and set it on the chair where Tyler had been sitting just a few minutes ago. I felt a sharp pang of bitterness when I thought about Tyler, but I quickly pushed it away because I had much larger problems to deal with right now.
"I brought a change of clothes for you because I knew you would not want to leave the hospital in that thin gown," Devon told me as he opened the bag and pulled out a soft cashmere sweater and a pair of dark leggings.
I stared at the clothes and realized they were exactly the type of high-quality items I usually preferred to wear when I was working in my art studio. It was deeply unsettling that a stranger had access to my clothing or at least knew my style well enough to purchase replacements that matched my taste perfectly. I realized that Devon Dominico had been watching me for much longer than I had originally suspected, and the thought made a cold shiver run down my spine.
"I would like to change my clothes in private, please," I said as I stood up from the bed and felt a brief wave of dizziness.
"Of course, and I will be waiting right outside this door to help you walk down to the car," Devon agreed as he stepped back and gave me a respectful nod.
He walked out of the room and closed the heavy wooden door behind him, which left me alone with my thoughts for the first time since the accident. I moved quickly to the bathroom and stripped off the scratchy hospital gown so I could put on the soft clothes he had provided.
The sweater felt incredibly expensive against my skin, and the leggings fit me perfectly as if they had been tailored for my exact measurements. I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror, and I told myself that I just had to survive the next few hours until I could figure out a way to escape this mess.
I walked out of the bathroom and opened the hospital room door to find Devon waiting exactly where he said he would be. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, but he pushed himself upright the moment he saw me.
He didn't say anything as he stepped forward and wrapped his arm firmly around my waist to support my weight. I wanted to tell him that I could walk perfectly fine on my own, but I knew a woman with amnesia and a head injury would likely be a bit unstable.
We walked down the long hallway together, and I noticed that every doctor and nurse we passed stopped what they were doing to watch us.
They whispered to each other and pointed at Devon, and I realized that my association with him was going to make me a very famous woman by tomorrow morning. We reached the elevator and rode down to the ground floor in a silence that felt very heavy and thick with unspoken questions.
When the elevator doors opened, I saw a group of men in dark suits standing near the main entrance of the hospital. They were all wearing earpieces, and they moved with a coordinated precision that suggested they were professional security guards. One of the men, who was older and had a very serious face, stepped forward and opened the glass door for us as we approached.
"The car is ready, and the perimeter is clear, Mr. Dominico," the man said in a deep and gravelly voice.
"Thank you, Aaron, and please make sure the press does not get any photos of her tonight," Devon instructed as he guided me out into the cold night air.
The wind felt very sharp against my face, and I huddled closer to Devon's side without even thinking about it. A massive black SUV was idling at the curb with its headlights shining brightly against the wet pavement.
It looked more like an armored vehicle than a regular car, and the windows were tinted so darkly that it was impossible to see anyone inside. Aaron opened the heavy rear door and stepped back to allow us to enter the vehicle.
Devon helped me climb into the plush leather seat, and then he slid in right beside me. The interior of the car smelled like expensive leather and a very faint scent of cedarwood that I realized was coming from Devon himself.
The door shut with a heavy thud that blocked out all the noise from the street, and the driver immediately pulled away from the hospital curb. I looked out the window and watched the hospital building disappear into the distance while I realized that I was now officially a prisoner of my own lie.
I kept my hands folded in my lap and stared at the diamond ring because I did not know where else to look. Devon reached over and pressed a button on the side panel, and a privacy partition slid up to block our view of the driver. He turned his body toward me and rested his arm on the back of the seat, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body in the cramped space of the car.
"You are very quiet, Alexia," Devon observed, and his voice sounded much lower and more intimate now that we were alone in the dark.
"I am just trying to remember something, but everything is still very blurry and dark in my head," I lied as I looked at him through my eyelashes.
"That is perfectly understandable, but I think your memory might return faster once you are back in our home and surrounded by your own things," Devon said as he reached out and gently took my chin between his thumb and forefinger to make me look at him.
I held my breath as he leaned in closer until our faces were only inches apart. I could see the tiny gold flecks in his dark eyes, and I realized that he was a very handsome man even if he was also a terrifying one. I waited for him to kiss me or say something romantic, but he just studied my face for a very long time with a look of pure possession.
"I have spent a very long time waiting for you to be mine, and I am not going to let a little bit of memory loss change that fact," Devon whispered, and his thumb traced the line of my lower lip.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, and my heart began to pound against my ribs because his words sounded like a threat instead of a promise.
Devon smiled a slow and dangerous smile that didn't reach his eyes at all.
"Did you really think I would believe a smart girl like you actually forgot how much you hated me only yesterday?"