Chapter 3: Banishment

“So this is the woman you married after losing your memory?”

Aubrey suddenly tilted her head to look at me.

I hurriedly lowered my gaze, hiding the tears in my eyes.

My hands twisted in my lap, nails biting my palm—anything to keep from falling apart in front of them.

“Yes.” Marcus nodded. “She’s Natalie Carter—oldest of the Carter girls. Everyone in Maple Heights knows her family.”

“Oh, come on.” Aubrey waved her hand dismissively. “Carter family, Johnson family, Smith family, Miller family… all the old families in town are cut from the same cloth, all equally boring.”

“Poor you, stuck playing house with Miss Maple Heights here for two years. Must’ve been a snooze-fest.”

Marcus was amused by her mock pity and tapped her nose again.

“If everyone were as unique as you, you wouldn’t be special anymore, would you?”

“Hmph, smooth talker.”

Aubrey said that, but snuggled even deeper into Marcus’s arms.

“All right, now that I’m back and you’ve remembered everything, hurry up and divorce her and marry me.”

The words hit me like a slap, my breath catching. I stared at my reflection in the side mirror, cheeks blotchy, eyes rimmed red.

Marcus’s smile froze for a moment, and he hesitated.

But in that instant, Aubrey’s face darkened again.

She suddenly pushed Marcus away.

“Stupid dummy, it wasn’t easy for me to agree to marry you, and now you don’t treasure it?”

“It’s not that I don’t treasure it, but this is a big deal. I have to talk it over with my mom first.”

“What’s there to talk about? You’re making me angry, I don’t want to talk to you anymore, stupid dummy!”

With that, Aubrey swung open the truck door and jumped out.

Marcus quickly signaled with his eyes, and a security guard immediately followed her.

The guard was one of those quiet men who worked for the governor’s family—he slipped after her, blending into the crowd.