ETHAN'S POV
Physical therapy was turning his body into a battlefield.
Sarah made him stretch his ribs in ways that felt like torture. Move his left arm in circles that made him want to scream. Walk the length of the penthouse until his legs shook from effort. She talked about recovery timelines and increased mobility and how his body was responding better than expected.
But the pain in his muscles and bones was nothing compared to the pain in his chest that had nothing to do with his injuries.
Lily sat on the couch during every session, watching him like she was afraid he might shatter. But she wasn't watching like a wife who loved her husband. She was watching like someone guarding a secret. Like she was measuring the distance between them and calculating how much longer she could maintain it.
"So tell me about the stress in your life before the accident," Sarah said during the third session, adjusting the angle of his shoulder. "Sometimes trauma is preceded by emotional pressure. Do you remember what was bothering you?"
Ethan thought about it. Tried to pull memories from the fog that still clouded his brain.
"I can't remember," he admitted. "There's something there but I can't quite reach it. My mother was upset about something. My wife and I had tension but she says it was just work stress."
"And does that make sense to you?" Sarah asked, moving on to his legs.
"No," Ethan said quietly. "But I can't remember why it doesn't."
After Sarah left, Ethan showered carefully, avoiding his cast and being mindful of his healing ribs. When he came out, he found Lily in the kitchen preparing lunch. She was making his favorite sandwich. Turkey and avocado on wheat bread. How did she know that was his favorite? He hadn't told her. His brain had forgotten that detail along with everything else.
Unless they'd been together long enough that she just knew.
Unless they had a marriage that was based on details and care and understanding.
"Come here," he said, and his voice came out rougher than he intended.
She turned from the counter and something in her face shifted. Like she was preparing for an attack.
"What is it?" she asked, keeping the counter between them.
"I want to hold you," he said. "Come here."
She moved toward him slowly, like each step was a decision she was regretting. He tried to pull her close but she resisted. Gently but firmly. Like his arms were painful instead of comforting.
"Your ribs," she said. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You're not hurting me," he said. "You're the only thing that doesn't hurt."
But even as he said it, he felt her pulling away. Physically and in some deeper way that he couldn't quite name. It was like trying to hold water. The harder he gripped, the more it slipped through his fingers.
That night he found her in the guest room unpacking her things into the closet. She'd been sleeping there for the past four days. She said it was because his injuries made it uncomfortable for them to share a bed. That she didn't want to accidentally hurt him. That it was just temporary until he healed.
But watching her hang her clothes in that room, the one that was designed for visitors and strangers, Ethan understood the truth.
She was preparing to leave.
"Why are you sleeping in here?" he asked, and he already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear her lie to his face.
"I told you," she said without turning around. "Your ribs. I don't want to—"
"Stop," he said. His voice was sharper than he meant. "Don't lie to me. Just tell me what's really going on."
She turned to face him and her eyes were red-rimmed like she'd been crying.
"Nothing's going on," she said. "I'm just being careful."
"You're being distant," he said. "You've been distant since I came home. You won't let me kiss you. You won't let me touch you. You won't sleep in our bed. And now I find you unpacking into the guest room like you're planning to stay here as a guest instead of as my wife."
"Ethan..."
"No," he said. "Something's wrong and I need you to tell me what it is. Did I do something before the accident? Is that what everyone's been keeping from me?"
Lily's face crumpled. For a moment he thought she was actually going to tell him. He thought the lie was finally going to break open and the truth would pour out.
Instead she just said she was tired and left the room.
That night Ethan lay in bed and couldn't sleep. His ribs ached. His arm throbbed. And underneath all of that, his heart was breaking for reasons he didn't fully understand.
At 2 AM he gave up on sleep and went downstairs to the kitchen.
That's where he found her.
Lily was sitting at the kitchen counter in the dark, her face illuminated only by the city lights coming through the windows. She was crying. Not the soft kind of crying. The kind where your whole body shakes with it. The kind that comes from a place so deep inside that you can't control it.
"Lily?" He moved toward her without thinking about his injuries. "Baby, what's wrong?"
She looked at him and the expression on her face was like watching someone say goodbye.
"I'm just tired," she said, and the words were mechanical. Like she was reading from a script she'd memorized.
"That's not the truth," he said. He reached for her and she didn't pull away this time. He pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest, not caring if his ribs screamed. Not caring if moving hurt. All that mattered was holding onto this woman who was slipping away from him.
"Tell me," he whispered into her hair. "Please just tell me what's going on."
She cried harder. Her whole body shook with sobs that seemed to come from somewhere beyond pain. Ethan held her through it. He didn't let go even when his ribs felt like they were tearing apart. He didn't let go even when she tried to push away from him.
"I can't," she whispered. "I can't tell you. I can't do this."
"Do what?" he asked. "Lily, please. Whatever it is, we can face it together."
"No," she said, and her voice was hollow. "You can't face this. Nobody can face this."
He pulled back just enough to see her face. Her eyes were devastated. Like she was looking at him for the last time. Like she was memorizing his face before she had to destroy him.
"Whatever happened before the accident," she said slowly, "whatever you can't remember... it was bad, Ethan. It was really bad. And I don't know how to tell you. I don't know how to be the person who breaks your heart all over again."
His world tilted.
"All over again?" he repeated. "What does that mean? When did you break my heart before?"
She pulled out of his arms and moved away from him. The distance felt physical and permanent.
"I think you need to talk to Dr. Mitchell," she said. "I think you need to let your memories come back naturally instead of pushing. Because once you remember, once you understand what really happened between us, you're not going to want me here anymore."
"That's not true," he said. "Whatever happened, I love you. I know that. I feel that."
"You love the version of me you think exists," she said bitterly. "But that's not who I am. That's not who I've been. And when you remember who I actually am, when you remember what we actually were before the accident, you're going to hate me."
"I could never hate you."
"You already did," she whispered. "You did. You really did."
His phone rang suddenly, cutting through the darkness like a siren.
It was Daniel. At 2:17 in the morning.
"Ethan," Daniel's voice was panicked. "I'm sorry to call so late but I thought you should know. Rebecca showed up at the hospital asking about you. She told the staff she was your fiancée. She's saying that before the accident you two were about to announce your engagement."
The words didn't make sense.
Fiancée. Rebecca. Engagement.
Ethan looked at Lily and watched her face go absolutely pale.
"That's not..." Ethan started but Daniel cut him off.
"There's more," Daniel said. "The staff found a document in Ethan's old emails. A draft press release about a business merger with Rebecca's family. It was dated one week before your accident. And in the email thread, you referred to Lily as your ex-wife."
The penthouse spun.
Ethan's eyes locked with Lily's and he watched the final piece of the puzzle fall into place in her expression.
She wasn't just distant because she was protecting him.
She was distant because she was lying about something so fundamental, so devastating, that when the truth came out it was going to destroy them both.
"Ethan?" Daniel's voice came through the phone. "Are you there? Did you hear me? You were engaged to Rebecca. You were planning to announce it. And somehow Lily doesn't know that you..."
Ethan hung up the phone.
He looked at Lily standing in the darkness of the kitchen and finally understood.
She wasn't his wife.
She was his ex-wife.
And she'd been lying to him since the moment he woke up in that hospital.