CHAPTER 4 — THE WOMAN HE FORGOT
CHAPTER 4 — THE WOMAN HE FORGOT
The flashing police lights painted the hospital corridor blue and red.
"Charles Williams!"
"Step away from the patient!"
Three detectives strode toward Emily's ICU room.
Marcus and two bodyguards instinctively stepped between them.
"This is a private floor," Marcus said.
The lead detective held up a warrant.
"So is attempted murder."
My fingers tightened around the silver ring hidden inside my pocket.
Richard had moved faster than I expected.
He hadn't just framed me.
He had weaponized the law.
"Mr. Williams."
The detective's tone softened.
"Please come with us."
I looked through the glass.
Emily hadn't moved.
Machines still breathed for her.
If I left...
Richard would finish what he'd started.
"I'm not going anywhere."
The detective sighed.
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
Just as officers reached for me—
A woman's voice echoed down the hallway.
"Stop!"
Everyone turned.
A woman in her late forties stood at the end of the corridor.
She wore an elegant black coat, a pearl necklace, and carried herself with quiet confidence.
Her eyes...
For one strange moment...
They felt familiar.
She walked straight toward the detectives and handed them a leather folder.
"I'm attorney Sophia Carter."
"I'm here to represent Mr. Charles Williams."
Richard's smile disappeared.
Just for a second.
Then it returned.
"Sophia..."
"So you finally came."
The woman never looked at him.
Instead...
She looked at me.
Longer than a lawyer should.
There was something hidden behind her calm expression.
Pain.
Regret.
Hatred.
Twenty minutes later...
The detectives reluctantly postponed the arrest.
"The warrant remains active."
"But until the forensic report is completed..."
"Mr. Williams may remain under hospital supervision."
As soon as they left, Marcus closed the conference room door.
"Sir..."
"I've never seen that lawyer before."
Neither had I.
Yet something about her unsettled me.
Sophia placed a stack of documents on the table.
"You need to stop chasing Richard."
I frowned.
"My daughter named him before she collapsed."
"I know."
"Then why are you defending him?"
"I'm not."
She looked directly into my eyes.
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
Silence.
Then she quietly added,
"Because you're walking into the same trap you walked into twenty-five years ago."
A strange pressure formed inside my chest.
"What do you mean?"
She froze.
As if she'd said too much.
"Nothing."
"No."
I leaned forward.
"You know something."
Her eyes drifted to the window.
Rain had begun to fall.
"I knew a young man once."
"He looked exactly like you."
"He smiled exactly like you."
"He made impossible promises..."
"...and believed he could change the world."
For reasons I couldn't explain...
My heartbeat quickened.
"I don't remember."
"I know."
She smiled sadly.
"That's the tragedy."
Twenty-Five Years Earlier...
A narrow country road.
A rusty pickup truck.
A young Charles Williams laughed as the wind rushed through the open windows.
Beside him sat a beautiful young waitress in a faded blue dress.
Sophia.
"You really hate being rich?" she teased.
Young Charles grinned.
"I hate what comes with it."
"My family already chose my future."
"My wife."
"My career."
"My life."
Sophia intertwined her fingers with his.
"Then choose me."
Without hesitation, he answered,
"I already did."
He pulled a small silver necklace from his pocket.
It wasn't expensive.
Just a tiny heart-shaped pendant.
"I can't give you a palace."
"I can't promise an easy life."
"But one day..."
"I'll come back."
"And I'll marry you."
Sophia laughed through happy tears.
"You'd better."
The memory vanished.
A sharp pain exploded behind my eyes.
I grabbed my temple.
Fragments.
A smile.
A blue dress.
Rain.
A necklace.
Then...
Nothing.
"What... was that?"
Sophia stared at me, stunned.
"You remembered?"
I shook my head.
"No..."
"It disappeared."
Her shoulders slowly fell.
"Of course."
Before either of us could speak again—
Richard entered without knocking.
He smiled at Sophia.
"Still telling ghost stories?"
She looked at him with pure contempt.
"You should have stayed dead."
Richard chuckled.
"I've heard that before."
He turned to me.
"Brother."
"You should ask your lawyer where she was twenty-five years ago."
Sophia's face instantly went pale.
Richard enjoyed every second.
"Or perhaps..."
"You'd rather hear about..."
"...the son you never knew existed."
The room fell silent.
I stared at him.
"My..."
"What?"
Richard slowly walked toward the door.
"A little boy."
"He had your eyes."
"He died before his tenth birthday."
"He spent years waiting for a father..."
"...who never came."
My legs nearly gave way.
I looked at Sophia.
She wasn't denying it.
Tears streamed silently down her face.
"I searched for you," she whispered.
"For years."
"I wrote letters."
"I went to the Williams estate."
"They threw me out."
"I begged."
"I even brought our son..."
"...hoping you would recognize him."
Her voice broke.
"But they told me..."
"...Charles Williams had forgotten I ever existed."
I couldn't breathe.
"My son..."
Sophia closed her eyes.
"He had a hole in his heart."
"The doctors could have saved him."
"They only needed money."
"A fraction of what your family spent on a single dinner."
She looked at me with shattered eyes.
"I watched him die in my arms..."
"...still believing his father would come."
The conference room became deathly silent.
Richard smiled faintly.
Then, almost lazily, he delivered one final sentence before leaving.
"And now..."
"The woman whose child died because of the Williams family..."
"...is working with the family your daughter was about to marry."
He opened the door.
"You should ask yourself one question, Charles."
"Did she come here to save you..."
"...or to destroy everything you've ever loved?"
The door clicked shut.
I turned toward Sophia.
She didn't speak.
She simply removed the old heart-shaped necklace from beneath her blouse.
It was the same necklace...
The one from the memory that had flashed through my mind moments earlier.
For the first time in twenty-five years...
A single forgotten tear rolled down my cheek.
And somewhere deep inside my broken memory...
A name echoed over and over.
May you like
Sophia.
End of Chapter 4
