The day I was released from the mental hospital, my family watched me with nervous care. Are you still looking for Lucas?
I widened my eyes in confusion. Lucas? Who’s that?
Their relief was instant. They threw a welcome home party. They set up blind dates. The tension shattered into forced cheer.
Everyone told me Lucas didn’t exist, that I’d fallen in love with someone purely imaginary.
I played my part perfectly. Humoring them was the price of my freedom, the key that unlocked the hospital doors.
But I knew.
Lucas was real.
I would find him, then escape.
“How’s Summer’s mental state now?”
“She’s good, very stable. But doctor, we’re worried she might be faking it, that she hasn’t forgotten that imaginary person. Is there any chance of that?”
Over the phone, the doctor’s tone was firm:
“Absolutely impossible. I used the most brutal psychological torment. I forced her to forget everything except her family. A fake, imaginary person couldn’t possibly leave any trace.”
“But remember, you must not let her encounter any related people or things, or it could awaken some of her memories.”
“Understood, thank you, doctor. The payment we agreed on will be transferred to your offshore account tonight.”
With that, my brother, Michael, hung up.
From behind the door, I heard Michael let out a sigh of relief. “Finally, it’s done.”
His footsteps approached the door. I quickly backed away, fumbling my way back to my bedroom in the dark, trying to process everything I’d just heard.
It was clear: my family had bribed the doctor and wiped out most of my past. My memory was a blank slate, save for information about my family and a vague recollection of assaulting someone on the street two years ago, being diagnosed with a mental illness, and locked away in a psychiatric hospital.
Everyone was lying to me!
Only I wouldn’t lie to myself.
I had no memory of my treatment in the mental hospital, but on the wall hidden by the desk in my room, I found three lines of small, carved words.
“It’s a setup! Summer, your family bribed the doctor, they’re torturing you.”
“I’m barely holding on, many memories are fading, but remember this: Lucas is real. Go to New York and find him, that’s your only way to freedom.”
“An iPhone, red high heels – these are gifts from Lucas, proof that he exists.”
Less than a hundred words, stained with what looked like dried blood.
Through the frantic handwriting, I could feel the panic and despair I’d experienced when I’d scratched those messages into the wall.
Knock, knock, knock!
A sudden knock startled me.
Only then did I realize I’d forgotten to turn off my lamp. I quickly went to open the door.
“Summer, why are you still awake so late?”
It was Michael.
His eyes held a look of concern and affection, which made me feel instinctively conflicted, sending a shiver down my spine.
I didn’t know their motive for torturing and deceiving me.
But Michael was the CEO of a successful corporation, and Mom and Dad, though retired, had extensive connections. I, on the other hand, didn’t even know my own identity.
I couldn’t fight them. The only thing I could do was bide my time, cooperate, lower their guard, and look for an opportunity to find Lucas.
I forced a faint smile. “Tomorrow’s Mom’s birthday. I was just thinking about what to get her.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Michael said, ruffling my hair. “Don’t you know what Mom and Dad really want? They just want you to get married soon. The guy they’ve set you up with for tomorrow’s date is young and accomplished. Just try to be enthusiastic, okay? Don’t resist so much.”
The man was named Julian Sterling, the future heir of the Sterling Group. He was cultured, gentle, thoughtful, humorous, and had no bad habits.
After a while, I almost fell for him.
In front of Mom and Dad, I often brought up Julian, feigning interest.
They were overjoyed, saying it was time to pick a good day for both families to meet.
No one mentioned Lucas anymore, as if he had truly been forgotten, as if he never existed.
Michael also stopped having people constantly watching me like before. At least, when I went out on dates with Julian, there were fewer pairs of eyes following me.
On Thanksgiving Eve, both families met for the first time.
The atmosphere was warm and harmonious. The wedding was set for a lucky day three months later, sealed with a kiss between Julian and me.
My eyes sparkled with feigned happiness as I drank myself into a stupor. Michael helped me back to my bedroom.
Thinking I was passed out drunk, they celebrated loudly in the living room:
“Phew, finally done. He’s completely won Summer over.”
“Just three more months, and once the wedding happens, this whole thing will be over!”
So.
They wanted to use me as a tool for a strategic marriage, which was why they’d used such cruel methods to erase my memory?
I reached under my bed, pulled out a storage box, and looked at the iPhone and red high heels inside. My eyes narrowed, my gaze hardening.
“Lucas.”
“I will find you!”
I couldn’t reveal my true thoughts to anyone, not even Julian.
But I loved dating Julian. When I was with him, I could escape Michael’s surveillance. And Julian often had to leave me for a while to attend to company matters.
These were my moments of absolute freedom.
I wasn’t sure what awaited me after marrying Julian, so I had to execute my escape plan and head to New York before the wedding.
I pawned off Julian’s gifts for quick cash. Once I’d saved enough, I planned to buy an untraceable used car and disappear without a trace.
A month later, my chance came!
While Julian was with me trying on wedding dresses, he took a call, his face instantly changing. “Another problem? Things always go wrong when I’m not there. I’m losing more than I’m making from the Vance family! Wait for me, I’m coming now…”
He rushed out and got into his car.
Usually, when there was a company emergency, he’d be gone for at least an hour or two.
I wasted no time, quickly changed, hailed a cab, and headed to the used car lot I’d scouted beforehand. I paid a fortune for a beat-up clunker that was almost ready for the junkyard.
I had no choice. My time was limited, and I couldn’t leave any information that my family could trace.
As soon as I got the keys, I threw my phone away and drove towards New York.
I had no idea how I’d find Lucas. Once I reached New York, to make a living, I leveraged my looks and got a job as a massage parlor attendant in a run-down part of the city. No ID required, which was perfect.
It was strange.
I seemed to adapt quickly to this job. I’d serve customers at night, trying to subtly gather any information about Lucas, and sleep in the staff dorm during the day.
I dumped the car too, confident that my family wouldn’t find any trace of me.
Two weeks later, I got a strange customer.
He introduced himself as Julian’s driver, on vacation back home for a wedding, and just wanted a foot rub.
But I’d met all of Julian’s drivers, and I had no recollection of this man.
I decided to probe. “I heard Mr. Sterling’s fiance went missing. Are you guys looking for her?”
The driver blinked, confused. “What are you talking about? Mr. Sterling’s fiance is Ms. Davis, from the Davis family. She was just photographed drinking at a nightclub last night. She’s not missing.”
He pulled out a photo, claiming it was Julian and Ms. Davis at their engagement party.
The room was packed with guests. Michael and Mom and Dad were there too.
But the Julian in the photo wasn’t the Julian I knew at all!
My scalp prickled. A cold dread seeped into my back.
If Julian was also a lie, then my family’s initial plan-to separate Lucas and me through cruel means for a strategic marriage-made no sense.
What was the truth then?
What did they really want to do to me?
In a daze, the door to the private room was kicked open.
Michael’s figure abruptly appeared. His face was dark as he charged towards me, grabbing my collar and yanking me up.
“You’re really hiding in a massage parlor! Summer, you’re the Vance family heiress! Do you really enjoy this kind of disgusting job?”
I didn’t even have time to think. My muddled brain hadn’t even started working before Michael roughly dragged me out and into a car.
Mom and Dad were waiting inside.
All their past concern and affection for me were now replaced by deep disappointment.
“Summer, what do we have to do for you to believe that Lucas doesn’t exist, that he’s fake?”
I shook my head frantically, unable to speak.
I just kept telling myself in my heart: they’re liars. I can’t believe a single word they say.
Soon, Michael’s patience ran out. He grabbed a handful of my hair.
“Summer, you’ve only ever had one boyfriend.”
“You want to see him, don’t you?”
“Fine, I’ll take you to him right now!”
The car sped through the city and stopped at a dilapidated old apartment complex in New York.
Michael led me to a door and knocked. A disheveled, one-legged drunkard opened it.
Seeing us, he trembled with fear, shrinking back.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Summer!”
“I was wrong! I shouldn’t have treated you like that!”
“You’ve already punished me! Please, let me go, stop torturing me, okay?”
I, too, recoiled, shaking my head frantically.
“I don’t know him! He’s not Lucas! He’s definitely not Lucas!”
Michael scoffed, a mixture of anger and disbelief on his face. “Then tell me, who is Lucas? What does he look like?”
I didn’t know.
I couldn’t say.
But I knew this depraved drunkard was not the man I had longed for, the man I dreamed of even in my despair within the mental hospital.
“Enough, Summer! Can’t you just be clear-headed for once?!”
“Lucas isn’t real! Those words you carved in the hospital wall? They were lies you planted yourself, back when you were still sick!”
“HE is your only reality. The one who broke you. Your mind just couldn’t handle it, so it invented a perfect savior to escape to!”
“Do you know why we found you in that massage parlor?”
“Because he forced you to work in a place like that for six months…”
The rest of his words faded.
A sudden, tearing pain erupted in my brain.
A memory was violently forced back into my mind, agonizing me.
Then, the memory gradually became fluid, clear.
I remembered everything.
This pathetic drunkard was Caleb, a con artist.
He had faked his identity, manipulated me, exploited my feelings, and then lured me to New York. He drained all my money, forcing me to work in a massage parlor to support him.
The parlor owner was his relative. I was held captive for six months before Michael tracked me down and rescued me, punishing Caleb severely with his own methods.
No wonder Michael found me.
When the carvings in the mental hospital were discovered, he had focused his search on New York.
Based on my past experience, he’d searched massage parlor after massage parlor.
If this memory was real.
Then was Lucas real or fake?
I suddenly wavered.
I recalled the soul-crushing pain and breakdown after being deceived by Caleb. Such intense suffering could indeed have triggered my mental illness.
But my family were also liars!
They bribed doctors and subjected me to brutal torment to make me forget everything.
Even Julian was a fake. My entire life was a massive lie!
“Summer, are you remembering some things?”
Seeing my breakdown and fear, Michael clasped my hand, his gaze becoming earnest. “Now can you believe I wasn’t lying to you? We’re family. I don’t understand why you refuse to trust us.”
“Come back home with us, and explain things properly to Julian. He still has feelings for you, and with our help, your wedding can still go ahead-”
My emotions, at that moment, could no longer be contained. I erupted, yelling, “Enough!”
“I don’t know if Lucas is fake, but Julian is fake!”
“The man I saw wasn’t the real Julian at all! You’re all liars, you’re trying to deceive me too!”
“Michael, please, just tell me the truth! What do you actually want from me?”
Back in the car, Mom, Dad, and Michael showed me many photos and screenshots of chat logs.
A flood of information that painted a general picture of the years after I met Caleb.
After graduating college, I ignored my family’s objections and went to New York with Caleb, then went completely off the radar.
The three of them went frantic, searching everywhere for me.
But when they finally found me and rescued me, I was already insane, unable to care for myself.
I had forgotten Caleb, fantasizing about a nearly perfect man named Lucas, frantically searching for him, even becoming violent enough to injure someone.
“Summer, Dad admits, we bribed the doctor and put you through some pretty harsh treatments to cure you.”
“But what else could we do?! Regular medication couldn’t cure you. Only by completely erasing your memories could we help you escape the shadows of your past.”
“After you were discharged, to prevent a relapse, we thought about finding you a perfect man, someone as close to the ‘Lucas’ in your imagination as possible. But where in the world does such a man exist? Julian was the best we could find.”
“We pleaded with him. He was already engaged, so, desperate, we found someone to impersonate Julian…”
Their eyes reddened as they spilled all the truth.
Including some information I didn’t know.
For example, the person playing Julian was Trevor Vance. Although not the heir of the Sterling family, he was an independent entrepreneur, a young and successful CEO worth millions.
He had known the truth all along, helping my family deceive me in exchange for our Vance family’s resources and assistance.
Michael swore to me that as long as the Vance family stood, Trevor would always treat me well.
He would become the Lucas of my imagination.
“Summer, because of you, we haven’t had a single peaceful night’s sleep in years.”
“Do we have to tear our hearts out for you to see that we truly mean well?”
Their tears seemed genuine.
The memory of Caleb in my mind wasn’t fake either.
And everything they had done now had a logical explanation that tied together.
How could I not believe them?
I sobbed uncontrollably, embracing them. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have made you sad. But I lost my memories, and then those lines in the mental hospital… I was so scared, so scared, I couldn’t stop overthinking everything.”
“Can you give me a little more time, please? I promise I’ll get through this…”
After that, Mom, Dad, and Michael became even kinder to me.
And they watched me even more closely.
When I went out on dates with Trevor, the Vance family bodyguards didn’t even try to hide, openly shadowing and monitoring me.
Occasionally, when I showed discomfort, Trevor would take my hand to soothe me. “Summer, your family is just looking out for you, afraid you might do something foolish again.”
“All the misunderstandings have been cleared up, right? Promise me you won’t overthink things anymore, okay?”
“We haven’t stopped you these past few days. We’ve been helping you search. Is there even a single trace of Lucas existing in your life?”
I nodded silently, squeezing his hand back.
“Yes, if Lucas truly existed, he would have left a trace.”
“Anyway, thank you for coming with me to New York. It felt good to personally teach Caleb a lesson and get some much-needed revenge.”
Behind me, Caleb lay battered, unable to stand.
Trevor hadn’t heard what I’d said to Caleb while I was beating him.
“If you want to live, help me find that iPhone I took to be repaired in the run-down part of the city.”
No one knew I had already found the proof of Lucas’s existence!
The iPhone, and those red high heels.
I was incredibly thankful that before being discharged, I’d managed to scratch out the third line of text. Otherwise, they would surely have found a plausible explanation for those two items too.
A few days later, I feigned waking up from a nightmare.
Mom and Dad rushed in immediately, asking what was wrong.
I said, “I dreamed of Caleb again.”
“Is Trevor free? Can he take me to New York one more time?”
I didn’t know what methods they had used to erase all traces of Lucas.
But I knew that iPhone must contain information from Lucas, or from me before my amnesia, left for me…
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