**Audrey's POV**

I studied Blake's face as he stood there, and I laughed.

"I saved you five years ago. Why would I need to fake that?" I met his gaze,my smile fading.′′Iyou can't even remember what happened back then, how exactly would pretending to be that woman help me get close to you?"

Blake frowned. "Who told you I don't remember? The moment my eyes healed and I got back to the Parker family, I started looking for the woman who saved my life."

His words knocked the air from my lungs. I stared at him, caught completely off-guard.

"You actually looked for me?" My voice came out small.

Blake scoffed, his expression hardening. "Drop the act, Audrey.Laurel saved me five years ago. She and Rachel took care of me together, and I gave that pendant to her."

"And it wasn't at this Pinehaven Village place. I was in a completely different village across New York."

I couldn't move as I processed what he was saying. All this time,I'd thought Blake either forgot about me or simply didn't care enough to look.But he had searched for his savior - he just thought that person was Laurel.

"Why now?" Blake asked, eyeing me with suspicion. "You wanted the divorce. You made it painfully clear you wanted nothing to do with me.So why this elaborate scheme to replace Laurel and worm your way back into my life?"

When I didn't respond. Blake's mouth curled into a smirk.

"Did Laurel tell you she was the woman from five years ago?" I finally managed.

Blake's eyes cooled. "I was blind back then and Laurel couldn't speak. But Rachel called her 'sister' every day. Rachel only has one sister."

Everything suddenly made sense. A laugh broke from my throat, part hysterical, part heartbroken. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes as the sound bounced off the crumbling walls.

"So that's how it happened," I whispered.

My mind flashed back to five years ago. Rachel had called me her "sister"around Blake - worried that if he knew a stranger had saved him.his male pride might suffer. She never once used my actual name in front of him.

When Blake vanished without a word, Rachel tried to comfort me: "If he cares about you, he'll find you once his eyes heal."

I remembered watching Blake and Laurel appear together online,convincing myself he just didn't give a damn about the nobody who'd saved him.

Now I finally understood. Blake had looked for"me" - but since he only knew me as Rachel's"sister," he'd found Laurel instead.

Didn't he notice Laurel was nothing like the woman who'd saved him? In five years, had he never thought to revisit the clinic where he'd been treated? How could Laurel have known every detail about our time together?

T'd once desperately hoped Blake would remember and come looking for me. Now that I knew he had, I almost wished Id never found out. The irony cut deep - a man who promised to be responsible for me forever had so easily believed another woman and worshipped her instead.

**Blake's POV**

Audrey's laughter-wet with tears - made me uneasy. Something about it squeezed my chest tight,making it hard to breathe.

"Why laugh like this?" I looked away, irritated by my own discomfort.

"Because you're just too ridiculous!" She wiped her face, voice sharp with mockery. "Blake. Don't tell me you've been with Laurel all this time because you think she was the girl who saved you."

I couldn't deny that my main reason for being with Laurel was the promise I'd made five years ago.

Back at that clinic, believing Laurel had saved me. I'd developed feelings and swore to take care of her forever. When I found her again later,I noticed she seemed different from my memories, but she knew details about our time together. she was Rachel's sister, and people at the clinic recognized her. All the evidence pointed to her.

By the time we reconnected four years ago, my feelings weren't the same.but I stayed with her because of my promise. Then the accident happened three years ago. I became a vegetative patient, and Audrey entered the

picture...

Her mockery made me defensíve. "It's not just about that. We're both from good families, we make sense together - "

"Right," she cut in coldly. "Someone like you wouldn't throw your life away over gratitude."

My phone rang. I shifted Snow to one arm and answered.

"Blake darling," Laurel's fragile voice came through, "did you look for Audrey and my sister again? Did you find them?"

I glanced at Audrey and lowered my voice. "No. After this long, Audrey's probably dead."

There was a strange excitement in Laurel's voice despite her attempt to sound sad. "She was so young... Maybe you should keep looking? What if she survived?"

"I′′'m done searching," I said firmly. "Too much time and money wasted already." I changed the subject. "Is the equipment at Mayo Clinic fixed?"

"Yes," sheanswered. "Still don't know why everything disconnected..."

The small room carried sound well. Audrey could hear Laurel clearly,and at the mention of disconnected equipment, her lips curved into a satisfied smirk.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, uncomfortable with Audrey's expression.

I turned away with Snow, heading toward the door.

As I moved with the phone, I caught movement in my peripheral vision.Audrey lunged forward, trying to grab Snow while I was distracted.

I reacted instantly. The moment she carried Snow into her arms, I pushed -pinning her against the wall with my body.

"Ah!" Pain escaped through her teeth.

"Blake darling, what was that?" Laurel asked immediately.

With Audrey trapped between me and the wall, I stared coldly at her pale face. "Nothing. Just a straycat."

"A cat?" Laurel sounded confused, then understanding dawned. "Oh right,you're by the ocean. There would be strays around..."

She continued,"My mother's leaving, and I'll be alone. Could you come keep me company?"

"I'll be there soon," I said after a brief pause, and hung up.

"Let go!" Audrey glared up at mne. "Go run to your precious Miss Rose!"

I smirked. "And what about you? Hiding in this dump, pretending you saved me here?"

I looked around the decaying room. "The furniture arrangement, the bed position - identical to the room from five years ago. You've really committed to this lie that you saved me five years ago, haven't you?"

Audrey let out a harsh laugh. "You know Pinehaven was bought up four years ago,right? Someone paid crazy money for this dump, claiming they'd develop it."

"Laurel's uncle bought it," I said with a shrug."50what?"

I remembered the news coverage. The media had a field day mocking how Laurel's uncle had flushed money down the drain on worthless property

that would just sit abandoned.

Which is exactly what happened.

"Do you honestly think her uncle is that stupid with money?" Audrey asked.

She waved her free hand around the room. "He bought this place to erase what happened here, not to build anything."

"Look at this place. Everything's ancient. Rust everywhere.Cobwebs in every corner. You think I faked all this? Made it look decades old overnight?"

I narrowed my eyes. That question had nagged at me before. The authenticity of the decay here wasn't something easily faked.

But still...

"Whatever," Audrey sighed, giving up.′′I′'m done explaining myself to you.

11

She held Snow against her chest and pushed at my arm. "Go back to Laurel. Snow and I have somewhere else to be."