Chapter 49 Day 6 - 11:47 AM
Dr. Morrison returned for another session.
This time, we didn't do guided meditation. Instead, she brought a laptop and a series of images.
"I want to try something different," she said. "I'm going to show you photos of people, places, and things. You tell me if anything triggers a memory or feeling. Don't think about it just react."
The first few images were neutral cityscapes, random faces, corporate buildings. Nothing.
Then she showed me a photo of a man in his fifties with silver hair and piercing blue eyes.
My breath caught.
"Him," I said. "I know him."
"Who is he?" Rebecca asked.
"I don't know his name," I said, staring at the photo. "But I've seen him before. Recently."
"Where?"
I closed my eyes, trying to place the memory. "A restaurant. No a coffee shop. No..." I pressed my fingers to my temples. "I can't remember. But I know that face."
Rebecca made a note. "This is Richard Stirling. Senior partner at Stirling-Hale."
My eyes flew open. "That's Stirling? The Ghost Forger?"
"Yes," Rebecca said. "Have you ever met him directly?"
"Not that I remember as Lila," I said slowly. "But as Sophia..." I stared at the photo. "There's something familiar. Like I should be afraid of him, but I don't know why."
Rebecca showed me another photo. This one was of Dr. Vance the physician who'd signed my death certificate.
I felt nothing. No recognition, no fear. Just blankness.
"What about him?"
"Nothing," I said.
"Interesting," Rebecca murmured. "The man who presumably helped erase your memories doesn't register, but Stirling does. That suggests Stirling was important to Sophia before the memory suppression. Someone who made an impact."
She showed me several more photos. Most triggered nothing. But then she pulled up an image that made my heart stop.
It was a building. Old, industrial, in a part of the city I didn't recognize.
But I knew it.
"Where is this?" I asked.
"You tell me," Rebecca said.
"I've been there," I whispered. "Sophia was there. Multiple times. It's... a warehouse? No. An office building disguised as a warehouse." I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my heart race. "Something bad happened there."
"What kind of bad?"
Images flashed through my mind fragmented, incomplete. A room with filing cabinets. Computers. Men in suits arguing. Someone screaming.
And blood. So much blood.
"I think I saw someone die there," I said, my voice shaking.
Rebecca leaned forward. "Who died?"
"I don't know. I can't see faces. Just... violence. Fear. And then running. I was running from that building."
"Was this before or after you went to Boston?"
"Before," I said with certainty. "This was what made me run. What made me desperate enough to let someone erase my memories."
Rebecca pulled up a map. "Can you identify where this building is?"
I studied the image again, trying to pull location details from the fractured memory. "Downtown. Near the financial district. There was a subway entrance nearby. Green line, I think."
"That narrows it down," Rebecca said. She typed something on her laptop. "There are six buildings matching that description. We'll need to—"
The door burst open.
Dr. Chen stood there, her face pale. "Rebecca, I need you. Now."
"What's wrong?"
"It's Adrian," Dr. Chen said. "Dr. Ashford just called. He's waking up. And it's not going well."
Switzerland - Zürich Medical Facility - 6:23 PM (Swiss Time)
James and Eleanor Cole stood outside their son's room, watching through the observation window as Dr. Ashford and his team worked.
Adrian was conscious barely. His eyes were open, but unfocused. His body thrashed against the restraints they'd been forced to use, his mouth forming words that came out garbled and confused.
"How long has he been like this?" Eleanor asked, her voice tight with controlled emotion.
"Since we began reducing the sedation four hours ago," Dr. Ashford said, stepping out to join them. "He's experiencing severe emergence delirium. Disorientation, agitation, paranoia. It's not uncommon after prolonged medically induced coma, but his case is particularly severe."
"Can you sedate him again?" James demanded.
"Not without risking permanent damage," Dr. Ashford said. "His brain has been fighting too hard to wake up. If we force him back under now, we might not be able to bring him back at all."
Eleanor's hand gripped the window frame. "What does he need?"
"Honestly?" Dr. Ashford sighed. "He needs whatever he's been fighting to wake up for. He keeps saying the same name over and over. Lila. He's convinced she's in danger, and nothing we say can calm him down."
"She's not in danger," James said firmly. "She's secure in New York."
"You know that," Dr. Ashford said. "But he doesn't. And until he's convinced she's safe, he's not going to stabilize. His brain won't allow it."
Eleanor turned to her husband. "We need to bring her here."
"Absolutely not," James said. "We don't know who or what she is. We're not putting her anywhere near Adrian while he's this vulnerable."
"Then we need to at least let him see her," Eleanor said. "A video call. Something to prove she's alive and safe. Otherwise, we're going to lose him to his own mind."
James was silent for a long moment, staring through the window at his son.
Adrian's eyes were wild, searching, his lips forming that same name over and over: Lila, Lila, Lila.
"Fine," James said finally. "Arrange a video call. But supervised. And if she says or does anything that agitates him further, we cut the connection immediately."
Eleanor pulled out her phone. "I'll have Dr. Chen prepare her."
Inside the room, Adrian suddenly went still. His eyes, though unfocused, turned toward the window as if he could sense his parents' presence beyond the glass.
His lips moved one more time, clearer than before:
"Find her. Protect her. Danger."
Then his body went limp, exhausted from fighting, and he drifted back into unconsciousness.
Dr. Ashford checked his vitals. "He's stable. For now. But when he wakes up again and he will he's going to be even more agitated if he doesn't have answers."
"He'll have them," Eleanor said, her voice hard with determination. "One way or another, we're going to give our son what he needs to survive this."
Even if it meant confronting the woman who might destroy him.
New York - Medical Facility - 1:15 PM (EST)
Dr. Chen found me in my room, still processing what Rebecca had revealed about the warehouse.
"Lila," she said. "I need you to come with me. Now."
"What's wrong?"
"Adrian is waking up," Dr. Chen said. "And he's not doing well. His parents have agreed to arrange a video call between you and him. But Lila you need to understand something before you see him."
"What?"
Dr. Chen's expression was grave. "He doesn't know about your past. He doesn't know about Sophia Chen or the memory suppression or any of it. Right now, he's simply a man who's terrified that someone he cares about is in danger. And you need to decide are you going to tell him the truth? Or are you going to let him believe you're just Lila James?"
I stared at her. "You want me to lie to him?"
"I want you to think about what's best for his recovery," Dr. Chen said. "The truth might be too much for him to handle right now. Or it might be exactly what he needs. But you have about twenty minutes to decide before that call happens."
She left me alone with the weight of that choice.
Tell Adrian the truth and risk destroying whatever feelings he had for me.
Or lie, and let him fall in love with a woman who might not exist.
Either way, I was about to face the man whose child I was carrying.
The man who had nearly died trying to protect me.
The man who deserved so much better than the fractured mess I'd become.
I looked down at my stomach, at the invisible life growing there.
"Your father is waking up," I whispered. "And I have to decide who I'm going to be when I face him."
Lila, the innocent victim.
Sophia, the dangerous con artist.
Or something in between a woman still learning who she really was.
Twenty minutes.
That's all the time I had to choose.