Rejected: A love story

Chapter 181: She is Fiona

Nathan sat on the rug, his expensive suit trousers probably getting ruined, but he didn’t care. He was busy helping Mateo build a garage out of the toy boxes. Every time the boy laughed, Nathan felt a mix of joy and a deep, burning anger at the people who had stolen these years from him.

He looked at Mateo’s small hands and saw his own fingers. He looked at the way the boy tilted his head, and he saw Fiona. It was so obvious now that he wondered how he had ever doubted it.

Viktoria sat on the sofa nearby, watching them with a soft expression. She looked more relaxed than he had ever seen her.

"You’re really good at that," she said, referring toward the toy garage. "Mateo usually doesn’t warm up to people this fast. He’s usually very shy around strangers."

Nathan looked up and caught her eye. "Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like a stranger to him," he said. He caught himself before he said too much. "I mean, some kids just have a good instinct for people."

"True," she agreed.

After a while, Mateo started to yawn, his little head drooping. The excitement of the new toys and the sugar from the ice cream had finally worn him out.

"I think it’s bedtime for the little one," Viktoria said, standing up.

"I’ll carry him," Nathan offered.

He picked up the sleepy boy, who tucked his head into Nathan’s shoulder and let out a long, happy sigh. Nathan carried him up the stairs slowly, savoring the weight of his son in his arms. He tucked him into bed, pulled the blankets up to his chin, and waited until the boy’s breathing went deep and even.

Viktoria stood in the doorway, watching him. When Nathan stepped out into the hallway, she was waiting for him.

"Thank you again, Nathan," she said quietly. "For everything today. You really didn’t have to buy all those things. And the apology... it meant a lot."

Nathan leaned against the wall, looking down at her.

"I meant it, Viktoria. I want things to be different from now on. I want you to feel safe here."

"I do feel safe," she admitted, looking at her feet. "That’s the scary part. I feel safer here with you than I do back home sometimes. I don’t know why."

Nathan wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, he wanted to tell her that she felt safe because she was home. But he just gave her a small smile. "Don’t overthink it. Just get some rest. You’ve had a long couple of days."

"Goodnight, Nathan," she said.

"Goodnight."

Nathan waited until she went into her room and he heard the lock click. Then, he went downstairs to his study. He sat in his dark study, his face illuminated only by the faint glow of his phone screen. He had been staring at the wall for nearly an hour, the image of that star-shaped birthmark on Mateo’s neck playing on a loop in his mind. It was a Keith family trait—a secret passed down through generations. There was no way a stranger in Russia could have replicated that.

He looked toward the door, listening for any sound of movement from upstairs. Viktoria or Fiona was up there with the boy. He needed to be careful. If she heard him talking about her, everything could fall apart. He dialed the contact for Doctor Aris and held the phone to his ear, his heart beat increasing by the minutes.

"Doctor Aris," Nathan whispered as soon as the line connected. He kept his voice so low it was almost a breath, his eyes darting toward the closed study door. "It’s Nathan Keith. I’m sorry for the late hour, but I need to talk to you about the lady you treated the other night. The one with the son."

"Mr. Keith?" the doctor’s voice came back, sounding tired but professional. "Is there an emergency with the boy’s recovery?"

"No, he’s fine," Nathan said, pacing a small circle on the rug to keep his nerves down. "But I need you to listen to me very carefully. There is a possibility...a very strong one that she is Fiona. My supposed late girlfriend. The one I told you died in a car crash."

There was a long pause on the other end. Nathan could hear the doctor footsteps, and the sound of monitors. "Mr. Keith, that is a massive claim. She was buried right? And the reports were finalised by the authorities."

"The reports were a lie!" Nathan hissed, though he caught himself and lowered his voice again. "I saw a mark on the boy’s neck, a mark that only a Keith could have. And her... she’s reacting to things, Aris. I said a nickname we used in private, and she looked like she’d been hit by lightning but she thinks her name is Viktoria. She thinks she has a whole other life in Russia."

Doctor Aris let out a slow, heavy sigh. Nathan heard him clearing his throat, the tone of the conversation shifting into something much more clinical. "Mr. Keith, if what you are telling me is the truth, then we are not dealing with a simple case of amnesia from a car accident. If she has spent more than two years believing a completely different identity, this is something much deeper."

"Like what?" Nathan asked, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone.

"It sounds like a form of permanent memory loss, but one that was potentially induced," Aris explained quietly. "There are medical procedures...drugs, really that can suppress a person’s original identity and allow a new one to be written over it. It’s rare, and it’s dangerous. If she isn’t remembering, it’s because there is a chemical wall in her brain keeping those memories locked away."

"Then we break the wall," Nathan said, his voice hard. "I’ll tell her. I’ll show her the photos. I’ll take her to the spot where we met..."

"No!" Aris interrupted, his voice sharp with warning. "You cannot do that, Nathan. Listen to me. You cannot tell her who she is. Not yet."

"Why not?" Nathan’s voice rose in frustration before he remembered to whisper again. "She’s supposed to be mine, Aris! She’s been living a lie with a man who stole her from me!"

"Because you could cause permanent damage to her brain," the doctor said firmly. "We don’t know for sure what kind of serum or treatment was given to her. If you force the truth on her...if you shock her system with the reality of her past before her mind is ready to bridge those gaps—you could cause a psychological collapse. Her brain has to find its own way back. She has to remember by herself, piece by piece, through those small triggers you mentioned."

Nathan felt a cold weight settle in his stomach. He slumped into his leather chair, the leather creaking softly under him. "So I just have to sit here? I have to watch her act like a stranger? I have to let her believe she belongs to Nikolai?"

"For her safety, yes," Aris replied. "Those sparks you’re seeing—the food, that’s her mind fighting to remember on its, It means her subconscious is fighting back. But it has to be a natural process. If you force it, you might lose her mind forever this time. You’ve waited almost three years, Mr. Keith. You have to be patient for a little while longer."

Nathan closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the chair. It felt like a fresh kind of torture. He knew the truth, but he was forbidden from speaking it. He was a prisoner in his own house, forced to play a role while his family lived a few rooms away, unaware of who he really was to them.

"How do I do this?" Nathan whispered into the phone.

"Just be there," Aris said gently. "Be the man she remembers, even if she doesn’t know why she feels a connection to you. Let her heart lead her, that’s the only way home."

"I have to go, a nurse is signaling me."

Nathan hung up the phone and stared at the dark wood of his desk. He sat there for a long time, the silence of the villa feeling heavier than ever. He thought about the kiss in the kitchen—the way she had melted into him for those few seconds before pulling away. She was in there. Fiona was still in there, fighting to get out.

Nathan’s phone lit up on the desk. Alex. He grabbed it fast and stepped to the window.

"Talk," Nathan said. His voice was low.

Alex cleared his throat on the other end. "I got something. About Viktoria and Natasha."

Nathan’s hand tightened around the phone. He looked at the hallway, listening for Viktoria.

"Don’t say it here," Nathan said. "Not over the phone."

"Right. Can you meet?" Alex asked.

Nathan checked the time. Mateo was asleep and Viktoria was in her room.

"Yeah. One hour. Same place."

He hung up. His heart was beating fast. He didn’t know if it was hope or fear.