Jean woke up warm, her head resting on Zane's chest, his arms tightly around her. She froze. The moment she realized where she was, she pulled away fast.
Zane looked at her. A small smile touched his lips soft, but guarded.
Jean sat up. "Why the hell am I here? I slept on the sofa."
She doesn't know.
She doesn't remember anything.
Zane thought to himself.
But when he replied his tone was calm, " I already told you. You have to sleep with me on the same bed. I just corrected your mistake."
Jean felt irritated. She didn't even have the right to sleep where she wants.
"And I told you I don't want to sleep with you." She said while holding herself together.
"I didn't agreed." Zane said while standing up.
Jean bit her lip from inside.
She felt tired and heavy.
Zane looked at her.
To check maybe... just maybe she'll remember what happened at night and he would ask her who the hell did what to her?
But Jean didn't said anything. Her eyes were just filled with hate and anger for him.
And Zane didn't like that.
Jean stood and walked to the closet, pausing when he asked quietly, "You really don't remember anything?"
Her voice was sharp. "No. Why? Did something happen?"
Zane became a bit more confused." Nothing..."
Jean looked at him for a moment and then walked away.
Zane sat there in silence, staring at the spot she had stood seconds ago.
His voice was quiet, almost a whisper only for himself.
"She broke into a thousand pieces in my arms last night… and now she doesn't even remember bleeding."
He ran a hand over his mouth.
And forced himself to swallow down the ache in his throat.
Jean was in the shower. The cold water touch her but she didn't moved or turned on the geezer tap.
Her eyes stared at nothing, her mind trying to fill in the blank space from last night.
Why did she feel like her heart had been ripped apart and sewn back together in the dark?
Her body felt... sore. Not physically. Just tired. Empty. Like she'd run a marathon in her sleep.
Her fingers pressed into her arm.
Something wasn't right.
Meanwhile
Zane sat in the corner of the same room, elbows on his knees, phone pressed to his ear.
His eyes were locked on the washroom door.
"She doesn't remember," he said while the other side took time to pick. "Not a damn thing."
He paused. His grip on the phone tightened.
The other person picked the call.
"Jared," he said, sharper this time. "I want a full background check on her. Again. But this time dig deeper. I want to know everyone who's ever touched her life. Family. Friends. Teachers. Neighbors. Anyone who stepped into her world for even a second. I want names. Histories. Everything."
No hello.
No goodbye.
Just what he wanted to know like his world depend on it.
"She screamed in my arms last night like her soul was shattering. And now… nothing. Not a single memory. Something happened to her, Jared. Something bad. And I swear to God, if I find out who it was…"
He didn't finish.
Jean's soft footsteps echoed faintly in the background.
Zane watched her silently.
She looked lost. Worn.
His bluebird was breaking, and he didn't even know what broke her.
"She won't tell me," he muttered. "She won't let me close. But I'm going to find out… even if I have to burn the whole fucking world to get the truth."
He hung up.
And for a moment, he just sat there… staring at the woman who haunted him even while standing in front of him.
The woman he held as she crumbled.
The woman who now looked at him like he was the villain in a story he didn't even know the beginning of.
He whispered, more to himself than anyone else,
"Who hurt you, Jean?"
His voice cracked.
"And why didn't you tell anyone?"
But he smiled and stood up.
"I'll go to the office today. I have a bit of urgent work," he said casually.
Like it was any normal morning. Like they were any normal couple.
Jean hated that.
"I don't want to know what you do or where you go. I've got no interest in your life," she said, her voice dry, her face tired but sharp.
Zane walked over and leaned in just enough for her to feel his breath.
"But I'm obsessed with yours, Bluebird. Every second of it."
His finger brushed the strand of hair off her cheek.
"You can hate me all you want. But I'll still want to know what time you woke up… if you ate… if you even breathed right."
Jean flinched slightly. Not because she feared him.
But because his obsession had no cracks.
No breaks. No mercy.
"Don't touch me," she said.
Zane pulled back, not angrily. Just… silently. Like he'd heard her but didn't accept it.
He turned. "I'll take a quick shower."
And with that, he walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Jean exhaled shakily, staring at the space he had just filled.
"What the hell am I living in?"
A golden cage.
A home she didn't choose.
A man she didn't understand.
And a night she couldn't even remember that somehow left her chest heavier than usual.
She looked at her hands.
They weren't trembling.
But something inside her still was.
Zane's office:
Zane sat behind his office desk, sleeves rolled up, shirt unbuttoned at the collar. The sunlight poured through windows, making his face glow up but his mind was miles away.
He kept thinking about her.
The way she'd looked this morning. Hollow. Detached.
She didn't remember.
And that more than anything was eating him alive.
A knock pulled him out of his thoughts. Jared walked in, holding a thin folder.
"She's... clean," Jared said carefully. "Too clean. No social noise, no old photos, no past incidents. It's like she lived but never existed."
Zane's jaw tightened. "She existed. She bled. I saw it."
Jared nodded. "I believe you. My men are digging deeper. I've assigned them to trace every name that's ever been tied to her life. Teachers, neighbors, family, childhood doctors.... anyone."
Zane gave a short nod, voice low. "I want to know who touched her soul. Who shattered her before I did."
Jared paused. "It'll take a few days, but we'll get there."
Zane leaned back, pulled a document from the side, signing it half mindedly. "Good. Keep going. Don't stop until you find the devil that scarred her first."
Time passed in silence as Zane distracted himself with files, calls, deals mechanical movements, sharp decisions, emotionless power. But his heart remained somewhere else. Always back to her.
Later that evening, the air turned colder as the black SUV pulled into the warehouse outskirts.
Inside, the smell of blood, metal, and burnt fear lingered in the air.
James Maddox was tied to a rusted chair, his face bruised, his breathing slow.
He looked up and saw Zane not the billionaire in suits, but the storm in human form.
Zane walked forward, slow and deliberate. No guards needed. Jared stood silently at the back.
James coughed, a weak smile tugging at his split lip. "Still obsessed with that girl, huh?"
Zane didn't smile.
He grabbed James by the jaw and leaned down until their eyes met.
"You still have the courage to speak back to me...huh?" Zane said with a devilish smirk on his face.
"Now, I'm going to break your existence one bone at a time."
James laughed. "You already beat the shit out of me. What else is left?"
Zane's eyes didn't blink.
"You're still breathing. That's too much."
He stepped back and snapped his fingers. One of his men handed him a tablet.
Zane clicked a file open. It played a short recording James's voice sick, bragging about women, threats, power.
Another file - documents, accounts, shady transactions, coverups.
And another - hidden camera footage.
James's face paled.
Zane looked at Jared.
"Start leaking. Slowly. One by one. Let the world watch him rot."
Jared nodded, already texting the order.
"Please don't do that... please I beg you Zane." James voice shaking.
Zane turned back to James. His tone was soft which somehow made it worse.
"You thought you could break her."
His voice deep.
"But you didn't even crack her. She still breathes. Still walks. And she's mine now."
James spat blood at the ground. "She hates you."
Zane didn't deny it.
"I know." His voice was low. "But I'll still burn every man who touched her before me."
He stared down at James, who now sat in silence no more smugness, no more power.
"You should pray I never run out of reasons to keep you alive."
And with that, Zane turned away.
Because killing James would've been too easy.
Breaking him slowly?
That was love.