The Billionaire's Heiress

22 - Lost Memories

Madison

A few days passed, and we seemed to be a normal family. I worried less, I felt just calm that I wished it would never end.

I even dreamed about seeing Charles on the beach holding Alana, and running with Artie and Alec. It felt so true.

"What are you thinking?" Charles asked.

"I had a dream." I told him.

"Is it bad?" He asked.

"No, it's actually good." I told him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I saw you with the children on the beach. You're all laughing and just happy." I told him.

"Then what?" He asked.

"It's just what I dreamed." I told him.

"Where were you?" He asked.

"I don't know." I told him.

"Maybe you'll dream again." He replied.

"I hope for another good dream" I told him.

He kissed my temple.

"You will only dream of good dreams." He said.

-------

Charles goes to work, and the kids went to school. My mom took Alana to a playdate. It's only me left in the house.

It's a rare thing that I'm alone. So I took the time to clean my children's room the way I wanted them to look.

I started with Alana's. It's not so complicated, it's just all her dolls and the bed to fix. I still can't believe she's all grown up. And I'm glad she met her dad.

Next is to my youngest boy, Alec's room. I just came to notice how he's growing up looking like his father. He is certainly a splitting image of his dad.

Then last, Artie. I am being careful with all his things, because I may mistakenly throw away things that he wants to keep. He's also growing so fast, he looks half of his biological father and half my sister.

In some ways, I look at him and see Xavier. But as I look through, I see my sister. I wish she's here to see his son grow.

I looked through his drawers and saw an unopened gift.

Happy 5th Birthday My Boy

-Papa

This is not from Charles. It's from Xavier. I opened the gift, I tore the wrapper as fast as I can. It's a photo of Xavier, my sister Margaret and Artie in a frame.

I remembered Artie's 5th birthday, Xavier is already dead when we celebrated.

Oh no.

I grabbed the gift and took it away from Artie's room.

This only means one thing, Xavier survived the fire in prison. He must have something to do with Charles going missing.

-----------

Charles came home that night, I can't wait to tell him what I found out.

"Are you certain?" Charles asked after I told him the whole story.

"Yes." I told him.

"Maybe he's on the yacht too." Charles said.

"There's nobody who went missing besides you." I told Charles.

"There's nobody missing, but me because he entered the both illegally." Charles continued.

"It's a possibility." I told him.

"You burried someone as me " he added.

"We thought it was you because your phone is with the body." I told him.

"It must be him, he must have gotten my phone." Charles said.

"Oh my" I told him.

"We may have just figured out a piece of information about that night." Charles said.

"There are more questions that need answers. But at least we found out about something." I told him.

"I'll call someone to exhume the remains, maybe we can identify through DNA analysis if we're right." Charles sounded like himself before he lost his memory.

"This picture, Artie needs to see this." Charles said.

"They look happy here." I replied.

"They do, Artie needs to see this. So he can remember the good days he had with them." Charles said.

------

I walked to Artie's bed.

"Sweetheart" I said.

"Yes, mom?" Artie said.

"I was cleaning your drawer, and I saw this." I told him. I showed the picture.

"That's my mom and papa." Artie replied.

"You know you mom loves you and also your papa, right?" I told him.

"Yes, and I miss them." Artie replied.

"You sure do." I told him.

"The last time I saw papa was when Joe's still here." Artie said.

I stopped. Xavier entered our house after his fake death.

"What did your papa told you when he was here?" I asked him.

"He told me it was our secret that he comes here. He said he will be in jail again if I said something." Artie said.

"Did he come here just once?" I asked him.

"No, he comes so many times." Artie said.

"But then he stopped coming." He added.

Oh no. Xavier was right under our noses.

"Artie, we should put this on your desk." I told him and placed the framed photo on his desk.

------------------

I went to my bed. I can no longer think straight. All this time, Xavier was coming back in forth unnoticed.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked.

"It turns out Xavier came in and out of the house before." I told him.

"Artie said that?" He asked.

"He said it. Xavier manipulated him to keep it a secret." I replied.

"Then it's all Xavier." Charles said.

"There are more questions that need to be answered." I told him.

"We will figure out everything we don't know." Charles said.

"We really have to speak to Alfred." It told him.

"He won't tell unless, he will have you." Charles replied.

"I can beg him." I told Charles.

"Let's not look at ASKING OR BEGGING Alfred for answers." Charles replied.

"What will we do?" I asked.

"We wait. All we can do is wait. The day will come that all questions we have will have answers. And I don't want to lose you over memories that not all I want to remember. We can make new ones, better ones." He said.

"You are starting to sound like Charles before the amnesia." I told him.

"Then I'm almost back" he replied.

I smiled, hiding the curiosity. I really wanted to know everything.