Chapter 51: A Memory That Wasn't Hers

After Louis went to sleep, Freya remained at the dining table with her laptop closed. She tried to force the original owner's memories into focus, but they didn't behave like files she could simply open. Some were vivid. Others appeared only when something triggered them.

Victor's name had triggered fragments she hadn't noticed before.

She remembered a hotel ballroom. The original Freya had been bored, standing beside a decorative fountain while Louis spoke with investors elsewhere. Victor approached carrying two glasses of champagne and handed her one.

"Louis has been busy lately," he had said casually. "You must hardly see him."

The original Freya had complained without hesitation. Louis was always working. He had canceled a dinner because he needed to fly somewhere. She couldn't remember the destination now, but Victor had asked several follow-up questions.

Another fragment appeared. Victor asking whether Louis still met Ethan Hale privately despite their competition. Another conversation about an overseas project. Nothing had seemed dangerous because Victor was practically family.

Freya felt sick.

The information might have been harmless individually, but patterns could be valuable. She knew that from writing research and from watching Louis. A travel schedule could reveal when decisions were being made. A canceled dinner could confirm negotiations.

The next morning, she told Louis everything she could remember.

He listened without interrupting. When she finished, Freya said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" "She—I mean, I told him things." The pronoun almost slipped completely. "Maybe they mattered."

Louis shook his head. "Victor had access to far more useful information than anything you could have given him."

"But if he was checking whether what he knew matched your movements—" "Freya." His voice stopped her. "You didn't betray me."

She looked down at her coffee. Technically, he was right. She hadn't done anything. Another woman had lived those moments. Yet the body, memories, and consequences belonged to the life Freya now occupied.

Louis studied her. "Why are you taking responsibility for something you barely remember?"

Freya couldn't answer truthfully. Because the memories weren't hers. Because she had inherited a stranger's mistakes along with her marriage and wardrobe. Instead, she said, "Because I'm the one here now."

Something about the answer made Louis quiet.

Later, Derek confirmed Victor had attended the same charity luncheon Freya remembered. Phone records placed him near another event where he had spoken with her as well.

"Could he have been using her?" Derek asked. "Possibly," Louis said. "But she wouldn't have known anything critical."

"Maybe he wasn't looking for critical information. Maybe he was confirming your behavior."

That was exactly what Freya had suggested.

Louis returned home earlier than usual that evening. Freya was writing, headphones on, completely unaware of him standing at the doorway. He remembered how quickly she had apologized for actions committed by the woman she used to be.

Or perhaps, he thought, by a woman she no longer considered herself to be.

The idea was irrational. Still, her strange wording remained with him: I'm the one here now.

Louis walked away without disturbing her. The mystery surrounding Victor was growing, but so was another mystery much closer to him. For the first time, he wondered whether understanding Freya's transformation might require accepting an explanation that ordinary logic could not provide.

Freya eventually forced herself to stop searching the memories. They came more clearly when triggered naturally, and pushing too hard only gave her a headache. She decided that if another fragment appeared, she would record it immediately. Whatever the original Freya had unknowingly witnessed might become important now.