I spent two years wiping his face, massaging his atrophied muscles, and whispering to a man who couldn't hear me. Or so I thought. On the day Caleb Sterling finally opened his eyes, his "first love," Chloe, swept into the room in a white dress, holding a bouquet of lilies. "Caleb," she sobbed beautifully. "I’ve taken care of you for two years. You’re finally back. Will you marry me?" He stared at her blankly, then reached out and took the flowers. Standing in the corner, I felt my heart shrivel. Two years of devotion, erased in a second. I was just the background character in their epic romance. Then, Caleb sat up and kicked her square in the chest. "Absolutely not! Get the hell out! I was in a coma, Chloe, I wasn't dead." He threw the flowers at her shrieking form. "You want me to marry you? Keep dreaming. Actually, don't even dream about it. It makes me sick." 1 I’m Maya. The invisible daughter. I spent two years living in the Sterling estate, caring for Caleb after the car crash that nearly killed us both. Today, at the Sterling mansion, I was blocked by security while Chloe strutted in. She stopped to sneer at me. "Give it up, Maya. You can't compete with me." "You think washing his face for two years matters? Watch. I'll propose, and he'll say yes. He's always loved me." I believed her. Caleb and Chloe grew up together in the Hamptons. They were the golden couple. Before the accident, Caleb treated her like a princess. But I needed to see him wake up. Just once. I stood in the shadows as the family doctor finished his examination. The moment the doctor stepped back, the double doors swung open. Sunlight flooded the room, framing Chloe like an angel. "Caleb... I've waited so long. I took care of everything. Now that you're back... marry me? Let's finally be together." Caleb rubbed his eyes, silent. Chloe pressed on, her voice trembling with rehearsed emotion. "I love you so much. You slept for two years, and I watched over you for two years. It’s finally our time. It’s fate." Caleb stopped rubbing his eyes. He reached out. He took the bouquet. I closed my eyes. Of course. Then came the thud. And the scream. "Fate?" Caleb roared, his voice raspy but terrifyingly loud. "You call pregnant with some other guy's baby 'fate'? You think I look like a charity case here to raise your bastard?" "Get lost!" Me: Wow. 2 Chloe sat on the floor, stunned. Her perfect makeup was smudged. "Caleb... what... what are you saying?" "Are you deaf or just stupid?" Caleb snapped. "Do I need to repeat what you said while you were hooking up with your boyfriend right next to my hospital bed?" "Caleb, no! Listen to me!" "No?" Caleb’s face flushed red—probably from the exertion of kicking her. He slumped back against the pillows but kept pointing a finger. "Wasn't it you who brought guys into my room? Wasn't it you who laughed about how 'exciting' it was to cheat next to a vegetable? Wasn't it you calling me a brain-dead cripple? And now you propose? Do you have no shame?" My jaw hit the floor. Chloe hadn't lifted a finger to help him in two years. I assumed she was just lazy and wanted to steal my credit. I didn't realize she was using his room as a motel. Chloe’s face went from pale to green. She pointed a shaking finger at me. "Caleb! That wasn't me! That was Maya! I love you! I'm Chloe, your Chloe!" "I know you're Chloe," Caleb sneered. "If I didn't know you well enough, I wouldn't have known you were that heartless. Loving you was my biggest mistake." "Caleb..." "Get out. Before I release the hounds." 3 Caleb wasn't bluffing. He hated her. Chloe was terrified of dogs. Before the accident, Caleb locked his beloved Dobermans in the basement whenever she visited. Once, when his dog had puppies, Chloe had the staff throw them out into the snow while Caleb was away. They froze to death. He never forgave her for that, but he never threatened her. Until now. "I'm serious!" Caleb shouted. "Arthur! Get me ten dogs. Big ones. If she comes back, let them loose." "And burn this furniture. The sofa, the curtains—she touched them. Disinfect the whole room. Who knows what diseases she has." Chloe tried to squeeze out a few tears. "Caleb, we grew up together... why are you humiliating me?" "I'm humiliating you?" Caleb laughed darkly. "I didn't bring a lover to your bedside. Get out!" He turned to the butler. "Arthur! Get Bella. Tell her it's feeding time." Bella was the mother of the puppies Chloe had killed. Chloe shrieked, gathered her dress, and ran. On her way out, she shot me a look of pure venom. I decided to slip away while the chaos settled. I turned to the side door, hoping to disappear. "Maya?" I froze. I’m the illegitimate daughter of the family. The one kept in the attic. Caleb used to only have eyes for Chloe. He shouldn't even know my name. "Maya, my head hurts. Why aren't you comforting me?" He sounded... whiny? "And why didn't you kick that psycho out sooner? I've been awake for twenty minutes and I'm already exhausted. I missed you so much, and you try to leave?" "Do you only like me when I'm a vegetable? Fine, I'll go back to sleep. But say yes to my proposal first." I stared at him. Did the coma fry his brain? Or did he wake up with a personality transplant? He tried to stand, wobbling. He braced himself against the wall. "Maya. I love you. Marry me." I was paralyzed. He seemed to sense my confusion. His expression softened. "Maya, I know it was you. For two years. I felt you wipe my hands with warm towels. I smelled the lotion you put on my skin. I heard you crying when Arthur wasn't in the room." "I was locked in my own body, but I made a promise. If I ever woke up, I would treat you like a queen. I would marry you." "My legs are still jelly, but give me a few weeks. We'll get married. Then we can cuddle. For real." He stumbled. I instinctively rushed forward to catch him. He collapsed into my arms, grinning like an idiot. "I knew you loved me. Here, take the flowers. Chloe has trash personality, but she picks decent lilies." I looked at him. This wasn't the cold, aloof CEO I remembered. "Maya? Why won't you speak? Say yes." I opened my mouth. Nothing came out. Caleb frowned. He gently lifted my chin. "Maya... what happened to your voice?" I couldn't answer. 4 He dragged me to the hospital immediately. The diagnosis was the same as before. Vocal cord paralysis caused by trauma from the accident two years ago. Exacerbated by lack of timely treatment. Caleb’s eyes welled up. "Maya... I'm so sorry. It's my fault. If I hadn't been driving..." I watched him cry in his wheelchair and thought back to that night. It was pouring rain. Caleb was picking Chloe up from the airport. My father forced me to go along to carry her luggage. A truck lost its brakes and swerved into our lane. Caleb swerved. He put his side of the car in the impact zone to save the passenger side. To save me. If he hadn't turned the wheel, I would be dead. Instead, I lost my voice, and he lost two years of his life. I grabbed his hand and wrote on his palm with my finger: Not your fault. You saved me. He looked at the words, tracing them. Then his face hardened. "The doctor said it was treatable. Why didn't your family pay for surgery? Chloe gets a million-dollar piano, and they let you go mute?" He didn't know. My father, Richard, barely acknowledged my existence. When the accident happened, they were too busy crying over Caleb to notice I was hurt. By the time I realized the damage, it was "too expensive" and "not a priority." "Maya," Caleb said, his voice dropping an octave. "I will fix this. And the people who did this to you? They’re going to pay." Just then, my phone rang. It was my father.
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