**Audrey's POV**

Charles met my eyes, his expression heavy with something unspoken.

"After what happened ten months ago, Blake kept your passing from his grandfather," he said quietly. "He was afraid the news would kill William.But the old man found out anyway."

Charles's shoulders sagged. "When he learned about your death, he almost died himself."

I leaned against the wall, feeling suddenly cold.

"Everyone came back - Thalia and Olivia from boarding school,every Parker family member and friend. The doctors gave up hope. We all thought it was over."

I closed my eyes. My chest tightened. *So William's health collapsed because of me. Again.*

"In what we thought were his final moments, he just kept calling for you.Said he wanted to join you wherever you were."

I bit my lip hard enough to taste copper.

"Then Rachel Hayes burst into the emergency room." Charles shook his head. "She grabbed his hand and told him she was you - that you weren't dead after all. That brought him back somehow."

"But his mind hasn't been the same since," he added, lightly touching my shoulder. "He doesn't recognize faces or voices anymore. He only remembers feelings, associations, who people were to him."

Charles's voice softened. "Rachel knew enough about you - your habits,your past - to convince him she was you. She became his favorite visitor."

I straightened up. "Charles, you've been with William for decades. You've seen everything between us and the rest of the Parkers."

I met his gaze directly.′′Iwon't deny who I am to you. But as for the others..."

"Don't worry," he said quickly. "To everyone else, you're Mrs. Knox,Adrian's wife. I understand."

After a moment, he asked, "But why are you visiting William today? What's your reason?"

"I'm here to apologize," I said, taking a breath. "I slapped Thalia at the mall, and Blake brought me here to say sorry to the family elder."

I couldn't help a small smile. "I also knocked Rebecca into some garbage on our way in. So I'm apologizing for both."

I tossed my hair back. "When you've died once, you come back different.Can't be the doormat I was before."

Charles stared,speechless.

I turned to the door, then glanced back over my shoulder. "Keep my secret,especially from Blake. He can't know I'm Audrey."

Inside,the room was quiet except for medical equipment beeping steadily.William looked tiny in his bed, nothing like the commanding presence I remembered. His eyes were closed, but he was talking to himself.

"Charles, this cold is my fault, not the girl's," he said weakly."Don't be so

hard on her."

He stared up at the ceiling, eyes cloudy. "She's young. Taking care of a dying old man isn't easy."

I moved to his bedside, throat tight.

"She's not as attentive as Audrey was, but I can't fault her patience..."

My name in his mouth felt like a physical pain.

"Audrey suffered so much in those years with Blake," he said,voice tinged with regret.

I stood silently, tears forming.

"Before, if she knew I was this sick, she'd have dropped everything to be here."

His words cut deep.

"But since that scare when I thnought she'd died. whenever she visits now,she's always rushing. Always business talk or wedding plans with Blake..."

He sighed. "Blake must have hurt her badly. She doesn't even care about this old man anymore."

I wanted to protest, to tell him I'd never stopped caring.

"I miss how things were before she married my grandson." William continued. "We were just caregiver and patient technically, but we felt like real family. Now..."

*I never imagined Rachel was using my identity like this. Getting whatever she wanted from William while not even bothering to show him the care I

would have. Watching someone who once felt like family becoming a stranger, too busy for him... howmuch that must hurt him.*

A sob escaped before I could stop it.

William went silent, turning toward the sound. "You, you..."

I wiped my face, trying to smile. "William, it's me. I'm back."

I couldn't hold back anymore. I rushed to him, throwing my arms around his frail body.

"William, it's Audrey!" My voice broke. "I'm here. I heard everything."

Tears ran down my face. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have stayed away so long. I thought you might forget me as time passed, but I never imagined-1

*I never thought he nearly died because of me.*

*I never dreamed his dying wish would be seeing me marry Blake again.*

*What have I done to deserve such care from an old man with no blood relation to me?*

**Blake's POV**

I could hear her crying through the half-open door.

"Mr. Parker, you really have a knack," Charles said quietly, glancing at my wheelchair. "If you hadn't announced your wedding to Rachel, Mrs.Sinclair would never have returned to see your grandfather."

I watched her through the doorway, her tears falling onto my grandfather's hands.

Charles sighed. "Even with her new identity, she still cares for you. Why else rush back from Australia when she heard about your marriage? She must still have feelings for you."

"Her return has nothing to do with me," I said, frowning.

*She wouldn't be here if this wedding wasn't for Grandfather. If his life wasn't slipping away, she'd never have come back.*

I could see her face clearly - the shock as my grandfather failed to recognize her, the pain that followed.

*Maybe I mattered to the old Audrey. But to this new person she's become.I'm less than nothing.*

*My chest feels like it's being cut with a dull blade. Slow. Deep. Relentless.*

I found myself staring at the woman who was once mine.

**Audrey's POV*k

"William... I'm too late," I whispered, clutching him.

William patted my back gently. "Young lady, does your family have the same illness as me?"

I pulled back, staring at him in shock. "Willam, you..."

"I don't know you," he said softly, reaching to wipe my tears, "but I can tell you must love your family very much. You've come to the wrong room,though. You've mistaken me for someone else."

His eyes held nothing but polite kindness. Not a flicker of recognition.

I stared at hi, my mind blank. "William, what are you talking about?”

"I really don't know you," he repeated.

A weak smile crossed his thin face as he looked at me like I was a total stranger. "You have the wrong room."

"My granddaughter isn't nearly this attentive. She barely has time for an old man these days."

My breath caught in my throat.

I'd run through so many scenarios of this moment in my head. Him crying.Him yelling at me for disappearing. Even him ordering me to leave and never come back.

But not this. Never this. Him not knowing me at all.

I gripped his arm, my voice breaking. "How can you not know me?"

′′I′'m Audrey! I was married to Blake! We spent so many afternoons together.You should remember me!"

William's face darkened at the mention of my name.

He slapped the bed. "That's ridiculous!"

"I know exactly what Audrey looks like. I'd recognize her anywhere."

"You're not her."

My tears fell faster. "But I am."

Ever since waking up, Id done everything possible to escape being Audrey Sinclair. New name. New family. New country.

Yet here I was, desperate for just one person to see me for who l really

was. The one person who had shown me genuine love.

I came back for him, and he had almost died because of me.

We were family in every way that mattered. How had it come to this?