Hearts Remember What Minds Try To Forget by Rex Wilder 1

Anna’s Story 1 

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After the divorce, I took the ashes of my parents and brother and settled into a solitary existence in a secluded border town. 

I changed my number, my address–severing all ties with my old life, my old circle. 

They all assumed I’d merely vanished in a huff, that I’d crawl back, begging for reconciliation, any day now. 

But five long years stretched into oblivion, and my silence remained unbroken. 

Until the day I ran into an old friend at the subway station, right after my shift. 

She looked me over, then asked, “It’s been years. When are you going to forgive Lucas?” 

Lucas was my ex–husband. 

After his childhood friend struck my father with her car, she didn’t just abandon him to his fate; she dumped his body out in the wilds. 

My brother tracked down Chloe, demanding her confession, but Chloe not only refused, she twisted the truth, accusing my brother of attempted rape. The ordeal ended with him plummeting from a balcony, leaving him a shell of himself, trapped in a vegetative state! 

Our family was shattered beyond repair, and I vowed to see Chloe locked away in prison! 

But the very next day, the police were knocking on my door. 

“Mrs. Thorne, is that right? Your husband reported you for bribery and tax evasion. We’re going to need you to come down to the 

station.” 

I froze, the words striking me like a physical blow. My face went stark white. 

After twenty–four hours of detention and interrogation, I was finally bailed out. 

Outside the station, Lucas leaned against his Rolls–Royce, a half–smoked cigarette clutched between his fingers. He took a drag, his eyes narrowed to slits, and slowly exhaled a plume of smoke before pushing open the car door for me. “Wife,” he said, his voice deceptively soft. “It’s cold. Get in.” 

I stared at him, dazed, as if I were looking at a complete stranger. 

I remained rooted to the spot, unable to move. Lucas, the cigarette still clenched between his teeth, freed a hand to snake around my shoulders, pushing me firmly into the car. 

A cloying, humid heat lingered in the car. My gaze drifted slowly to the backseat. It was a chaotic mess, strewn with the torn wrappers of small blue squares. 

I clenched my fingers, my nails biting deep into my palms, drawing pinpricks of blood. 

Lucas pulled the car into a secluded park, then produced a document and held it out. “Honey, just sign it. If you agree to the settlement, I’ll make sure all this business with the tax evasion and bribery goes away.” 

My eyes blurred, staring at the settlement papers. 

My voice trembled. “Lucas… you know she killed someone. You know she’s responsible for my brother. Why are you twisting things around and pushing me to do this?” 

Lucas’s tone was gentle, but every word felt like a blade slicing into 

my 

flesh. 

“I’ve told you countless times, Anna. Chloe once saved my life. Now that the Vance family has fallen, everyone else can turn their backs, 

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but I can’t abandon her.” 

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He looked at me with a sigh, reaching out to gently stroke my cheek. “If you love me,” he murmured softly, “sign this settlement for my sake. Don’t let this tear our marriage apart.” 

My tears streamed down, tracing a path to Lucas’s fingertips. 

For you? 

“She hit and killed my father, then abandoned his body. You want me to just swallow that, for your sake?” 

“My brother was framed for rape, fell from that building, and now he’s a vegetable in the hospital. You want me to swallow that too?” 

“Do you want to see my entire family pay with their lives, every single one of us, for Chloe, before you’re finally satisfied?” 

Lucas’s brow barely flickered. “Anna, that’s a hateful thing to say. I don’t like women with such a cruel streak, such a venomous tongue.” 

He finished speaking, then slammed the document onto my lap, following it with a pen. “You have twenty minutes to consider,” he stated, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. “Chloe’s still alone at the apartment, and I need to get back to her. Don’t waste my time, 

Anna.” 

A bitter, hollow laugh escaped my lips. I snatched the document, my fingers already trembling, ready to rip it to shreds when Lucas’s voice cut through the air, suddenly arctic. 

“Anna,” he said, the possessive address feeling like a lash, “you need to think this through carefully.” His face was a blank mask, his tone dropping to a chilling whisper. “Because if you go to prison for bribery, your brother and your mother will truly have no one left to care 

for them.” 

My hands froze in mid–air, the document still clutched, but not torn. I bit down so hard on my tongue my jaw ached, the metallic tang of blood filling my mouth. 

Lucas pulled out his phone, his thumb flicking to set a twenty–minute countdown. The digital numbers glowed, a cold, unyielding clock silently ticking away the time he gave me to sign my family’s fate away. 

Agony clawed at me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hot tears streaming down my face. Before Chloe returned, my life had been perfect, utterly blissful. 

Four years ago, I married Lucas, heir to the Thorne Group. It wasn’t for the allure of wealth or status, but to give Lucas, who had relentlessly pursued me for three years, a definitive answer to his devotion. 

With my background from a family of scholars, suitors were never in short supply. I’d launched my own company while still in college, and my reputation was built on both my intellect and my looks. Scions of wealth lined up behind me, eager to pursue. 

But Lucas was the exception. 

He never pressured me to reciprocate his feelings. He simply guarded me, silently. 

He’d materialize at the first sign of trouble. When competitors spread malicious rumors, he’d ensure their companies went under. As I hustled to build my career, he’d funnel the best resources my way. 

One dinner with me, and he’d go to hell and back. 

His tireless devotion couldn’t help but move me. So, when I turned twenty–six, I was the one who proposed marriage to Lucas. 

Our marriage remained as devoted as the day we said ‘I do‘, Lucas desperate to let the whole world know he had eyes only for me. 

Then Chloe came back from overseas. 

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And everything changed. 

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She was Lucas’s childhood sweetheart, his first love. If Chloe and her family hadn’t fled the country all those years ago, Lucas and I 

would never have even met. 

To shield Chloe from her crimes, Lucas didn’t flinch at putting me in the crosshairs, even blackmailing me into a thirty–year prison 

sentence as a trade–off. 

The evidence of tax evasion and bribery–all of it fabricated by Lucas himself. But even knowing that, I was powerless to fight him. 

Now, he was drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, the countdown already down to thirty seconds. 

Too soon, it was ten. 

“Wife, you have five more seconds to decide.” 

Lucas’s eyes were fixed on his phone screen, his voice chillingly cold as he counted down: 

“40 

” 

He brought up the incriminating documents for the tax evasion, ready to send them to the police. 

“30 

” 

The file was already populated in the send field. 

“20 

Lucas’s finger hovered over the “send” button. 

“10 

” 

Just as he was about to press it, I finally broke. “I’ll sign the settlement!” 

A slow smile spread across Lucas’s face. He ruffled my hair. “Good girl,” he murmured, “I knew you’d be compliant.” 

Tears blurring my vision, I scrawled my name across the document. 

As I handed it back to Lucas, a fierce resolve solidified in my chest- 

My project with the overseas company was already greenlit. In ten days, I’d be taking my mom and brother and disappearing for good. 

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