Chapter 5- The Man In The Picture

" Ella Lu Point Of View''

The email pinged mid-morning. I almost didn't check it. Too many mass threads lately—policy updates, parking violations, endless birthday cakes. I clicked it anyway. Just something to focus on while the system crunched data.

Subject: Executive Welcome Message — Damian Lu

My fingers hesitated on the trackpad. A hollow beat thumped in my chest. I clicked.

His face stared back at me.

Full color. Crisp lines. Strong jaw, tailored charcoal suit. Chin slightly lifted like he didn't know how to bow.

Welcome Home, CEO Lu glowed across the banner.

A soft ringing filled my ears.

It was him.

Damian Lu.

The man I married.

My husband.

I had memorized the name. I thought I hadn't known the face. But the second I saw it, recognition slammed into my chest like a blunt weapon.

Not memory. Not clarity. Instinct. That cold heaviness in my gut every time he walked past. My nerves had known what my mind refused to see.

My hand trembled on the mouse.

I whispered, "It can't be..."

But it was. I knew it.

The welcome email wasn't even long. A few bland lines about corporate vision and strategic growth. A signature. A headshot. But it might as well have been a bullet.

I sat frozen, eyes locked on the screen.

This man had stood beside me at a courthouse two years ago. Worn a suit not unlike this one. Signed my name onto a form like it meant nothing. Walked out the door without so much as a second look.

And now he was smiling in a JPEG like the world belonged to him.

Caleb walked past my desk just then, holding a stack of reports. He paused. "Hey, you okay? You look... I don't know."

"Fine," I croaked. My voice betrayed me.

He leaned in. "You sure? You're pale."

I forced my fingers to move. Closed the email. Opened another window at random. "Just tired. Didn't sleep."

He gave me a look like he didn't buy it, but he walked away.

I stared at the blank spreadsheet I'd opened.

Every breath was jagged.

I had walked past him. Spoken to him. Looked him in the eye. He hadn't flinched. Not a flicker of recognition. That should have made it easier. Safer. But it made everything worse.

He didn't remember me.

At all.

I clicked open my private folder. Scanned until I found it: Marriage_Certificate_PDF

I hadn't looked at it in over a year.

I opened the file.

Damian Lu. Ella Lu.

His signature. My signature. A date. A court seal.

Real.

He forgot an entire marriage. And I'd spent two years pretending I wasn't waiting for an answer.

I should have deleted it. Should have walked away.

But I couldn't. I stared at the document until my eyes blurred.

I was one misstep from exposure. One slip. One curious executive looking too closely at my personnel file.

Why had I come to Lu Group at all? I thought I was prepared. That hiding in plain sight gave me control.

But he was here. In the same building. In glossy emails. In polished leather shoes that echoed down hallways.

And he didn't know me.

A sudden noise yanked my attention back. The click of heels. Laughter.

Chloe Fairbanks.

I didn't need to see her to know. Her voice cut through the air like perfume—sweet, expensive, artificial.

She was talking to someone about Milan. About Damian.

I minimized the screen and stared at my hands.

This wasn't a coincidence.

This was a test.

I had a decision to make.

Let it happen? Let him forget? Walk away quietly?

Or remind him?

What good would that do?

He had everything he wanted. The company. The power. The woman.

I was a smudge on a legal record.

My fingers moved on their own. I began typing up a resignation letter. Just a draft. A template. No names, no dates. Just structure.

But I couldn't finish it.

Not yet.

I looked up as a fresh notification popped up. Company memo. CEO Lu would be conducting floor reviews all week. Each department. Informal chats, he called them.

Mine was scheduled Thursday.

He would be back. At my desk.

I should have panicked. Instead, something else simmered.

If he forgot me, he should at least know what he forgot.

And if Chloe thought I was just background noise, she was about to learn better.

I closed all the files, stood up, and walked toward the break room.

One step at a time.

I wasn't going to run.

Not this time.