Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 469: A Repressed Heart

Chapter 469: A Repressed Heart

The sunlight was especially pleasant today, warm and comforting. As Damien Sterling soaked in the sunshine, he felt an indescribable sense of ease, much better than the suffocating atmosphere at home.

"Mr. Sterling, where would you like to go?" the driver asked cautiously, glancing at Damien.

"Just walk around; you can go about your business," Damien replied, continuing to walk forward as the driver hurried to follow behind him.

After a while, Damien couldn’t help but turn back, frowning. "Stop following me. Do you think I’m going to get lost?"

"But..." The driver hesitated, remembering Riley Turner’s instructions to keep a close eye on Damien. As a mere driver, he couldn’t dare to disobey.

"I know, it’s Riley Turner again!" Damien muttered in frustration. Did she think of him as a child?

Annoyed by the thought, he turned to the driver and said loudly, "Just wait here by this rock garden. I’m just going to walk around the neighborhood and will be back soon."

"But, Mr. Sterling, I... I really can’t explain this to Ms. Turner. How about I just follow you?" the driver pleaded.

"Do my words mean nothing? In the Sterling family, do you take orders from her or from me? Don’t forget, you’re my driver! I have the power to fire you!" Damien glared at the driver, his face filled with irritation.

"Alright then, Mr. Sterling, just don’t go too far, and please come back to find me..."

Damien shot the driver a cold look before turning away and continuing his walk.

After shaking off the driver, Damien began to leisurely stroll through the neighborhood, appreciating the scenery as he went. Surprisingly, every flower and blade of grass in this community felt oddly familiar to him. But then he thought of the earlier meal with his family, and a wave of discomfort washed over him.

Riley Turner treated him well, but there was an inexplicable distance between them. Though she was physically close, she felt as distant as a stranger.

This feeling frustrated him. After all, Riley was his wife, and his grandfather was right—they were supposed to be a perfect match. But why did he feel so disconnected? Was it because of his memory loss? Had his mind been damaged too?

Damien sighed as he walked, realizing that ever since he woke up, he hadn’t felt the relief of surviving a disaster. Instead, he felt increasingly stifled.

With these thoughts weighing on him, Damien followed the pebble path until he reached the entrance of the neighborhood.

The entrance led directly to the main road, where people hurried by with quick steps, each seemingly on their way somewhere important.

"Hello, Mr. Sterling." The security guard at the entrance noticed Damien and gave him a respectful salute.

Damien offered an awkward smile, unable to place the guard’s face in his memory. It was as if so many people had simply evaporated from his mind.

"Mr. Sterling, are you not out with your wife today?" The guard often saw him with Emma Hart, sometimes with their whole family of four.

"No," Damien shook his head.

"I went back to my hometown for a few days and just returned yesterday. By the way, are you heading out to pick up the kids from school?" The guard was making small talk, as it was lunchtime, and the neighborhood was quiet with most people either eating or resting.

"Kids?" Damien’s heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the guard, "Are you saying I have kids?"

The guard was puzzled. Why did Mr. Sterling seem so different today? Was he joking with him?

Even though he thought it was strange, the guard continued to smile and said, "Mr. Sterling, you must be joking. You and your family of four were just out for a walk not long ago. How could you forget?"

"I have kids? I have kids!" Damien muttered to himself, his voice growing more intense. He then quickly walked away, leaving the guard in confusion.

"Why? Why can’t I remember anything? Why did Riley Turner just tell me there were no children? What is going on? Who is lying to me?" Damien Sterling clutched his head, feeling as if it were about to split open. He couldn’t recall anything, nothing at all, and he felt like a hollow shell of a man. The thought of it all made him close his eyes in agony.

The wind blew gently, lifting the edges of his clothes. From a distance, Damien looked as if he had aged and withered significantly.

Everything had changed—nothing was like it was yesterday. When he opened his eyes, everything around him felt unfamiliar, even his closest relationship, his wife, seemed as distant as a stranger. The emotional disconnection caused him deep pain.

"Daddy, I can’t catch up to you! Wait for me!" a chubby little boy called out, waving his small hands as he ran after a man in front of him. The man stopped, turned around, and opened his arms, looking at the boy with infinite affection.

"Daddy, I caught up to you!" The boy sped up, his short legs moving adorably, and Damien couldn’t help but smile slightly.

He remembered that he, too, had once opened his arms like that. He also recalled lovingly teaching a child how to exercise on the rooftop. At that time, he had had a fierce argument with a woman—was that shadow Riley Turner?

A deep sense of loss filled Damien’s eyes. He was deeply unsatisfied with his current situation. If his memory was incomplete, didn’t that mean he was broken, too?

All the good and bad memories, the kind and ugly ones, had blown away with the wind. His life would never be whole again. The thought of this cut through his heart like a knife.

He felt like his life had become a disaster. For a man to reach middle age and lose all his memories—what was the point of his existence anymore?

Damien sighed and stumbled forward...

Meanwhile, Riley Turner stood by the window, gazing out at the sunlight, her heart in turmoil.

When Damien asked her if they had children, she lied, and the lie brought her an unexpected pain. She despised herself for this, for reducing her life to one of deception in the name of love. She felt a sense of shame for the person she had become.

They say love is sweet, but why had her time with Damien Sterling been filled with nothing but pain and exhaustion?

Mr. Sterling Senior’s words were becoming more and more unsettling to her. The initial joy she once felt had completely vanished, replaced by a deep and boundless sense of loneliness and emptiness.

Riley stood in front of the mirror, trying to hide the fatigue of recent days with makeup and creams, but no matter how hard she tried, the sadness and despair were still visible.

Maybe it was best to let things take their course.

A wounded heart—how could it ever truly heal?

Now, her children were her only solace, her only hope. She knew she had to be with them.

After informing Mrs. Harriet, Riley decided to leave the house.

Today, she planned to pick up the children early so she could take them to the park. Since Damien’s accident, she hadn’t taken them out much. But today, she was feeling a bit better and wanted to spend some quality time with them, enjoying the day to the fullest.