Waking up with my nemesis baby novel Chapter 36

Chapter 36

“What happened? Did she damage her brain?”

Roderick frowned at the phrasing.

“She says she has amnesia. Only remembers the days before

she turned eighteen.”

“Amnesia…”

Bradley’s brow furrowed. “It happens, usually short–term, from

trauma. How long?”

“A few days.”

“No way,” Bradley muttered, skepticism written all over his face.

Seeing Roderick’s genuine concern, he gripped his arm. “Listen,

man, has it occurred to you she might be playing you?”

As Roderick’s expression darkened, Bradley pressed on.

“Look, it’s not that I’m biased against her. I get why you had a

thing for the old Madeleine. She was beautiful, smart, came

from a good family, basically everyone’s campus crush back

Chapter 36

then. But you’ve seen how she’s been acting these years.”

He put his hands on his hips, exasperated.

“She’s been throwing herself at someone else. How much

clearer does she need to make it?

“This is an act. She’s pretending to be the girl you fell for so

you’ll let her get away with everything again.”

Bradley’s rant continued, but Roderick barely heard him,

latching onto one thing.

“Lots of people liked her at school?”

“Well, yeah…”

“Did you?”

Roderick’s gaze turned to ice.

Bradley stared, dumbfounded.

“Are you for real? Now?”

“Just answer. Did you like her back then?” Roderick’s voice was

dangerously calm. “It’s a simple question.”

Chapter 36

Bradley was speechless.

He’d given up his day off for her check–up, only to get dragged

into their drama.

He threw his hands up in defeat.

“Fine. If so, I’ll give a simple answer. That dance she did at the junior high opening ceremony, remember? Yeah, I found her lovely back then.”

“Bradley!”

Roderick’s shout cut through the air, his eyes blazing.

Bradley jumped back, startled, patting his chest.

“Christ, man! Keep it down! That was a lifetime ago. It’s a sore

spot for me now.”

Across the room, Madeleine looked up from her conversation

with the intern, her expression now one of awe.

“Bradley, this is incredible! Direct entry PhD, all these papers…

Did your family stumble upon some incredible luck after you

switched schools?”

Bradley’s mouth twitched.

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“What the hell was that supposed to mean?” he wondered.

Under Roderick’s unrelenting glare, he coughed and called

Madeleine over for the consultation.

She sat down obediently, explaining her complete lack of

memory of the past eight years.

Bradley remained silent, his disbelief plain.

But as he watched her animatedly recount her fainting spell, he

hesitated.

She did seem different.

“Let’s get some scans. Maybe you head hit something when

you fell. We’ll start with a CT.”

He scribbled the orders and sent her off with the intern.

Once she was gone, Bradley turned back to Roderick.

“It wasn’t serious. We were kids. I just thought she was cute

and could dance.”

He gave a hollow laugh.

“Look at the women I date now. Nothing like your Madeleine.”

Chapter 36

It was true.

Bradley had been with plenty of women over the years. Now

successful in his career, by all accounts, he should have settled

down long ago, yet he never stayed with anyone for long.

There was just one thing all those women had in common: they

all looked strikingly similar.

“Let’s focus.”

Bradley cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on

track.

“The scans aren’t back, but traumatic amnesia is unlikely.”

He paused and lowered his voice. “My money’s on … she’s

faking.”

Roderick’s brow furrowed tighter, his knuckles unconsciously

tapping the desk. “Your reasons?”

“First, traumatic amnesia comes with brain injury. She has

none.”

Bradley flipped through the medical record, jotting something

down quickly. “Besides, clinically speaking, selective amnesia

Chapter 36

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