To save Rowan Sinclair, heir to the capital city of Westhaven, Ava Hartley throws herself off a cliff and loses her memory.
Everyone believes she is dead, except Rowan, who keeps searching for her.
Three years later, when Ava finally returns, she finds a woman at Rowan's side who looks almost identical to her.
For that woman, Rowan repeatedly casts Ava aside. He forces her to undergo humiliating exams to prove her innocence. He even threatens her family's safety to pressure her into ending a pregnancy that never existed.
When the two of them are kidnapped together, Rowan still chooses the other woman.
"Ava," he says, "Lia isn't like you. She's fragile. You fell off a cliff and survived three years. You can wait for me."
Ava exhales, finally understanding, and steps back over the edge of the cliff.
Her years of amnesia have given her new goals, and returning to Rowan was only a final gesture toward an old attachment. Now, for the first time, Ava can let him go completely.