Chapter 2

“This is bad.. This is really bad.. The wedding is basically in three days! What are we going to do? Cancel? Can we really afford to do that? Oh my God, I am freaking out right now..”

After being alerted of the accident and rushing down to Golden Gate Hospital to see Anna lying nearly lifeless with all the countless tubes connected to her body, which was bandaged so much that Anna had begun to look like a classic Egyptian mummy, Neo had gone cold and totally silent, as had his mother, and Sasha was the only one still able to speak, stating things that were more than obvious in a rant that was clearly born out of a mix of shock and confusion.

“Sasha, get a hold of yourself,” Margaret McKinney barked, “And please be quiet, there are other patients in this building who need the peace.”

Sasha whimpered and went mute. When Margaret McKinney gave an order, few dared do otherwise.

“Neo,” she said, turning to him, “I know what you're thinking and I know what you're most afraid of, at this point, but I need you to know this.. I held down the fort from when you were twelve, which was when your father died, and I have done so until today.. And I did all that so you would have a thriving company to take over.. Now, I'm not going to let anyone take the company from you.. Okay?”

Neo, however, remained silent. How could she be so certain? Anna was before them all, unable to even open her eyes! The doctor came in, at this point, after allowing them to have a few moments alone with Anna.

“Please, Mr McKinney, you must leave, now,” he said, as gently and persuasively as he could.

“That.. was going to be my bride in three days,” Neo replied. He hadn't taken his eyes off Anna since he saw her.

“I understand, Mr Neo,” the doctor said again, “but..”

“You understand?” Neo scoffed, “Tell me, do you truly understand? There's a boardroom full of people, at McKinney Industries, who're, no doubt, meeting right now, planning on how to capitalize on the fact that my bride is incapacitated.. Do you even know what that means?”

The doctor clearly didn't, he was actually cowering because Neo, all 6 ft and 200 pounds of him, was closing in on him, with a look like death in his eyes, and speaking in an icy voice. What was there not to be afraid of?

“It means,” Neo continued, “that since Neo McKinney cannot get a bride and fulfill the number one requirement to be CEO of the company, which is being married, then the mantle falls to the next most qualified person.. And I would never have a shot at running my father's company, which is my fuckin birthright, until whenever God takes the fellow who becomes CEO.. So, tell me doctor, do you truly understand?”

The poor doctor was lost for words at this point, left with just a look of plea on his face.

“Son.. That's enough,” Margaret, Neo's mother said, pulling him back before he would cause the innocent doctor to shit his pants.

Then, she asked him, “You said her sister was also here, right, doctor?”

“Y-y-yes, ma'am.. They were both brought in s-simultaneously, pulled from the s-same wre-wre-ckage,” the doctor replied.

The doctor wasn't a stammerer by nature, but Neo had scared the manhood out of him.

“Can we see her?” Margaret asked.

At this point, Neo turned to his mother and looked curiously at her. He knew his mother, and he could tell that whatever she wanted to see Irina for was definitely more than just a “check up”. The woman was a strategist, it was how she'd held down the billion dollar company for so long, and she was the brain behind the sustained success of McKinney Industries.. What was she planning now?

***

Dull, sharp and then painfully throbbing.

These were the three stages of pain which Irina Sabalenka experienced all over her body the minute she regained consciousness.

Without opening her eyes, she used her other senses to guess where she was. Her nostrils picked up heavy antiseptic smells; okay, she was in a laboratory of some sort. Then, her ears recorded a pleasant silence, although there seemed to be a small group of people speaking in low tones just behind the door; who were they and what could they possibly be whispering about outside her damn door? The sound of cars zooming away could be heard in the distance, too. So, this was definitely a high-rise building, towering over either a major road or a flyover bridge. So… hospital..

Then, she opened her eyes. Usually, accident victims would wake with a start and immediately start asking for the nearest person or people to them before they became unconscious, but Irina didn't need to do that; she remembered every single thing that had happened. She'd been with Anna in her car, on her way to get Anna's gown for the wedding and then Anna had brought Zachary up, and then she'd gotten upset. Anna, in a bid to cheer her up, had taken her eyes off the road. Then a truck that with seemingly failed brakes rammed into them.

She took a painful look at her body, a sort of self assessment, and she found her right leg in a dangling cast, and there was also a drip machine by her side.

“Thank God it's just these,” she muttered to herself as she lay her banging head back on the pillow. She thought of Anna and wondered what state she was in. Better? Hopefully. Worse? God, please, no.

Her many thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. In came Neo McKinney, Margaret McKinney and Sasha McKinney. They were all looking gloomy, and for a moment, Irina wondered if they were lost. Neo stepped forward, getting close to her, meanwhile Margaret and Sasha stayed back, with looks in their eyes that Irina didn't have the energy to decipher.

“Hi, Irina,” Neo said, clearly struggling to stay composed, “how're you feeling?”

Okay, they weren't lost. But what could they possibly want? To check on her? Funny. The only person who'd actually spoken to her before today was Neo, and it had been mere pleasantries.

“I'm.. alive,” Irina replied with a faint smile, though still unsure of what they were all doing in here, at her bedside. But she guessed that they'd surely seen Anna, so maybe they could give her a status report.

“How's my sister?”

Neo licked his lips before answering, “She's alive, as well, but she's in a coma.. Doctors say they'll keep monitoring her, but they can't put a date on when she'd wake up,” he spoke as slowly as he could, trying to absorb the shock he was still feeling..

Irina, hearing this news, shut her eyes. The tears began to flow almost immediately.

“It's all my fault,” she started to say through the tears, “I made her take her eyes off the road.. I was mad and she was trying to cheer me up.. It's my fault.”

“Irina, please, there's no time for tears,” Margaret said from where she stood, clearly disgusted by the outburst, “we came here to make a request.”

“What do you want?” Irina said, still weeping profusely.

“Listen, the doctor..” Margaret started to say, but Neo darted a sharp look in her direction, and then he wagged a finger. He did not like her tone.

“Mother, allow me,” then he turned to Irina, “the doctor says you'll be discharged and fully fit in two days, provided you take your medications. So, we need you, no.. I need you to take your sister's place..”

“Her place in what? What are you saying, Neo, I don't understand..”

Neo took her hand. “I will explain, but first I have to apologize for how sudden and inconsiderate this may seem, however, time is short and there isn't an ocean of options.. In essence, I need you to stand in for your sister in three days and marry me, Irina.”

To say that there was a look of shock on Irina's face would have been an understatement; the woman was flabbergasted. All the pain she'd been feeling instantly went numb, as her brain was working overtime to process what she'd just heard.

“Come again?”