The CEO's Forbidden Desire

Tiana’s POV

I plopped down on my couch as I ended the call with the wedding dress designer and let out a sigh. Today had been a really stressful day. Madison, my twin sister, would be getting married tomorrow and I had been handling most of the preparations. 

Maddie had always wanted a big wedding but the circumstances called for a really small one. She was getting married to the most eligible bachelor in New York, who also happened to be my boss, Seth Berkley. It was crazy how they met a few weeks ago at a bar and they were already getting married. 

Seth was a billionaire who should obviously spend a lot of money on his wedding. I knew there was more to their story but Maddie said she wasn’t allowed to tell me.

I strolled to my kitchen for a cup of water while waiting for my sister to get back home. My phone started to ring so I went back to the living room to get it. Tonight was gonna be a long one.

I saw that it was Maddie calling so I picked the call, there was noise at the other end so I had to put the call on speaker.

“Maddie, where are you? It’s getting late.”

“Ms. Tiana, I’m calling from Olive hospital. Ms. Madison has been involved in an accident.”

My heart instantly dropped. The words didn’t compute. Accident? The world titled, I quickly held on to the couch in front of me for support. 

“What! Oh my God, what happened?” I choked out as my body began to shake. I grabbed my car key and shoes as the caller explained that she was hit by a drunk driver. I ended the call and raced to the hospital, not even caring that I could also get involved in an accident with the speed I was driving at. 

I prayed to God that nothing bad would happen to Maddie as I ran to the receptionists, who all stared at me with some weird look on their faces.

“Maddison Palmer, she was rushed here a few minutes ago.” I explained to them.

“She is now in the ICU.” One of them pointed down the hallway and I bolted without even saying thanks. 

Just as I got in front of the ICU, I saw Seth already standing there. He didn’t look like the impeccably tailored CEO I usually saw at work, he looked terrified with his shirt wrinkled beneath the expensive blazer he wore. 

His brown hair was disheveled as if he had run his hand through it a couple of times and his face was pulled into a frown. 

Looking at him made my heart constrict in my chest. I wasn’t sure I would be able to bear it if something terrible happened to Maddie.

“How is my sister? Is she doing alright?” I asked, turning to the transparent glass in front of me that showed everyone in the intensive care unit. I didn’t see Maddie anywhere which made me suspect she was on one of the beds that was blocked with curtains. 

“Tiana?” Seth called out beside me, his mouth was slightly opened and he stared at me like he was amazed, "Maddison told me she had a twin that works in my company, I've never seen you before and didn’t know you two would be so identical.”

‘You’ve certainly seen me before, and I see you at work almost every day.’ I almost blurted out. I guessed Seth had never noticed me at work. How was the CEO supposed to notice me when I only worked in the data entry department? 

“Yes, I’m Tiana. Is Maddison okay? What did the doctors say? Where is she right now?”

Before Seth was able to answer, a doctor walked out of the ICU and asked if we were Maddie’s family. I immediately rushed out all my questions. 

“She had a severe concussion, fractured ribs, and worst of all…” the doctor paused and stared at us cautiously as if he wanted to be sure we were prepared for the next news, “She fell into a coma, and there is no timeline for when or even if, she will wake up.”

“Oh my God!” I collapsed on the ground, my body shaking with shock and an overwhelming feeling of guilt. Why hadn’t I insisted she stayed at home? Why wasn’t I there? Why was she even driving herself after all the stress she had gone through this week?

I didn’t know for how long I had been on the floor crying, but when I finally gathered myself and stood, the doctor was gone while Seth was sitting on the bench in front of the ICU with his palm on his face. I looked through the glass and saw that the curtain had been pulled to review Maddie. Her forehead was wrapped in bandage and an oxygen mask covered her nose and mouth. 

I forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat at the sight of her. If only I could change the hands of time, I would have locked the doors and refused to let her go out. I wish I could take her pain away.

“This means the wedding is off.” I heard Seth say, as if it wasn’t already obvious that there couldn’t be a wedding without the bride. 

I sniffed and turned away from Maddie, “I will go and call my parents.” 

“Wait!”

Seth called out, making me stop. I turned back to him and watched him release a long breath from his mouth, he looked at me almost as if he was silently pleading with me for something.

“The wedding can’t be off.” He voiced out.

My brows furrowed, “What do you mean the wedding can’t be off? Do you want to get married to my sister while she is still in coma?”

“I can’t call off the wedding because… for some reasons. You look exactly like Maddison and that is why you have to help me.”

A took a step backwards and my mouth fell open in shock when I realized what he was saying. He wanted me to pretend to be my sister and get married to him. That was ridiculously insane.