Tempting The Billioanire

I woke up to the beeping of the IV as the drip passes through my hands.

I did not understand where I was or what I was doing here, but one thing I did know was that I was in a hospital. How I had gotten there was what I could not remember. The nagging headache discouraging me from trying to think deeper.

A man came in, putting on scrubs and one look at him, I knew he was a doctor.

I tried to speak, but my throat felt numb, scratching the surface of my tongue, the hurt causing me to keep quiet. He looked at me with a small smile before saying

" You have been asleep for too long so it's normal that your throat might feel a bit uncomfortable than normal. I would pour you a glass of water and then I have some questions I would love to ask you" he said.

Because of the mortification I felt with my voice sounding horrible, I decided to keep silent, nodding instead to show that I understood him.

He grabbed a glass of water from the table I had not noticed before and handed it over to me.

It was at the moment I saw the water that I realized just how thirsty I actually was.

The whole glass was gone in just a moment and I felt instant relief in my throat, as though it had brought it back to life.

" I supposed you feel better now?" He asked.

I tried speaking again.

" Yes" I said, glad that my voice was back to normal.

" Do you remember anything from two days before?" He asked.

I strained my memory to think for a while.

And slowly it all started coming back to me.

The phone call, me crying my eyes out as I drove, the huge trailer that came out of nowhere and sent me driving straight into a tree.

That was the last thing I remembered until I showed up here. I had been in a fatal car accident and somehow, I had survived it.

My face paled at the thought of that.

What call? Who was I talking to on the phone that had me so distracted that I had let the wheels slip out of my hands?

I could not remember that little bit.

" Thankfully, you are okay and just gained a few scratches. You would be able to move around and it was dangerous when you were in coma but seeing that you are out now, I can tell you for a fact that you would be fit to leave here tomorrow." He said, beaming at me.

A sick bile rose up in my belly at the question I was about to ask.

" And what about the person driving the truck?" I asked him.

His smile faltered a bit and he sighed, taking off his glasses and wiping it before putting it on back.

The bile only grew.

" He was an old man in his seventies. He was bleeding extensively when they brought him in. We could have saved him if it was a younger person, but he was old and his heart was already giving up. I'm so sorry but we lost him" he said and i felt my heart break.

I had claimed the life of someone. Perhaps someone who all he wanted was to eat and provide for his family. I killed someone's husband.

He probably saw the look on my face because he turned to look at me, giving me a small pat on my hands.

" I know most of the times it's hard to hear about the death of someone. The police already concluded that he was probably driving at high speed and you were not able to swerve out of his way, you were not at fault." He said.

I appreciated his little effort at trying to comfort me, but the deed was already done, I could already feel the guilt crippling me as my mind made up different numbers of scenerios.

What if I had been more focused and not on my phone? What if I had been able to drive smartly and avoided him. He would still be alive.

I did not want to share all these concerns with the doctor because a part of me knew that he would not understand it. So instead I said.

" Thank you so much. For everything"

He gave me anotehr reassuring smile before continuing .

" Well we tried to reach your family members here in los Angeles but unfortunately none of them showed up. Your fiance gave us the number of your friend in london and she has been the one paying the bills, I'm sure she would be here very soon to check up on you" he said and i felt my heart thrum wildly.

What was that phone call that I received just before the world started spinning? Why could I not remember it?

" So none ...none of them came to visit? Including my mum?" I asked him, noticing the pain that dawned in his eyes as he slowly shook his head.

" None did." He said.

The room fell silent and he finally said again.

" I have to do a routine check with the rest of my patients, I hope your friend gets here soon enough and I will be back again to check how you have progressed and see if you are fit to leave tomorrow " he said.

As the door shut behind him, the feeling of anger washed over me. None of them came to visit. After every single night I spent with them, after my childhood with all of them, no one came to visit.

" Oh my baby!" A voice cried out as the door banged open, my friend, Tasha coming in.

She pulled me into a hug and I obliged, breathing in her earthy scent to comfort me.

" I'm so sorry about what happened. And also about your marriage. Louis is a real jerk" she said, her eyes sympathetic.

" What did he do?" I asked her and her face contorted in shock.

" You don't remember?" She asked.

And as though that was the only question I needed to hear, the bit of that accident that I missed came roaring back to me. I had called Louis to confront him, to ask him why he would want to marry my sister.

Emily's POV

" I'm so sorry, if I knew you did not remember I would have not said anything at least till you left the hospital " Tasha said, her eyes holding remorse but i shrugged it off.

" It's fine. Can I...can I see the post again?" I asked her.

She looked at me unsurely for a minute, as though contemplating if she could fulfill my request, but eventually, she handed me over her phone and the smiling face of the couples attacked me, the two people who were supposed to be the closest to me, doing this to me three months before my formal marriage with my fiance of five years.

I could see my parents at the back ground too, shining their perfect teeth as they looked so proud of their daughter, after all I was just the adopted one.

I knew I was adopted from the moment I opened my eyes and that was because I was already nine when they adopted me.

They were the best parents I could ever wish for. The way they pampered and cared for me like their own.

I was fourteen when I found out of their own daughter that went missing a few years before they adopted me. I could see the pain in their eyes Everytime someone called to say they had an information but it just led to another dead end.

And when she finally showed up, one day, with the health worker who claimed to have raised her up until she was a fit member of society, their joy knew no bounds.

When the results of the DNA test came back positive, I was sure they could have burst from excitement.

My mum could never get tired of comparing her with themselves. Just how black her hair was, just like theirs.

But mine was a rich chestnut colour.

I did not mind anyways. I was working, I had my whole life in front of me with a fiance that could go to the moon and back for me, I had it all planned out.

So when she started stealing my spotlight with my parents, going on dinners that I was not included on, attending family functions with them forgetting about me, I did not feel all that bad.

After all this was her time to enjoy her parent's love.

She could take everything I had with my parents and I would not care. But she took my man.

My callous fiance that could not find the balls to tell me that he was now engaged to my sister and I had to find out about it through a blog post.

My fiance that took my life and my dreams and shattered with in one go.

I did not realize fresh tears were already sliding down my face until Tasha pulled out a white napkin, carefully dabbing my face with it.

" You shouldn't let them see you so down like this. I hated that girl from the moment I saw her. With her fake smiles and her graceful demeanor. I know you don't feel like it now but you would always be the star of the show, no matter how hard she tries" Tasha said.

My heart strings tugged as I sighed, nodding my head rapidly. It was comforting to know that I still had people who cared about me.

Even if my family didn't.

As I closed my eyes to go to bed that night, I could not help but reminiscence on how I had my met my fiance.

It was a cliche meeting, one that was picture perfect for books.

It has been at my favourite coffee spot.

" I would like to ordered an iced macchiato and also an Americano " he had said in front of me that day.

I was not paying any attention to what he did,, mostly because I had a major test coming up and I could already feel the heat of my failure dawning on me.

But then, he prodded me softly, handing me the cup.

I had stared at him in surprise.

" Can I help you?" I remember asking vividly.

To answer my question, he had flashed me a million dollar watt smile that still had the effect it had on me four years ago.

" I have been coming to this cafe for a long time and I just thought to give you a little something as we have been bumping into each other for quite a good number of times now" he said.

I did not remember ever bumping into him.

I could tell from the label of the drink that he held up towards me that it was the exact same one I always ordered.

" Well today I was going to buy drinks for my friends as well" I said giving an awkward laugh as his mouth shaped into an O, letting me step past him to place my order.

It was an awkward meeting, we felt awkward but it was nice. He had collected my number as I left the cafe and the rest was history.

The checking out part of the hospital was the most relieving. It felt as though I was leaving the guilt I had in my chest, leaving the pain of being repsonsible for the death of someone behind.

Tasha dropped me off at our house and I could not be more grateful. I knew I would not be staying here, not with him hanging around with my sister.

The house was silent when I walked in, and as I went to get my clothes, a pack of condoms fell out of his drawer, shocking me.

We had never had sex even though we had been together for a long time.

But here he was, with condoms.

Just then, as though he was waiting for me to make my little discovery, I heard the door open and he came in.

" Emily, what are you doing here? I had you were involved in an accident and honestly I have just been so busy, I was going to come today" he said but I knew it was all lies.

" Who are these for?" I asked him and watched him pale as I held up the pack of condoms.

Emily's POV

He seemed to stutter to find the right word, seemed to be waiting for a miracle that could free him out of the trap he had walked right into.

" It's for a friend, I was just helping him hold it" he finally managed to wheez out.

I shook my head again his pathetic attempt to lie.

" Liar! You think I don't see it? You think I don't see the blog posts? You are getting married to Karen? You are getting married to my own sister!" I yelled at him and he seemed to relax, as though he knew it was not worth lying about anyways.

" I did not want you to find out this way, we were going to talk about it with you over dinner tonight. I already talked to your parents and..." He was beginning to say but I did not want to hear it.

" You talked to my parents and what? They allowed you to do the little switch between their daughters? Do you even think I'm a joke to you!" I yelled at him.

The tears were beginning to prick my eyes now and I felt like a weakling, trying to hold them from dropping onto my sunken face.

I could not let him see just how much he had broken me.

" It's not a big deal. I know a made the wrong choice with you ever since I saw Karen. She is the one I love and I don't want to let go of her. " He said.

My eyes were stinging, my heart pounding fast as I walked towards him, and with a swift motion, I hit him across the face, listening to the sound reverberate through the walls of the room.

He stared at me as though he was shocked I had actually hit him.

Then he placed his hands around my neck, choking me as his eyes blazed with anger.

" Never ever in your pathetic life riase your hands at me again, or I swear to the Lord that you won't live to tell the story" he said, letting go of my neck forcefully as my feet sank to the floor, dragging me along with them.

The door banged loudly and with that, he was gone. Just like that.

This was a new side of him that I was just discovering. This side of him that I never knew existed.

I had sat there, on the cold floor, And I willed all the tears to come out, to try and stop the ache that I felt in my heart.

When I got the call to attend the party that evening, it was the last thing I wanted to do.

It was a call from my parents, something about coming for our grandfather's memorial.

I contemplated calling in sick. I knew Karen and Louis would be there, and my parents too, it was the last thing I wanted.

But I put on a brave face, pulling out my most flattering gown as I stared at myself in the mirror.

I looked like I had gone through a lot, my eyes sunken in and my hair thin from the number of times I had yanked at them earlier that afternoon.

Nothing a little bit of make up could not fix. When I was done with my make up, I was satisfied. I did not look like the snivelling mess I was a few hours ago.

I looked like a woman who was ready to take the world at its feet and that was exactly what I wanted.

" I honestly don't even understand why you are thinking of this, you don't have to go to those bastards party. All they would do is make you feel less" Tasha whined as she drove to the party but I smiled.

" That is why I'm taking you along, so you can remind me that they are all beneath me. Including the little perfect daughter of theirs" I said.

The set up was beautiful. A part of me wanted to ask why I did not have an idea what they were planning until now.

It was as though they did not even need my help planning it, and just decided to invite me to shoo away the negative questions that people might ask.

I took in a deep breath as I looked at the steady flow of people from the event center.

" You can do this girl. If you ever feel the need to leave, at any time at all, you just have to say the word and I would get us both out of there. I would be exploring the dinner setting just in case you need me" she said and with that, she was gone.

I knew her love for food always came before me.

I walked on, looking around as people stared at me, some pointing their fingers and giggling.

I guess the news of the marriage was no secret to most of them now.

" Why would you come wearing that? Are you trying to outshine poor Karen?" I heard a voice asked and I turned around to see my mother.

I tried to search her eyes, to see if I could find some hint of remorse for what she made me go through, to see if I could even get a bit of the motherly look I got from her when I was younger.

" But she is not supposed to be shining. It's our dead grandfather's memorial" I said.

She seemed to scowl.

"You know she is our biological child, and she has more need to look immaculate more than you. And that gown is so revealing. Go change right this instant. You should find some old clothes from my closet and put on. I did not raise you to be so open with your body" she said.