Chapter Two

Something was beeping.

He frowned, or tried to, at least. Even that small change in his expression sent needles of pain stabbing into his brain.

Hissing in a breath, he tried to figure out what he was doing in a dark, pain-filled world.

“I think he’s waking up,” a voice said. It was soft, light, and feminine. Something tugged at him, telling him he should know that voice, but the instinct was fleeting and gone in a second as he tried to open his eyes.

Light seared his already battered brain, making his body twist in agony.

“Let’s up his pain meds,” a male voice said, filled with authority and surety.

He was dimly aware of activity going on around him before some of the pain ebbed. Still, he waited another minute before trying to open his eyes again.

When he did, several things became clear.

The first thing he saw was the white, sterile hospital room. The second was a woman leaning over him, her hazel eyes filled with a worry so deep he might have said it bordered on panic.

The dark blonde hair around her face was pulled back in a messy bun as if she’d done it automatically instead of intentionally. Blood dotted her white dress shirt, and he thought he saw a trace on her cheek as well. Instinct made him try to lift his hand to wipe it away, but while his fingers rose a few inches from the bed, they fell just as quickly.

“W-what…”

“Step aside, miss,” the doctor said, ushering the woman away. She moved to the foot of his bed but refused to go any farther, her eyes never leaving his.

“Mr. Sinclair, I’m Dr. Warren, the senior physician in charge of your care. You gave us a scare there. We’re all very lucky your accident wasn’t any worse.”

“Acc—” The word wouldn’t form properly but it appeared he didn’t need to say more.

“Car accident,” the doctor clarified. “You were hit and thrown over the hood of the car. You’ve got some bad scratches and a fractured wrist, but given the circumstances, your injuries could have been far more severe. Ms. Carlow called the ambulance immediately. You were here in minutes.”

Carlow. Something about that name made his gaze go back to the woman at his bedside.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice broken and watery. “I’m so sorry, Jackson.”

He frowned again, this time with far less pain. “Jackson,” he breathed, managing to get the whole word out.

The doctor leaned over him. “Yes?”

It took concentration for him to form the words he needed to get out. “Wh…”

The woman came up the left side of his bed and took his hand, careful of the tubes and IVs still running into him. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re getting the best medical care money can buy. Literally. I’ve called your brother, and he’s on his way, too. He’ll be here any minute. You’re not alone.”

Her touch calmed something inside him. Something he couldn’t even name yet even though he felt the storm coming.

“I should have been paying more attention,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. “I should have been more careful. I’m always careful. I think everything through twenty times before I act, and the one time I don’t…” She hung her head. “I swear to you I’ll make this right. Okay, Jackson? Anything you need.”

He licked his lips, ready to try one more time. “Good,” he croaked. “Then…tell me.”

She raised her head. “What? Tell you what?”

“Wh—who is Jackson?”

…

“Clearly he’s suffered some head trauma.”

“You think?” Lori snapped.

Dr. Warren leveled an even stare at her.

She merely arched a brow in response. Leaning against the nurse’s station, she crossed her arms. “One of the richest men in the country is lying in a bed ten feet away unconscious and you want to take issues with my tone?”

“My apologies. All I meant is, traumatic events are difficult to cope with.”

“Tell me about it.” She ran a hand over her face. “I mean, it’s not every day you run over your boss. And I know some people might think I’m living the dream here, but I actually liked working for him.”

The doctor reached out to touch her hand. “Accidents happen. Blaming yourself won’t do any good.”

“Trust me, he’d blame me, too, if he could remember who I was.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh my God. He’s going to kill me when he finally remembers.”

Dr. Warren cleared his throat.

“He will remember, right?” she demanded, opening her eyes.

“Amnesia is a hard thing to predict. There is still just too much we don’t know about the brain. In all likelihood, yes, he will remember who he is eventually, but I can’t make any absolute promises at this stage in his treatment.”

“But what sort of timeline are we looking at?”

“It’s hard to say, and I can’t get into the specifics of his case since you’re not family.”

She jerked back, stung.

You have no right to be upset. You have no legal claim here. He’s nothing to you. Not anymore. You don’t even work for him.

“There must be something you can tell me. I need to know he’ll be okay.”

“We’re doing everything in our power to take care of Mr. Sinclair, I assure you. But I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you until a family member arrives.”

“Talk about making an entrance.”

They both turned to see tall, dark-haired man striding toward them.

“Marc,” Lori greeted.

Jackson’s younger brother barely spared her a glance. “I was about to get on a plane to Melbourne when my phone rang. Imagine my surprise to learn my only family is in the hospital, apparently put there by his right-hand woman.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“Finally get tired of jumping to his demands?” Marc asked, turning to her, his gaze so similar to his brother’s.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Sure. Employees run down CEOs all the time.”

“I swear to God.”

“Honestly, with the hours he makes you work, I’m surprised you didn’t do this sooner.”

She ground her teeth. “There’s only so many ways I can say ‘accident.’”

“I’d settle for a single convincing one.”

“This isn’t helpful,” the doctor interrupted. “Our main concern is the patient. Mr. Sinclair has minor injuries apart from his head trauma. He has some scrapes, a fractured wrist, and a head wound that bled profusely, but there should be no lasting physical damage. That’s the good news. If you’d like to follow me to a private room, I can debrief you on his condition further.”

Marc waved his hand. “Lori might have had a brief fit of homicidal rage—”

“I did not!”

“But she’s the closest thing he has to a support system outside of myself. You can tell us together.”

“All right. The best outcome here is that his amnesia is a temporary state brought on by the blow to the head he suffered and the trauma. As his body recovers, he may get his memories back. I’ve seen patients have this sort of memory haze for only a few hours.”

“So, he could be back to normal very soon,” Marc said.

“He could.”

“Or?” Lori asked. “What’s the other option?”

“Or, it could take considerably longer. Some patients take weeks, if not months, to heal. In rare cases, some memory damage is permanent.”

Her heart plummeted. She may have maimed the love of her life forever? Jackson’s brain was the reason he was able to rise so high. He ruled the family empire with an iron fist, never forgetting so much as a decimal point, and now she’d wiped out his entire life?

Marc stared at his brother. His expression could have been carved from granite. “A few weeks,” he murmured. “How long will he need to stay in the hospital?”

Dr. Warren sighed. “Physically, there’s not much else I can do for him. I’d like to keep him overnight for observation, but we can have him in his own bed tomorrow.”

“Doctor, we’re going to need that private room now,” Marc said, his voice grim.

She glanced at him in surprise. “We do?”

“Of course. Right this way.”

Bewildered, Lori followed the two men down the hall and into a small room with a few chairs and a table.

“Have the nurse page me if you have any other questions,” Dr. Warren said before showing himself out and closing the door behind him.

Marc waited until they heard the click of the door before rounding on her. “We have a problem.”

“What was your first clue?”

“I don’t just mean Jackson’s accident. You could not have run him over at a worse time.”

She groaned, collapsing into one of the chairs at the table. “I would never have hurt him on purpose.”

Marc’s expression was anything but sympathetic. “What I’m going to tell you can’t leave this room, got it?”

She held up a hand. “Wait. I quit this morning. I’m not a Sinclair employee, and you shouldn’t tell me any sort of confidential information.”

There was no masking the surprise that flashed across his face. “What the hell happened to you two today?”

“It’s a long story,” she said before thinking twice. “Actually, no. It should be a long story, but in reality, I quit and then ran him down. That’s about the gist.” She dropped her head into her hands. “It’s all my fault.”

“So, help me fix it. As of this moment you are officially un-quit.”

She glanced at him. “That’s not a word.”

“Don’t care. More is at stake here than your guilt, and I need you to step up. Until my brother is back to normal, you need to be exactly what you’ve always been. His most trusted assistant. The person always by his side. No one will question why you’re suddenly going to be spending so much time with him. You’re perfect.”

“Perfect for what?”

“To help me cover this up.”

Her jaw dropped. “Have you lost your mind? Your brother doesn’t even remember his own name and you want him to what, run a billion-dollar empire?”

“Yes.”

“Not happening.”

“If it doesn’t, we’ll lose the company.”

She blinked. “What?”

He ran a hand down his face. “HynCor is snapping at our heels. The market isn’t big enough for the two of us, and they’re making moves to take on a merger that would squeeze us out. If this deal goes through, the company my family has spent generations building will be over.”

Her jaw dropped.

“Our shareholders can’t find any of this out. If they get a whiff they’re backing a sinking ship, they could change course and jump to our competitors. Our stock would tank, and we’d all be out on the street.”

“Okay, but why can’t you step in to run the company while Jackson recovers somewhere far away from reporters?”

“Because I need to be in Australia tomorrow securing an alliance that will allow us to survive the next few months. This deal is our life raft, and if I’m not on the other side of the world to navigate these talks, it won’t matter what Jackson remembers. The company will be gone.”

“But I quit,” she whispered. “I wanted to get away from the Sinclairs, not more deeply entwined.”

For the first time, Marc’s expression softened. “I don’t know what came to a head today, but I do know Jackson needs you. That’s been true since the day you first walked into his life. Can you really leave him like this?”

No, and we both know it.

Independence could wait. She’d royally screwed up Jackson’s life, and if she could do anything to put it back together, she needed to try.

“So, what’s the grand plan?” she asked wearily.

“We’ll say he fractured his wrist playing racquetball to explain the wrappings and the hospital stay. I’ll get on a plane tonight and tomorrow when he’s released, you’ll take him home.”

“Which home?”

“Yours for now. Less eyes.”

“Don’t you think people might question why the man who has never so much as visited my apartment now lives with me?”

“Can you say you’re having an affair?”

She shot him a murderous look.

“Right, sorry. No one would buy that.”

Knife in the heart. Twisting.

“Thanks,” she said, her voice deadpan.

He waved a hand. “You know what I mean. My brother is impossible at the best of times. You’d never want to date him.”

Wouldn’t I?

“But you’re right. Let’s scratch your place. Take him to his house and stay with him there. You can say you two are working on some top-secret business, and he needs you close at hand at all times.”

“I get him home and then what? I coach him through his days?”

“Exactly. Come on, Cyrano. Step up and take one for the team.”

“Your family is not my team.”

“It is for the next few weeks. You know the business and his schedule. Help him pretend to be himself until I can get this deal locked in. After that we can reevaluate.”

“And if it’s not a few weeks? What if his memory never comes back like Dr. Warren said?”

He dragged a hand through his hair in a way that was so similar to Jackson it made her heart clench. “Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we just need to make sure thousands of people don’t lose their jobs.”

“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?”

“I need your head in the game.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’m in. Not like I can really say no, since I got you into this mess.”

“Good. I’m counting on you, Lori. We both are.”

“You need to be on call at all times. I’m not trained to be a CEO. We’ll have questions.”

“I’ve seen you two work together. He relies on you more than he does me. You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Besides, you’ve got my private number. Use it. I want updates on his condition, too.”

“Not just your precious business?”

He gripped her hand, anger in his eyes. “That is my brother lying in a hospital bed. I’d throw away this company in a heartbeat if it would assure his health, but it won’t. My brother loves Sinclair Enterprises the way our father did. It’s his whole life. He will not thank either of us if he comes back to himself and finds we’ve let it slip away to hold a vigil at his bedside.”

She held up her hands. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Mildly appeased, he eased back. “I’m going to go check up on him, and then I have to get to the airport. You’ve got this?”

“I’ve got this.”

With a curt nod, he was out of his chair and out the door.

Lori followed more slowly to give them some privacy. She waited at the nurse’s station while Marc entered his sleeping brother’s room. He stood at the foot of the bed, watching his only family breathe in and out. Then, he moved closer to clasp Jackson’s shoulder, his head bowed.

When he finally strode from the room, he didn’t spare her a glance.

Looks like I’m on my own now.

On her own with a damaged billionaire and a corporate takeover to outmaneuver.

It certainly wasn’t how she’d pictured this day going when she’d practiced her speech on her mirror.