"Looks like someone tried to kill her, do you know who?"
Anna blinked to the sound of voices and the steady beep of a monitor nearby. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw two men talking and another deep, cold voice reached her ears.
"No, I don't."
She shut her eyes again, feeling a pain in her head. Her head was banging aside from the pain from her forehead.
"Call the police… her last location." That was the last muffled word she heard before a face showed up above her.
She turned slightly to face the most intense pair of grey eyes ever and it had her blood pumping rapidly, her heart stuttering.
He was the kind of man who turned heads without even trying. He didn't have a smile on his face nor a frown. His face looked plain unreadable, yet goddamn attractive.
His gaze held a familiarity she couldn't place with those piercing eyes and she wondered if they knew each other.
"Hey, are you okay?" His question jerked her back to life and she realized something wasn't right.
She darted her eyes away from his and glanced around.
There was a strip attached to her veins. White walls and the smell of antiseptic whiffed past her nostrils and it hit her.
She was in a hospital.
Wait, what happened?
She tried to sit upright but fell back on the bed with a wince leaving her lips. Instinctively, he grabbed her hands and helped her sit up slowly just as she noticed there was another man beside her in a white lab coat with a stethoscope hanging lazily around his neck, confirming her suspicions of being in a hospital.
Still, she asked, her voice barely in a whisper. "Where am I?"
The two of them exchanged a knowing look before the stranger asked, "Will you please check her?"
The doctor nodded and began to examine her heartbeat with the stethoscope. While he was examining her, she kept staring at the stranger, wondering who he was, what happened to her and why he was there with her.
And suddenly, it dawned on her.
"Don't you remember anything? What happened?" the man inquired with curiosity as soon as the doctor moved back.
When she didn't say a word, the stranger turned to the doctor who announced, "She is fine. The Benzodiazepines in her system have been flushed out but she needs to be placed on bed rest for the rest of the day to check if she's finally out of danger."
Benzodiazepines? What the hell?!
She watched the man nod his head at the doctor who walked out after a few more instructions.
"What does he mean by that? Was… was I drugged?" She was deeply scared of the possibility of that. "What the hell happened?"
He stretched a phone at her and she saw it was hers. Broken beyond damage. When she held the phone in front of her, her appearance showed on the screen and she saw the small bandage on her forehead.
Panic seized her chest as another pain shot through her instantly.
"You were in a car accident," the stranger sat next to her after dragging a chair closer to her bed. "And it turned out you were drugged."
"What?" she exclaimed in disbelief, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Your car brake was tampered with so it failed but I was lucky to be passing by when I saw your car almost off the cliff," he completed and her heart darted forward again in fright.
Did she just go through a near-death experience?
Her heart was pounding so hard, she could hear the sound as she processed it all.
She always had the boys check her car before heading to work. How could her car brake fail and none of them figured that out before she left home?
"Is there anyone who would want you dead?" The next question that rolled off his lips made her gasp loudly and she stared at him in silence.
If she was asked this question a day or two ago, she would have said a loud no. But now she was not sure she was confident enough to say no one wanted her dead.
Warren and she were supposed to be married in two weeks. But that morning, she found him having sex with her step-sister, Sophia.
Sophie left immediately. She caught them and Warren wouldn't say a word to her despite her confrontation. When she realized he wasn't remorseful about his act, she left his place and hurried back home, hoping to see Sophie.
Sophie wasn't home by the time she got home. Then she decided to leave for work. She knew she was going to lose her mind trying to figure out what went wrong if she stayed back at home.
Now she remembered becoming drowsy immediately after taking a drink of the coffee she saw in the living room.
She was thirsty and that was the only thing she took before jumping back into the car and driving off.
That was the last thing she remembered.
"I can help you if you want to. Just tell me whatever it is you remember," the stranger insisted, making her spare him another quick glance.
Was he a police officer or what?
She was desperate, hence the hurt. Warren and she needed to be married for her to inherit her father's company. That was his only legacy and if she didn't get married in the next two weeks, she would lose it all to Sophie and her mother.
Warren knew all of this because she was honest with him from the start. She thought they were both on the same boat—not getting married meant losing something they both valued.
Now that she thought of it, Warren didn't need her to get his company. What he needed was just a woman and Sophie could be that woman. Sophie, on the other hand, needed to get her out of the picture to get both Warren and the company.
"Were you coming from home?" the stranger asked her again, jerking her out of her reverie.
Slowly, she shook her head.
"Oh, where were you coming from?"
She didn't reply and she didn't look away from his intense gaze.
The fact that Sophie and Warren were the last people she saw was enough evidence. Those two were the only people who would want her dead, including her stepmother.
She was so worried about their wedding plans getting ruined that she was willing to take him back if only he would apologize to her.
But now, he could go to hell for all she cared.
Apparently, not only did he not want her anymore but he also wanted her dead.
However, she knew she had to look for an alternative way not to lose her inheritance. That was the only thing that remained of her father. That was his legacy and she would protect it with everything she had.
All she needed to do right now was to get married? But to who?
Warren was the only man she had ever been with and they'd been together for two years.
"Hey," the stranger waved a hand in her face. "If you don't feel comfortable with me, I could call the police instead." He brought out his phone, looking up at her for approval.
But her mind was elsewhere.
She was staring at him, from his messy but styled hair to his broad-shouldered build like a brick wall, to his piercing eyes, chiseled jawlines, down to the white shirt hugging his muscled body and finally his shiny black shoes.
He looked like a gym instructor or an investigator.
So she nodded her head in approval. He would do.
"OK, let's call the police then," she heard him mutter, taking her nodding for approval to call the police.
"No!" She grabbed his hands to stop him from dialing the number, her hands melting into his large hands.
"No?"
"No," she repeated loudly. "I want something else."
He furrowed his brows in confusion before asking, "What do you want?"
"Marry me!" she blurted out quickly with her heart pounding, her body trembling with the excitement of marrying a total stranger to get what she needed.
To get back at Warren and Sophie and most importantly, to get her inheritance.
"What?!" he exclaimed loudly in disbelief.
She nodded intermittently, more convinced of her impulsive decision. "Will you marry me?"