ACCIDENTLY MARRIED TO THE CEO

Two weeks. That was how long I had been back in the city. And for those two weeks, I had believed my aunt, Laila, was the only person truly supporting me. She had helped me understand the company. Whenever I came across a document I didn't understand or someone used a term I'd never heard before, she patiently explained it. She introduced me to executives, showed me around the building, and reminded me that I didn't have to understand everything at once. After spending most of my life in the countryside, I'd been terrified of coming back. Everything here felt bigger than I remembered. The buildings. The offices. The people who seemed to know exactly where they belonged. I didn't. Not yet. But Aunt Laila had made it easier. Or so I thought. That morning, I was walking toward my office with a file tucked against my chest when I heard voices coming from hers. I slowed. I wasn't trying to listen. I would have walked past if I hadn't heard my name. “So you really think she can run this company?” My feet stopped. I knew that voice. My uncle. Laila's husband. I stared at the closed office door. A moment earlier, I'd been thinking about how lucky I was to have people willing to help me. Now I couldn't move. “We all know she's the rightful heir,” my uncle continued. “But she's been away from all of this for most of her life. What does she actually know about running a company?” My fingers tightened around the file. He had smiled whenever he saw me. He had told me I could count on him. So why did his voice sound so different now? I swallowed. Then my aunt spoke. “That's exactly why I want her to take over.” Relief washed through me. For one foolish second, the corners of my lips almost lifted. I knew it. I knew she would defend me. She was the person I trusted most in this strange city. Then she continued. “Once she has control of the company, I'll take it from her.” The smile disappeared. My fingers went numb around the file. For a moment, I wondered if I'd heard her correctly. “What?” my uncle asked. “She'll be easier to control once everyone accepts her as the rightful heir,” Aunt Laila said calmly. “The shareholders won't hand the company to me. They know she's Elena's daughter, and they'll insist the company belongs to her.” My throat tightened. “But once Sienna takes control, they'll have no reason to interfere.” “And after that?” “I'll make sure she signs whatever I put in front of her.” A small laugh escaped my uncle. “She actually trusts you that much?” “She trusts almost everything I tell her.” My stomach turned. “Taking the company from her won't be difficult.” The file slipped slightly from my hands. I caught it before it fell. No. There had to be another explanation. Maybe they weren't talking about me. Maybe “What do you expect from a girl who's spent her whole life in the countryside?” my uncle said. “I'm not even sure the college she attended gave her the kind of education she'd need for a company like this.” My eyes stung. “I still don't understand why your sister left her daughter in the countryside.” Silence. Then my aunt answered. “My sister was good at keeping secrets.” Secrets. The word stayed in my mind. My mother. Elena Blake. I barely remembered her. Most of my childhood memories existed in fragments that never quite connected. Her perfume. Her hands against my cheeks. A soft voice calling my name. Then nothing. She had left me with my grandparents, and the countryside had become home. I'd spent years wondering why. Was I not worth coming back for? Had she wanted to leave me? Or had there been something else? I'd stopped asking questions a long time ago. Maybe because I was afraid of the answers. “Ma'am?” I flinched. A secretary stood beside me. She glanced at my face. “Are you all right?” I looked away. “Fine.” She didn't move. “Are you sure?” I forced my lips into something resembling a smile. “Just tired.” She nodded slowly and walked away. I waited until she was gone. Then I turned. I needed to get away from that door. I started toward my office without really seeing where I was going. The hallway blurred around me. My aunt's words followed every step. She trusts almost everything I tell her. Taking the company from her won't be difficult. I nearly walked straight into someone. “Watch where you're going, countryside bumpkin!” I stopped. My cousin. She had stepped out from around the corner, her expression already twisted with irritation. I stared at her. She looked me up and down. “What? Never learned how to use your eyes?” She walked past me, shoulder brushing mine. Normally, I would have answered. Today, I couldn't find the strength to waste a word on her. I kept walking. When I finally reached my office, I pushed the door open and went straight to my desk. I dropped the file on the table. Then I sat. For a few seconds, I simply stared at the papers in front of me. My aunt. The woman I'd trusted. The woman I'd thanked for helping me. The woman I'd defended when people warned me to be careful. She had been using me. My fingers curled slowly against the edge of the desk. I thought about every document she'd placed in front of me. Just sign here, Sienna. Every explanation. Every reassuring smile. Every time I'd assumed she knew better because she'd been here longer than I had. My gaze fell on the files scattered across my desk. I pulled one toward me. Then another. If she had been lying about this, I needed to know what else she'd been hiding. A knock sounded. “Come in.” The door opened. It was my aunt's secretary. She approached with a polite smile and placed a folder on my desk. “Your aunt asked you to sign this.” My eyes dropped to the folder. “My aunt?” “Yes, ma'am.” The words landed differently now. I opened it. The first page looked ordinary. So did the second. Then I reached the section concerning company shares. I stopped. Ten percent. I read the figure again. Ten percent of Blake Medical Group's shares were being transferred to another company. My eyes moved to the name at the bottom. My uncle's company. I sat back. So this was what she had been doing. Not once. Not accidentally. I had been signing documents because I trusted her to tell me what mattered. And she'd been counting on that trust. I closed the folder. “I'll sign it later.” The secretary blinked. “But your aunt said—” “I heard what she said.” The door opened. “What seems to be the problem, dear?” My aunt. She walked in wearing the same warm smile she'd worn every day since I'd returned. For a second, I saw the woman I thought I knew. Then I remembered her voice through the closed door. I'll take it from her. She glanced at the folder. “What is this?” “I read it.” Her hand paused over the folder. Then she picked it up. “You don't need to worry about these details. Just sign it. I'll handle everything.” I looked at her. The words were so familiar. Usually, they would have comforted me. This time, they made something inside me go still. “No.” Her smile disappeared. “What?” I folded my hands together on the desk. “Can I do this later, Auntie? I'm a bit tired.” Her eyes stayed on mine. She was watching me now. Not like an aunt watching her niece. Like someone trying to understand why her plan had suddenly stopped working. I swallowed. “I need to improve.” “Improve what?” I picked up the document. “I need to learn. You told me you were helping me understand this company, and I appreciate that. But if I'm going to run my mother's company, I can't keep depending on you for everything.” For the first time, surprise crossed her face. It vanished almost immediately. “I understand.” Her smile returned. But something about it felt different now. Before I could say anything else, my phone rang. I glanced at the screen. Unknown number. I answered. “Hello?” “Miss Blake? This is the pharmaceutical division.” I straightened. “Yes?” “The board meeting has already started.” My brows pulled together. “What meeting?” There was a pause. “The pharmaceutical partnership meeting.” I looked at my aunt. She was watching me. “Who authorized it?” “I don't know, ma'am.” “And no one thought it was necessary to tell me?” Another pause. “I'm sorry, ma'am.” I checked the time. Twenty minutes. A meeting concerning my company had been running for twenty minutes, and nobody had bothered to tell me. My aunt reached for the folder on my desk. “You have a lot to learn, Sienna.” I looked at her. “I know.” I grabbed my bag. “But I'm going to learn.” I walked past her. I didn't wait for her response. The moment I stepped outside the building, I stopped a taxi. “Blake Medical Pharmaceutical Division.” The driver nodded and pulled into traffic. I climbed into the back seat and closed the door. Only then did I let my shoulders fall against the seat. My hands were still trembling. I looked down at them. Then out the window. The city moved past in a blur of buildings, cars and people who had no idea that everything I thought I knew had changed in less than an hour. I closed my eyes. My uncle's voice returned. Then my aunt's. " She trusts almost everything I tell her." I opened my eyes again. Every conversation replayed differently. Every smile had another meaning. Every document I'd signed made me wonder what I'd missed. A tear slipped down my cheek. I wiped it away before it could fall any farther. My grandfather's voice came back to me. Don't be afraid of what you don't know, Sienna. Learn it. I drew in a slow breath. Then another. My grandparents had raised me. They had believed in me when nobody else did. And my mother... Whatever had happened between us, this company was something she'd built with her own hands. Maybe I'd never get the chance to ask her why she'd left me. Maybe some questions would always remain unanswered. But I wouldn't let anyone take away what she'd left behind. I looked at my reflection in the window. My eyes were still wet. I wiped them again. Then I straightened. “I don't have to be my mother,” I whispered. My reflection stared back at me. “But I will protect what she left behind.” The words were quiet. The decision wasn't. I still didn't know who I could trust. I didn't know how much my aunt had already hidden from me. And I didn't know what was waiting for me at that meeting. But one thing was becoming clear. I couldn't run this company by relying on people simply because they claimed to care about me. I needed to learn. I needed to watch. I needed to understand the people who had worked with my mother, the decisions she'd made, the people she'd trusted, and the things she'd left behind. And until I knew who was standing beside me and who was waiting for me to fall, I would have to be careful. I looked down at the files on my laptop. My mother's name was everywhere. Elena Blake. I traced the name on the screen with my eyes. Maybe the first thing I needed to understand wasn't the company. Maybe it was my mother.