I had no absolutely brilliant plan to fix everything.

I, in fact, had nothing.

In my office, I rocked back and forth in my chair, my mind blank and unable to put its energy into anything useful any longer.

"You're becoming a bit of a hermit, aren't you?" said Lauren.

She came into my office and sat down across from me as she had so many times before.

"You know you could be doing some actual work instead of just staring at things."

"I've reviewed all the files and have made decisions accordingly, Lauren. I already mailed them out. I have nothing left that is awaiting me to do something."

"Huh?"

"I shotgunned all my duties straight through to keep my mind off things. If I'm going to be an anxious wreck, I figure I may as well be a productive anxious wreck."

"Wish I could do that. When I'm in a fucked up situation, all I can do is eat a pint of ice cream and then hate myself because it's bad for me."

I drummed my fingers on the desk. "Is there anything else I can do that's mind numbing for you?"

"Might be a tad suspicious if the boss's son is suddenly working in the mail room again, so I got nothing for you, Case."

I sighed. Lauren was one of the only people in the know about the recent developments.

Beyond my father's recent engagement, anyway. That was the big news, and it got everyone scrambling that the old man was going to call it quits soon.

He had the money, he was about to have the beautiful wife, so it seemed like a good deal.

The fact that I was 'engaged' to Sage Bush, the daughter of the woman my father was marrying?

Yeah, we were keeping that quiet.

Lauren and I talked at length about the details. Legally, no, there's no laws against marrying your step-sister. Incest laws are mostly concerned with blood and nothing more than that.

Common sense thought the same. We'd only be siblings by marriage, and genetics doesn't care about such a contract.

The optics, though?

Oh man, the optics. I could see that smarmy asshole Mike running it down my throat that I was fucking my sister.

Which wasn't even fair because I haven't fucked her.

Yet.

God, it felt weird that I was still hanging on to the possibility that me and Sage could be a thing.

"More than ever," I recalled Lauren going on in our conversation about this, "You really need to stay professional about all of this. If you fall in love with your step-sister, that's a whole new level above pissing where you eat."

Back in my office. I was deep in thought. And that was terrible. "Should I just call this off? Should I really be worried about my father giving the company to some kiss ass?"

Lauren sighed. "I honestly can't really say, Case. He's so traditionally driven, but there's nothing traditional about marrying your step-sister" She paused. "Now, your cousin, that's pretty traditional throughout human history even if we've determined it icky now."

"Focus on the issues, Lauren. Cousin marriage and its past and present normalcy isn't what I'm concerned with right now."

"Right. I've been watching too much History Channel. So Sage. This isn't working now. Problem is, it's not like you can try this plot again with someone else."

"True. Maybe he would look at it as mature if I stepped away from my relationship so he could have his?"

"You know your father. He'd feel guilty as hell about breaking up his son and his one true love for the petty reason of his own happiness. Even if your relationship is fake and it'd be no big deal."

I hadn't confessed any further feelings to Lauren. She had more faith in me than I did myself. "So, what, we let it get out I'm marrying my sister?"

"Hmm. No. We shouldn't do that. People don't have to know your personal life though."

"This seems like something especially hard to keep a lid on, Lauren."

"Well, you're going to have to make a decision. I just hope you make a decision with your head, and I'm not talking about the one in your pants."

"I would never be so foolish as to think with my dick," I smirked.

"Ah, there we go, there's the Case Williams smile I was after."

I perked up, looking over Lauren's shoulder. "The hell is going on out there?"

Standing, I walked out. There was a group of people swarming my father's office.

"What's going on here?" I called out.

"Someone call an ambulance! Now!" One of the secretaries called out.

A chill went down my spine. No. Not now. Not ever. I needed him.

I pushed my way through the crowd.

My father was there on the floor, breathing heavily. "Dad!'

He was gasping for air.

I wasn't a paramedic. I didn't even know CPR.

All I could do was hold his hand and stay with him.