Cecilia’s pov
"I’ll log into the cloud and pull up the audio file now."
Everyone went quiet as I opened my phone—but I could still feel eyes on . Especially hers.
I stared at Amara in disbelief. First Xavier trying to sabotage my career, and now her? Especially after I’d just thrown her a lifeline to save face in front of Sebastian.
"Do you want to resign?" Alpha Sebastian asked suddenly, his tone unreadable.Or was he testing ?
"Absolutely not!" I answered without hesitation.
Divorce from Xavier or not, he had no right to make decisions about my career.
Xavier’s face turned ashen with fury. Beside him, Amara shot a look cold enough to freeze blood.
Alpha Sebastian, however, let a smile touch the corners of his lips. "Good to hear."
He glanced at his watch before continuing. "The doctor says your leg injury needs at least a week to heal. Would you prefer to return to Denver? I can arrange for my private jet to take you back early."
"That won’t be necessary," I quickly replied. "I’ll return with everyone else as scheduled."
Having him fly his private jet just for seed... inappropriate, despite how tempting the offer was.
"Very well. We’ll return together then." The smile in Alpha Sebastian’s eyes deepened slightly, sending an unexpected flutter through my chest.
He told to rest well and left with Beta Sawyer following closely behind.
Amara hesitated, clearly wanting to say sothing more to . But finally she hurried after Alpha Sebastian instead, shooting one last venomous glare.
I sighed inwardly. It was becoming increasingly clear that any female within breathing distance of Sebastian was automatically categorized as competition in Amara’s book.
"Cecilia, are you seriously flirting with him right in front of ? Do you think I’m already dead?"
A furious voice erupted beside , making jump.
I turned to face Xavier’s thunderous expression. Right... I’d almost forgotten about my soon-to-be ex-husband’s presence.
"Alpha Xavier, please lower your voice. This is a hospital," I said calmly.
"Don’t call Alpha Xavier!" he snarled.
"Fine then, Alpha Xavier," I replied with a saccharine smile. "Please get out and remove yourself from my sight." I lay back down and pulled the blanket over my head.
Xavier was so angry I could practically feel the heat radiating off him. But for all his Alpha status and dominance displays, he couldn’t do anything to now.
Author’s pov
Cecilia remained in the hospital for three days.
And for three days, Alpha Xavier refused to leave her side. No matter how she ignored him or treated him like invisible air, he remained stubbornly present, adopting a shaless persistence that was both irritating and exhausting.
Throughout this ti, his phone rang constantly. So calls he answered; most he abruptly terminated. His frustration was increasingly evident.
Cecilia had a theory: Perhaps the Shadow Pack had managed to bail Cici out? It wasn’t impossible. If Cici could be released so quickly, the Blood Moon Pack’s legal team was clearly capable. The Shadow Pack’s attorneys would be equally competent.
In the afternoon, while Alpha Xavier was distracted, Cecilia locked herself in the bathroom and called Harper.
"Cecilia, where are you? Has Alpha Xavier tracked you down?" she asked urgently.
"I’m in Singapore. And yes, he found ," Cecilia replied.
"Singapore? I thought you were in Iceland."
"It’s... complicated," Cecilia said, deciding not to ntion her new position as Sebastian’s secretary or her injury. "What’s happening with Cici?"
At this, Harper’s voice filled with indignation. "The Shadow Pack submitted docuntation claiming Cici has a psychological condition. She was released yesterday afternoon. Today, their lawyers approached about a settlent, but I shut them down imdiately. We don’t want their dirty money. We’re not settling—"
"I agree to the settlent," Cecilia interrupted.
"...What?" Harper sounded like she’d been slapped. "You want to settle?"
"Xavier is playing the devoted, repentant husband role right now. He won’t leave no matter how much I push him away. Even if I presented all my evidence against him, he might not give in. I’m not confident we’d win a court battle against him." Cecilia paused aningfully. "So... I need an accomplice."
"...!!!!" Harper imdiately grasped her aning, ntally exclaiming a hundred expletives. Cecilia wanted to use Cici against Xavier? Her audacity was staggering!
"Are you sure about this?" Harper asked cautiously.
"With the Shadow Pack’s resources, getting Cici completely cleared is just a matter of ti," Cecilia reasoned. "If they’re offering a settlent now, we should take advantage of it."
"Also, I need you to leak so information to Cici. Tell her Xavier wants to reconcile with and absolutely refuses a divorce. Given her obsessive infatuation with him, that news will drive her insane. The Shadow Pack spoil Cici endlessly—when she loses it, they’ll pressure Xavier into marrying her. At that point, he’ll have no choice but to divorce , whether he wants to or not."
Harper was montarily speechless. [You’re all a bit unhinged, honestly.]
Before hanging up, she couldn’t help asking, "What if Xavier truly regrets everything? What if he genuinely loves you? Is there really no part of you that’s wavering?"
Cecilia laughed softly. "If he truly regrets it, then this outco is still a fitting punishnt for his infidelity. Whether he suffers or regrets, it’s exactly what he deserves."
At seven that evening, Alpha Sebastian and Beta Sawyer arrived at the hospital.
Alpha Xavier was absent—he’d received a troubling phone call and had rushed out, his face clouded with worry.
[Seems like Harper delivered my ssage quite effectively...]
Cecilia couldn’t help feeling a touch of schadenfreude. While enjoying this rare mont of peace, wondering if the factory situation had been resolved, Alpha Sebastian and Sawyer walked in.
Alpha Sebastian looked sowhat exhausted. Understandably so—with their scheduled appointnts continuing alongside the factory crisis, his constant back-and-forth must have been draining.
"Secretary Cecilia, we’re returning to Denver tomorrow,"Beta Sawyer inford her.
Noting Beta Sawyer’s relieved expression, Cecilia realized the factory issue must have been successfully resolved.
She’d wanted to ask about it when they visited two days ago, but Alpha Sebastian’s stern deanor had deterred her. Now seed like a good ti.
"Has Thomas Dunn finally confessed?" she asked.
Beta Sawyer’s eyes lit up with surprise. "How did you know?"
Even Alpha Sebastian leaned forward with interest, eager to hear her reasoning.
"Just an educated guess," Cecilia replied.
"They interrogated Dunn long enough to find out where I was being held, and I provided the recordings identifying the two ghost employees. "
"Leonard also admitted to entering the room where I was kidnapped. Logically, with such compelling evidence, the investigation should have been wrapped up within hours."
She kept going, her thoughts connecting piece by piece.
"But I knew it couldn’t be that simple. Leonard was acting weird. If they were just regular partners in cri, why would one protect the other?"
She leaned forward slightly, eyes sharp.
"When Leonard found out Dunn had confessed, he should’ve freaked out. That would’ve made sense. But he didn’t. He stayed calm—too calm."
"So what made him so sure Dunn wouldn’t turn him in?" She paused, then answered her own question.
"Maybe they had a deal. One takes the bla to protect the other. Even more likely, they planned everything before I ever showed up at the factory."
"If sothing happened to , you’d start an investigation and find Dunn’s na first. He’d be the obvious suspect. He’d go down for it, and Leonard—the real one behind it all—would walk away clean. You’d think justice was served... and stop looking any further."
When she finished,Alpha Sebastian’s expression was unreadable. Then his brow furrowed at her final point.
"Cecilia," he said quietly, his deep voice resonating with unexpected intensity, "Don’t ever think you’re insignificant. If you had disappeared... I would have never stopped searching."
I froze, completely caught off guard by his words and the emotion behind them.
Reviews
All reviews (0)