<h4>Chapter 44: Chapter 44 Confrontations?</h4>


    Cecilia’s pov


    My face suddenly felt hot. There was something in the way he’d said it—like he wasn’t just talking about an employee, but something more personal. More meaningful.?


    "Um... thank you for your concern, Alpha Sebastian" I managed to stammer out.?


    "I care about all my employees," Alpha Sebastian replied smoothly, his expression perfectlyposed.?


    I noticed Beta Sawyer blinking rapidly behind him with a barely concealed look of disbelief. ?


    The room plunged into an awkward silence that felt almost tangible. ?


    Thankfully, Beta Sawyer broke the tension. "You were incredibly perceptive about the factory situation, Secretary Cecilia. You got about eighty percent of it right. Impressive!"?


    "What about the twenty percent I missed?" I asked, grateful for the change in subject.?


    "Those two ghost employees you mentioned? They weren’t ghosts in name only—they were literally deceased. Dunn killed them."?


    "They’re dead?!" I gasped.?


    I’d assumed they might be rtives or friends of Dunn’s cashing paychecks fraudulently. Not actual murder victims.?


    "It’s shocking, right?" Beta Sawyer nodded grimly. "We didn’t expect a murder case either."?


    "That exins why Leonard had leverage over Dunn," I realized aloud. "No wonder Dunn was willing to be his scapegoat and confident he wouldn’t be exposed."?


    Embezzlement and kidnapping were serious crimes, but murder was on another level entirely.?


    "The victims were a married couple," Beta Sawyer continued, "among the factory’s first employees. They hadn’t been there two weeks before Dunn killed them one night. He ims it was an ident during an argument."?


    "After Leonard discovered this, he orchestrated the scheme to make it seem like they were still alive, even inventing a workce injury story. The other factory workers were paid to cooperate, sharing the victims’ sries among themselves. This gave Leonardplete control over all of them."?


    My stomach turned as Beta Sawyer continued.?


    "But Leonard wasn’t satisfied with just that small-time scam. He used his wife’s brother’s name to establish a new energypany. Dunn helped steal research data and raw materials. The ountant falsified records, the workshop supervisor provided cover... It’s absolutely chilling. What we thought was a small issue turned out to be far more depraved at its core."?


    The magnitude of the corruption left me stunned. I had suspected things weren’t simple, but never imagined this level of depravity.?


    I nced at Alpha Sebastian. "Will this require aplete staff overhaul?"?


    If the factory was thispromised, the corporate side must have aplices too. Such an borate scheme couldn’t have operated undetected under Amara’s supervision otherwise.?


    "Indeed, aplete overhaul is necessary," Alpha Sebastian nodded. "That branch has always underperformed, so I’d been nning to restructure anyway. This situation just provides legitimate grounds for doing so. It’s not necessarily a bad oue."?


    His pragmatic response made me feel like some kind of corporate bloodhound, sniffing out traitors for the Alpha’s judgment.?


    The door swung open, and Xavier stalked in. His expression, already dark, turned thunderous when he saw Alpha Sebastian.?


    "Alpha Sebastian," he growled, "what exactly is your intention, visiting another man’s wife every day?"?


    I inhaled sharply. "Alpha Xavier, are you mentally ill?!" ?


    Alpha Sebastian remained perfectlyposed. "I’m checking on my employee’s recovery. After all, she was injured while working for me."?


    Both statements were technically true, but something about his tone seemed... provocative.?


    Xavier’s forehead veins bulged visibly. "Listen carefully," he snarled. "SHE IS MY MATE. Mine in life, mine in death. Anyone who tries to take her from me will face my wrath."?


    Alpha Sebastian merely offered a slight smile in response. He didn’t say a word, yet his expression somehowmunicated that Xavier had told some kind of amusing joke.?


    Xavier seemed to read the meaning behind that smile, his hostility intensifying.?


    Beta Sawyer broke into a nervous sweat. "Alpha Xavier, you’re misunderstanding. We’re simply here to check on her recovery, nothing more. And our Alpha Sebastian is a gentleman, not some yboy. I can guarantee he has absolutely no designs on Secretary Cecilia."?


    Alpha Sebastian shot Beta Sawyer a cool, unreadable nce.?


    I felt embarrassed beyond belief. I didn’t care to exin anything to Xavier, but I couldn’t let Alpha Sebastian suffer these baseless usations.?


    "Alpha Xavier, stop being delusional," I snapped. "The Alpha Sebastian has zero interest in me. He doesn’t even like women!"?


    My words effectively silenced the entire room.?


    After an excruciating pause, Alpha Sebastian fixed me with a look that somehow managed to convey both appreciation and speechless indignation. "Secretary Cecilia, thank you for your... promotional efforts on my behalf. I should reward you properly for that."?


    With that, he stood and walked out.?


    Btedly realizing my mistake, I called after him, "I didn’t mean you like men, I meant—"?


    The door mmed shut.?


    I closed my mouth, mortified. ?


    Xavier narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Alpha Sebastian is a gay? He doesn’t look it."?


    The vein in my temple throbbed painfully. "Alpha Xavier, we are OVER. Even if you’re holding up the divorce certificate, we’re finished! Stop calling me your wife, your woman! I’m not anyone’s possession—I belong to myself!"?


    "Unless I’m dead, what’s between us will never end," Xavier growled, his tone hardening into something fierce and unyielding. His words seemed to carve themselves into my bones, making one thing clear: while I was determined to leave him, he was equally determined not to let me go.


    Xavier’s pov


    I arrived at the hospital early, only to see Beta Sawyer pushing paperwork in his hands, a nervous look on his face.


    My chest tightened instantly. He was here to take Cecilia away. To put her on Sebastian’s damn ne.


    The thought of her flying under another man’s care made my blood boil.


    "Why should she take his ne? We have our own," I snapped before I could stop myself. My voice came out low, edged with possession I could barely contain.


    But Cecilia didn’t even nce at me. She simply motioned for Sawyer to bring the wheelchair closer.


    Something inside me snapped—I grabbed the chair before he could touch it.


    Her re hit me like a de. "Are you looking for an argument or a fight? My wound hasn’t even healed. Do you want me to tear it open again? Would that make you happy?"


    Her words punched the air from my lungs. I’d never—never—wish pain on her. My hand faltered, my chest tightening with guilt.


    "That’s not what I meant," I ground out, forcing my tone softer. "Taking our private jet works just as well. No need to trouble anyone else."


    "There is no our," she cut back, her voice as cold as steel. "You’re the outsider here."


    The words sliced deeper than any knife. I felt them carve straight into my chest, leaving a hollow, bleeding ache.


    But I couldn’t push her further. If I forced her, if she ripped her wound again, I’d never forgive myself.


    So I swallowed the fire, said nothing more, and pushed the chair myself, silent like a penitent man escorting his own sentence.


    By the time we reached the airport, my head was pounding. My n had been to dy, to find a ce where it was just us, where I could make her see we weren’t finished. But instead, she was slipping further and further away.


    And then I saw him--Sebastian.


    He was waiting in the VIP lounge, rxed as ever, one leg crossed over the other like he owned the world.


    When his gaze lifted to Cecilia, something in his expression shifted—subtle, softened, the kind of look that made my stomach twist with fury.


    And then he smiled. That slight, knowing smile that felt less like courtesy and more like a direct challenge to me.


    My blood surged hot, veins hammering in my temples. "Alpha Sebastian," I growled, my voice low and lethal, "you came all this way just to visit another man’s wife every day?"


    The room went taut with silence. But Sebastian only arched a brow, calm as ever, hisposure a mockery of my rage.


    "Tell me, Alpha Xavier," he replied smoothly, "did youe all this way just to beg for a seat on my ne?"


    His words were like a de slid between my ribs—clean, merciless.


    I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt, my pride screaming at me tosh out, my heart screaming not to lose her.


    So I forced the only reply that didn’t sound like surrender, even though it tasted like ash.


    "Indeed,"I said coldly. "And if you’re feeling stingy, I’ll happily pay for the seat."