Page 66 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow

But just as he reaches it, he pauses. Turns back.

“Consider your next line of action very carefully, Katherine.”

His voice is calm, but the gravity of his words is unmistakable.

And then he’s gone. The door clicks shut behind him.

I force my eyes back to the screen, willing myself to focus.Work, Katherine. Focus on work.

But my mind has already begun to spiral, my thoughts churning in relentless loops.

Alex.

Just thinking of his name sends a sting through my chest—a sharp, unwelcome reminder of everything he did. Of how I let myself believe in him. Of how stupid I was to be so open, so vulnerable.

And now? Now the family elders are pushing for a union. As if my life is some kind of business transaction they get to negotiate.

Alex, relentless as ever, refuses to take the hint—no matter how many times I’ve shut him down, no matter how clear I’ve made it that I don’t want to see him, speak to him, have anything to do with him.

And the board? Of course, they want him to stick around. Why wouldn’t they? He’s securing their investments. To them, he’s an asset.

To me, he’s a problem.

A problem that won’t go away.

I lean back in my chair, exhaling sharply as I press my fingers to my temple. I have to get him away from me. I have to come up with something. Some way to make him leave. For good.

Chapter Seventeen

Katherine

The bar is alive with a quiet kind of energy—the kind that wraps around you, makes you forget about the chaos outside its doors. The low hum of conversation, the occasional clink of ice against glass, the slow, sultry rhythm of the music—it all blends together into something soothing, something that lets me breathe just a little easier.

The air is rich with the scent of aged whiskey, muddled citrus, and the faint, lingering trace of expensive cologne from the men and women scattered around the lounge. It’s a place meant for unwinding, for losing yourself in the dim lighting and the comfortable weight of a drink in your hand.

I have been looking forward to today. Ever since Alice came into town a few days ago, I’ve been counting the minutes to when we can just have a drink and catch up.

She sits across from me now. Her presence is grounding in a way few things are these days. We haven’t seen each other in months, and yet, somehow, nothing about this feels unfamiliar. She’s always had this way of making me feel steady, even when everything else in my life is spiraling out of control.

I swirl my cocktail absently, watching as the light catches the liquid, twisting it into deep shades of amber and gold. It’s almost hypnotic, a distraction from the weight of everything I’ve just dumped at her feet.

Because I have just told her every single thing.

I told her about the car crash—the one that nearly ended my life. I told her about the video James showed me, the one that ripped open wounds I wasn’t ready to deal with, the one that made merealize a gut wrenching truth: my parents were murdered. And whoever did it isn’t done yet.

I told her how Alex isn’t who I thought he was. How he was never just some janitor who happened to be in the right place at the right time. How he was a wolf shifter. A prince. A man on a mission—a man that deceived me and left me shattered in a million pieces .

And, as if that wasn’t enough, how he swooped in at the last second, flexing his absurd wealth and influence to pull Pinnacle Group back from the brink of collapse. And how now, Lawrence and the family elders are excited about the idea of me marrying him, and that the board are hanging on his every word.

I unloaded it all. Let every word spill into the air between us, waiting for Alice’s reaction, for some kind of confirmation that what I’m feeling is valid—that this whole thing is as insane as it sounds.

She doesn’t look surprised.

Her brow lifts slightly, her expression unreadable, but there’s no shock. No wide eyed disbelief. Just… something knowing lingering in the way she studies me.

Her fingers rest lightly on the stem of her glass, and she finally speaks.

“I would have been there in a heartbeat if I’d known what was happening with the company sooner,” she says, her voice warm, sincere.

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