Page 74 of The Alpha's Crimson Vow

My heart slams against my ribs. I turn slowly, my pulse a chaotic rhythm in my chest.

“What did you just say?” My voice is barely above a whisper, but it cuts through the thick, charged air between us.

Alex inhales deeply, then turns to Jack with a look that makes it clear—whatever he’s about to say next, it’s meant for me alone.

My anger still burns, and for a moment, I consider refusing him outright. But his words linger in the air, too heavy to ignore. My mind flashes back to the crash—to how close I came to dying. And if Alex knows who was behind it, I need to hear what he has to say.

I turn to Jimmy. He meets my gaze, a silent question in his eyes.

I nod. “It’s okay, Jimmy. Give us a minute, please.”

He studies me for a beat, then nods slowly before stepping away, deeper into the parking lot, putting enough distance between us.

The moment he’s far enough, Alex doesn’t hesitate. He speaks.

“The car crash,” he says, his voice low, firm. “It wasn’t your cousin or anyone on your board.” He steps forward. “It was my uncle.”

The world tilts.

I narrow my eyes, confusion clouding my mind.

“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” he says, his voice low, urgent. There’s an earnestness there that I can feel deep in my chest, no matter how much I want to fight it.

He takes a step closer. “I told you who I was, but I never told you why I was here. What I was doing, acting like a janitor in your company.”

His voice is steady, but there’s something heavy underneath it, something weighted with the kind of truth that shakes the ground beneath you.

“I told you I was the Prince of the European Wolf Kingdom,” he continues, and then his expression hardens. “And now, I stand before you as the King. But I had to fight for it, Katherine. I had to fight my uncle.”

The words hang between us, and I swear the air around me changes. There’s a tightness in my chest that I can’t explain, like something pressing in, forcing me to absorb every syllable.

“After my father died,” Alex says, his voice darkening, “my uncle Valerian usurped the throne that was rightfully mine. He did it through lies, through bribery—manipulating the council, convincing them that his claim was stronger than mine.” His jaw tightens. “He bought them out, one by one, until the people who were supposed to protect the throne handed it over to him instead.”

This is insane. This is beyond anything I could’ve imagined. And yet—I believe him.

I can see it in his face, in the way his hands clench at his sides when he talks about it. This isn’t a story. This isn’t some ploy to get me to forgive him. This is his life.

Alex keeps going.

“I was exiled from my own kingdom,” he says, his lips pressing together for a brief moment. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to return until I could prove that Valerian stole the throne. That’s what led me to Pinnacle Group.”

My brow furrows slightly.What does my company have to do with any of this?

Alex catches the flicker of confusion in my eyes and answers before I can even ask.

“Valerian knew he couldn’t make his bribes directly. It would’ve been too obvious, too easy to trace. So he used your company, Katherine. He used Pinnacle Group to facilitate the asset transfers, to move the money to the council members who were willing to betray their own king.”

The breath I finally managed to take in vanishes.

My head shakes slightly, my voice barely steady as I try to make sense of it all. “So you went undercover,” I murmur, piecing it together. “That’s why you were there.”

Alex nods. “I had to get the evidence, Katherine. I had to prove what he did. I spent months posing as a janitor, gathering every document, every financial record that could expose him. That was my mission.”

I shake my head, my mind struggling to keep up, to process everything he’s telling me. And yet, there’s one thing that still doesn’t make sense—one thing that terrifies me more than anything else.

“Why would your uncle want me dead?” I ask, and I hate how my voice sounds. Uncertain. Small.

Alex doesn’t hesitate. His answer is immediate.

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