Page 31 of The Alpha's Broken Oath

Her rejection still tastes like sour lime on my tongue. Is this how it felt like for her years ago? Like her heart was being smashed to smithereens?

“Sir? What do you think about that strategy? I mean, it’s not nearly as perfect as the one Wilfred used, but this could help us in bringing in more profits to offset the losses,” one of the newly appointed managers, the one in charge of marketing, asks.

The afternoon sun drawls through the floor-to-ceiling windows, resting on the fifteen heads inside the room with me. I’ve barely been concentrating on anything since Winter, who is seated next to me, is all I can smell and all I can think about.

Did I not make her come enough? Did she not feel our bond like a tight rubber band pulling our hearts together?

My thoughts are splintered into two when a man in a well-fitted suit walks into my boardroom like he fucking owns the building.

Six feet two in height with a cocky smile on his face and a build almost similar to mine, this new intruder speaks before he’s spoken to. “New strategies and having a new boss won’t save an already sinking company.”

My eyes lock on his, and I figure out from the get-go that he’s an Alpha. And more than that, I have an inkling who he might be.

“And you are?” I ask the question blandly.

Without answering me, my day turns sourer when this new Alpha rests his gaze on the woman seated beside me, the woman who belongs to me and no one else. The woman whose lips I kissed like I was a man starving for eons.

“Hey, sweetheart. No hugs for me?”

What the hell is happening?

“Hello, Alpha Kieran,” Winter replies to him with a blush, and I stand up from my seat, seeing more than red.

This is Alpha Kieran Vega of Vega Industries?

He calls her “sweetheart,” and she replies to that endearment?

She calls me “Mr. Cross” while she calls him “Alpha Kieran”?

The right thing to do would be to punch Kieran Vega till he bled on my tiled floors, but punching the bastard means building a bad image to my workers, to my board of directors, and to Winter. Fuck.

“Kieran Vega of Vega Industries. Wilfred was barely any competition, so it’s a pleasure to finally meet my new rival.” The cocky bastard stretched out his hand for me to shake. I stare at his hand, ignore it, and shoulder my way past him, going back to my office.

I don’t get to settle in my seat and let my simmering rage cool down before Simon comes into my office, all fidgety and nervous.

“Sir, is everything okay? Everyone was a bit worried since you left the meeting a bit abruptly.”

I look at Simon, jealousy coating every inch of me like sticky toffee.

“What relationship does Kieran Vega have with Winter Cavanaugh?”

My question has Simon’s eyes going wide. Hell, I’d bet my own money that I’ve just rattled his feathers with the way I’m looking at him.

“Sir? I don’t…I don’t understand. Alpha Kieran might not work here, but his relationship with Ms. Cavanaugh is the same as every relationship she has with the men who work here.”

Simon’s answer douses my anger in a vat of more poisonous envy.

“And what relationship is that, Simon?”

Swallowing nerves down his throat, Simon readjusts his tie. ” A friendly relationship. Ms. Cavanaugh is friends with everyone here, including Alpha Kieran Vega.”

“Is that right?” I ask with a pained, incredulous chuckle before I add. ” Send a mass email to every man in this building, Simon. Any man who’ll be seen engaging with Winter Cavanaugh can kiss his job goodbye starting right now.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WINTER

Deacon’s outburst makes everyone conclude that the meeting is over. After Deacon leaves, everyone else streams out of the boardroom one by one, and I stay back for a few minutes before gathering my things. The thought of going back to Deacon’s office makes my skin break into hives. It’s bad enough I was distracted yesternight, so much so that my boys noticed, and it’s bad enough that I couldn’t sleep a wink remembering every single second Deacon touched me, but to actually sit in that office again pretending that him fucking me in the elevator was nothing is a bigger problem than I could have foreseen.

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