Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 28 – Blacklisted

When Seraphine left Ravyn’s office weeks ago, she had walked out with her spine straight and her head held high, but deep inside, she knew exactly what she had stepped into. War.

Not the kind fought with claws and blood, but the colder, more merciless kind factoring numbers, contracts, influence, and power wielded behind polished glass walls.

Ravyn had drawn the first line, and Voren Ashkael had made sure the battlefield was tilted against her before she could even take her second step.

Still, Seraphine was not built to cower. She had survived humiliation, and betrayal so a corporate storm, no matter how vicious, would not be the thing that broke her.

Her first move had been deliberate and calculated. To redirect the check Ravyn sighed into another company. The moment profit began to rise, the ripple would be felt. Walker Global Enterprises’ stock would react, and investors would notice. Panic would follow, and Ravyn would feel it.

That had been the plan. "So what next?" Corvine asked as they sat in the car, the city skyline stretching endlessly ahead of them.

Seraphine didn’t look at him immediately. Her gaze was fixed on the passing buildings, her mind already three steps ahead. "Which company is ranked closest to Walker Global Enterprises on the Forbes list?"

Corvine hesitated. He had been out of the city for years, just like her, and the corporate landscape had shifted without him. He pulled out his phone and made a call to his parents, his expression slowly tightening as the conversation dragged on longer than expected.

When he finally hung up, the brightness in his eyes had dulled.

"Lyrix Global," he said slowly. "But there’s a problem. From the first to the tenth spot, all of them have ties to Ashkael Holdings." He exhaled. "They won’t take your money."

Seraphine turned to him sharply. "That doesn’t make sense."

Business was business. Profit didn’t care about grudges, vendettas, or personal feuds. Money spoke a universal language, and eighty billion was not something sane people refused.

their CEO’s office,"

before, the one that meant she would rather walk into

in without an appointment was almost impossible, but fate, or

her professional smile freezing for half a second before recognition flickered in her eyes. "Lu—" She stopped herself quickly,

your boss," Seraphine replied

sad, apologetic smile. "You

make one

faint clicking filling the space between them. When she

grip even further

"Make it urgent. Tell him

Her brows lifted slightly as she typed again, slower this time, more cautious. After a few moments,

and two men stepped out. One of them was familiar. "Sera," Augustine

attention was already elsewhere, on the man standing beside

Marshall Banks.

Seraphine stepped forward. "I’m here to see Mr. Banks. Do you have a

in his eyes, but the moment

he said smoothly. "I’m very

beat. "And it’s important. I want to

stopped him. Marshall paused mid-step, long lashes lowering and lifting as he studied her anew. For a brief moment, she thought she had him but when he spoke, it was

curled into fists at her sides. So Voren had moved exactly as promised, fast, ruthless, and thorough. Her name had become poison in the corporate world

perhaps, or another business market but she

on his own confidence. "Marshall," she called as he turned back toward his