Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 45 – Did you do this?

"My first wife died of cancer when Leon was just eleven," James said, his voice carrying that quiet, heavy weight of memory, the kind that settles deep in the chest and refuses to move no matter how much time passes.

Seraphine felt a pang in her chest, an unspoken ache that made her stomach tighten, and she murmured softly, "I’m sorry."

"No, it’s fine," James replied, shaking his head as if trying to cast the sorrow aside like a shadow he had learned to live with. "I waited five years before I married Mila, and don’t read her wrong.

She’s forty-two, and she’s been everything a man could ask for in these years we’ve had together. We struggled with childbirth until Tyler came along, but the difficulties, the heartbreak, the things that happened to Leon’s mother... all of that shaped him, gave him a passion, a fire for medicine that I’ve never seen in anyone else.

It started as a drive, something personal, but even he, with all his knowledge and determination, couldn’t find a remedy that truly mattered for Tyler’s condition, until you came along. That’s why he’s so fascinated by you."

Seraphine smiled softly, feeling a warmth in her chest that had nothing to do with the sun shining through the windows. "You have a beautiful family," she said, her words gentle, carrying an understanding that seemed to make the space around them quieter, almost sacred.

A few days later, after a quiet meal, Seraphine decided she needed a nap, the kind where the body sinks into the mattress and the mind hovers somewhere between consciousness and dream. But just as she began to drift, a knock on the door jolted her awake.

"Pete, Voren’s assistant, is asking to see you," Corvine announced, his voice carrying that faint edge of amusement that suggested he already knew she wouldn’t be thrilled.

otherwise perfect face. "Is

his mess," she added, the sharpness in her tone

him I don’t want to see him," she said, voice final, and slammed the door before

trading for the Stone Group on the stock market, each transaction flowing

notice, but even that

the quiet pulse of numbers and screens, she stumbled upon Daisy’s message again, and an idea sparked, impulsive, thrilling, and

thrill of power at her fingertips, watching as the video

your doing. Anyway, I’ll pretend to not know anything about

mind. The way Damon had discerned her actions so quickly was

subtly, brought a sense of relief that loosened the tension in her shoulders. ’Great, I’ll clear every trace of our communication each time,’ she typed back,

his eyes widening, a mix of awe and apprehension flickering across his face. "Sera, isn’t this too much?" he

seem to pause, as if daring him to disagree. "If Daisy is comfortable with me watching it, then everyone else can, right?" she said, each word

of her

expression