Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 98 – Mr. Ashkael... did you take Sera?

Voren cleared his throat when his gaze finally settled on Ravyn, and the faint apology visible in his expression softened the tension on his face just enough to show that he was aware of the betrayal Ravyn might feel in that moment, even though he had already decided that business would come before friendship.

He inclined his head toward Seraphine before speaking, his voice calm but carrying across the quiet room with unmistakable clarity. "Fifty billion."

The number landed heavily in the air, and the silence that followed carried the stunned reaction of everyone present, because even inside a club filled with billionaires, casually announcing an investment of that size still had the power to shock the room.

Ravyn’s face twisted in disbelief as he stared at Voren, looking as though the ground beneath his feet had just collapsed. The betrayal in his eyes was painfully obvious as he forced the words out. "Voren... you?"

Voren met his gaze with careful composure, and although there was a trace of sympathy in his eyes, the firm tone of his voice made it clear that sympathy would not change the decision he had already made.

"Ravyn, this is business," Voren said, choosing each word carefully while maintaining steady eye contact. "And I have my conditions too."

The moment the word conditions entered the conversation, Ravyn’s tense expression relaxed slightly, because he immediately understood that Voren was not blindly throwing money at Seraphine without securing his own advantage.

Seraphine tilted her head with quiet interest, her eyes resting on Voren with the calm attentiveness of someone evaluating a chess move several steps ahead.

"What, Mr. Ashkael, are your conditions?" she asked smoothly.

Voren’s glare hardened as he looked at her, not because he disliked her but because he recognized exactly what she was capable of becoming in the world of finance, and the businessman inside him refused to walk away from an opportunity that promising.

"I want forty percent returns in twelve months."

The room reacted instantly.

Eyebrows lifted across the lounge and murmurs began rippling through the gathered investors, because even in aggressive markets that kind of return was extremely ambitious, and hearing it demanded so bluntly made several men exchange skeptical looks.

Seraphine pressed her lips together thoughtfully as though weighing the numbers inside her mind with careful calculation.

"In that case," she replied calmly, "double the amount."

hard that the tendons in his hands stood out sharply beneath his

promising Voren forty percent returns from one hundred billion within a single year raised

money more

also understood exactly what the consequences would be if he spoke

without hesitation as he stepped forward toward the holographic interface

document, but Seraphine stopped him with a

lightly. "My battery died earlier, so I’ll send you a revised contract when I

already considering the implications. "In that case," he said, "I’ll make a deposit as

reconsider the arrangement had the opposite effect on the rest of

grew more interested. Gordon leaned forward with curiosity shining in

rule apply to the rest of

"If you can give me

laughed softly, shaking his head at

down my company or take out a

quiet sigh, and the sincerity in

don’t take a loan," she said gently. "Try to manage with whatever resources you still have for three months, and I

warmth in her response

someone murmured. Mark studied her with a faint smile forming

looks fierce on the outside," he said thoughtfully,

bowed politely

drinks

forward and guided her

pressing against her back while they walked, and the weight of that attention made her shoulders tense with

protectiveness made the situation easier to handle, yet she also understood that he had business

should go make contacts too," she

been watching them closely, and Seraphine immediately understood that he had been waiting for the chance to pull Leon into one of the private conversations happening among the more powerful

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously. "I still don’t trust

she could not justify dragging

she said gently. "I’ll be fine, and we should leave in