Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 135 – Do I look like I need your money?

Seraphine didn’t flinch at his words, didn’t even blink like they had landed anywhere close to where they were meant to hurt.

If anything, she looked almost untouched by them, like she had already measured the weight of harsher judgments long before this moment and decided none of them would ever define her.

Should she hand out chances just because someone admired her, or just because they claimed to care? That wasn’t how she saw the world.

Attraction came easily, naturally, like nectar drawing in bees without effort, but what came after that, depended entirely on the one receiving it, on how they chose to process it, shape it, turn it into something real or leave it as nothing more than a fleeting pull.

"If being heartless means I’m honest with you," she said calmly, her voice steady but edged with something sharper beneath the surface, "then yeah, I guess I am."

Her blue eyes held his, clear and almost innocent in appearance, but there was nothing soft about the truth sitting behind them.

"I could’ve lied to you," she continued, her tone even, almost conversational in a way that made the words hit harder, "I could’ve told you what you wanted to hear, kept you close, let you believe there was something there, and then crushed you later when it fell apart."

She tilted her head slightly, watching him closely now, like she was giving him space to really think about what she was saying.

"But I didn’t do that," she finished quietly. "So tell me, do you still think I’m heartless?"

Augustine let out a breath, slow and controlled, but there was frustration sitting just beneath it, something he couldn’t quite hide no matter how hard he tried.

gaze lingering on her like he was trying

head slightly, a faint, almost humorless smile curling

have the

push further, because his opinion of her wasn’t what mattered right now. Her focus had already moved on, locked onto

ticking, and the window she was offering him wouldn’t stay

she said, her tone drifting back to business without hesitation, "are

a moment, not as the woman he had feelings

in pack matters, someone who carried authority with ease, but the business world was something else entirely, a space that demanded a different kind of strategy, a different kind

liked it or not, someone like Ravyn had more of it than she did. That thought alone made him hesitate, had him questioning whether this was something she was truly

people on board?" he asked finally, his tone more cautious

measured, giving him just enough without revealing anything she didn’t want to. "But I’m not giving you names.

his hair as he thought it over, weighing the risk against what he knew, and

a moment, his voice

slight pause before he added, more firmly this time, "But

in her eyes was subtle, but it was there, flickering for just a second before she smoothed

she said quietly, not accusing, just stating what felt

being honest," he replied, holding her gaze. "The business world isn’t as simple as you think it is.

the Sovereign Circle, and if she was still pushing this hard now, then maybe things hadn’t gone the way she had planned. Maybe this was

accepted his offer, but not in the way

refusal hadn’t switched anything important for her. "But don’t say I didn’t