Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever

Chapter 130: Chapter 130 – Daisy’s in that mess too

Seraphine leaned back slightly, her fingers resting against her lap as she watched Corvine, and there was this quiet, almost reluctant admiration building inside her chest that she didn’t even try to hide anymore because, honestly, the man kept exceeding every expectation she had ever placed on him.

She had always known he was efficient back at the pack, had seen it firsthand in the way he handled things with precision and calm authority, but this version of him in the city felt like something else entirely, like he had stepped into a bigger arena and somehow become even sharper, like the environment only made him thrive harder.

”Tell me in the car,” she said, her voice carrying that light, amused edge, like she already knew whatever he was about to say would be worth hearing, and Corvine’s lips curved into a small smile as he nodded and led her toward the car without wasting another second.

The moment they were inside, and the engine came to life, the city stretching out ahead of them in a blur of movement and noise, Corvine got straight to it, his tone steady, focused, like he had already organized everything in his head.

”First thing I did was get Emery a temporary position with the Stone Group,” he began, one hand resting on the wheel while the other adjusted slightly as he navigated through traffic, ”and I made sure her salary was adjusted in a way that Zane won’t be able to take too much from her anymore.”

Seraphine’s brows drew together almost instantly, her attention snapping fully to him as the implication settled in. ”Take from her?” she echoed, her tone dipping, already sensing where this was going.

Corvine exhaled lightly, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. ”Apparently, he’s neck-deep in shady stuff. He brings girls from the pack into the city, sets them up with jobs, and then takes sixty percent of whatever they earn.”

”That’s wicked,” Seraphine muttered under her breath, her lips pressing into a thin line as a deep frown formed on her face, and just like that, the lightness she had been carrying earlier started to fade, replaced by something heavier.

Corvine didn’t stop there. ”And that’s not even the worst part.”

That sentence alone made something in her chest tighten because she already felt like she had enough to deal with, already had too many things pulling at her attention from every direction, and yet here was more, piling on without mercy.

She turned her head slightly toward the window for a second, like she needed that brief pause, that tiny escape, before looking back at him again. ”Go on,” she said, even though part of her wished she hadn’t asked.

”He keeps tabs on them,” Corvine continued, his voice calm but edged with something darker now. ”Installs trackers on their phones, digs up anything he can use against them, and once he has something, he uses it to control them. Blackmail, threats, whatever it takes to get them to do what he wants. Some of them...” he paused for just a fraction of a second, like even he didn’t like saying it out loud, ”...some of them get passed around like they’re nothing more than commodities.”

Seraphine’s expression hardened completely at that, her jaw tightening as her fingers curled slightly against her lap, and for a moment she didn’t say anything because there was too much anger sitting in her chest, too much disgust, and she needed a second to keep it from spilling over.

Corvine kept talking, because he knew there was no point holding anything back now that she was here with him.

”He’s a serial cheater, and even after he’s done with someone, he still squeezes money out of them. It’s not just Emery. Daisy’s in that mess too.”

At the mention of Daisy, Seraphine’s eyes narrowed just a little, though there was no surprise there. Daisy’s habits were hardly a secret, and the only person who seemed completely oblivious to it all was Ravyn.

”How did you even find all this out?” she asked, her voice calmer now but still edged with tension. ”Emery couldn’t possibly know everything, right?”

Corvine nodded once, acknowledging the point. ”She doesn’t,” he admitted, ”but she mentioned overhearing Zane on the phone a few times, blackmailing Daisy for money. That alone says enough, doesn’t it? If he didn’t have anything on her, that wouldn’t be happening.”

”Yeah... that tracks,” Seraphine said quietly, letting out a slow breath as she leaned back, her mind already racing ahead, piecing things together, mapping out possibilities, problems, solutions.

After a moment, she spoke again, her tone more focused now. ”I’ll need to hack into his system and pull whatever he’s got on Daisy, but with someone like him, I can’t just go in blind. I’d have to build something custom, something only I can access, and that’s going to take time.”

And time was exactly what she didn’t have.

Her company was right on the edge of launching, the workload already overwhelming, lines of code waiting to be written, systems waiting to be built, and adding Zane into the mix felt like tossing another weight onto an already overloaded scale.

Corvine glanced at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. ”What about hiring cyber experts? Wouldn’t that make things easier?”

She nodded almost immediately. ”That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” she replied, her voice gaining a bit more energy now that there was a practical direction to follow. ”We need a full team before the company launches anyway, and I’m aiming to go live in a month.”

That made Corvine look at her again, this time with clear surprise written across his face. ”A month?” he repeated, the disbelief in his tone obvious because he understood what that kind of timeline meant.

”Yeah,” she said firmly, not even hesitating. ”I need to prove to my investors that we’re capable, that we can deliver, and I don’t want to drag this out longer than necessary.”

There was a brief pause before she added, softer this time but no less serious, ”You’ll have to handle recruitment. I know I pulled you away from your dad, and I’m sorry about that, but right now... I need you more.”

Corvine’s expression softened instantly, a deep, genuine smile spreading across his face as he shook his head lightly. ”You don’t have to apologize,” he said, his voice warm, steady. ”Being needed by you... that’s an honor.”

The rest of the drive passed quickly after that, and when they finally pulled up in front of the new office space, Seraphine stepped out of the car, her gaze lifting to take it all in, and for a moment, everything else faded.

”This place is huge,” she said, her voice filled with quiet awe, warmth blooming in her chest despite everything else weighing on her mind.

Corvine let out a small laugh as he walked up beside her. ”You haven’t even seen the inside yet.”

And he wasn’t wrong.

The moment they stepped in, it felt like stepping into something entirely different, something full of potential, everything already arranged and waiting, like the space itself was ready to come alive the second they gave the word.

Seraphine’s eyes moved slowly across the setup, taking in every detail, every corner, every possibility, until finally, she stopped, her expression tightening just a little.

”There’s a problem,” she said.