This was what truly mattered. The world was vibrant, passionate, and alive, whether or not men or romance played a part in my life.
Footsteps approached-measured, deliberate.
A shadow fell across my face, dimming the morning light behind my closed eyelids.
The air shifted, thick with heat and something unmistakably masculine-the raw musk of a man who had just finished running.
Not cologne.
Alpha Sebastian.
I opened my eyes and froze.
Sebastian stood mere inches from me, his chest rising and falling beneath sweat-darkened black fabric. His skin shimmered faintly in the filtered sunlight.
Everything about him screamed control-except his eyes.
Those eyes were locked onto me.
“Celina,” he said, his voice low, rough-edged.
“Is something wrong with your eyes?” he asked.
I stepped back instinctively, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“The sun,” I murmured, trying to cover my embarrassment. “It was too bright. I felt a little dizzy.”
He smirked. “Keep staring like that, and you’ll forget how to breathe.”
I flushed, suddenly hyper-aware of every inch of myself under his gaze.
“Do you always run in the mornings?” I asked, grasping for a distraction.
He gave a quiet hum of affirmation, wiping his neck with a towel, his eyes never leaving me.
Then, without warning, he said, “It was you. On the third deck. Watching.”
I blinked in surprise. “Watching?”
His silence spoke volumes.
My chest tightened painfully.
“I wasn’t watching,” I insisted. “I went up-I saw you and Amara and left. I didn’t stay.”
“Doing what?” His tone was flat, but the tension beneath it was impossible to miss.
I swallowed hard. “You know what.”
“Say it.”
I hesitated, his unwavering gaze pinning me in place.
“Kissing,” I admitted. “You were… kissing.”
There. I had said it. I hated how raw and exposed it sounded coming from my own mouth.
“You saw wrong,” he said simply.
I lifted my chin stubbornly. “Right. Of course. My mistake.”
He didn’t look away. “You don’t believe me.”
“I do.”
“You’re lying.”
The words hit me like a quiet blow-not loud, not cruel, but certain and sharp.
I opened my mouth to respond but closed it again.
He stepped closer, and I felt trapped-caged by his presence, by the shadow he cast, by the weight of something unsaid.
Sebastian’s voice dropped even lower. “When I don’t want,” he said quietly.
He paused, measured, deliberate, then added, “And most of the time… I don’t want women.”
My mind short-circuited. Did he just…?
Was I uncovering some secret about Alpha Sebastian? Did he prefer men?
But wait-wasn’t there something between him and Amara? Had he once liked women but now preferred men?
My thoughts swirled in confusion, my heart pounding in my chest.
Sebastian continued, “Anyway, I’m correcting you because you’re wrong. No kissing happened. As my secretary, you can’t have such misconceptions.”
I nodded quickly, eager to end the conversation. “Yes, yes, absolutely. Understood.”
Only then did Sebastian turn and walk away.
I watched his tall, commanding figure retreat. But did I really need to know this much about his private life?
When I returned to the room, Amara was already awake.
She sat upright, composed, her hair perfectly arranged. The cold, black-swan elegance I’d first noticed at the harbor was back-sharper and more intense than ever.
“Ms. Moore,” she said, her tone formal but not unfriendly. “Thank you for last night.”
Celina
“No need to thank me,” I replied with a polite smile. “I’ll go ahead then. See you at the company later.”
She nodded, and I left.
At nine o’clock, Sebastian led me, Sawyer, and two senior executives from headquarters through the gates of the branch office.
The building had been buzzing with tension ever since news of the Alpha’s inspection spread. Everyone knew he could appear without warning-and when he did, no one wanted to be caught off guard.
Amara stood at the entrance, flanked by the branch’s top managers.
She wore an ivory suit-sleek and severe.
The cut of it emphasized her long frame, and the crisp collar framed her sharp cheekbones like armor. She looked every inch the perfect lieutenant: poised, polished, and utterly in control.
“Welcome, Alpha Sebastian,” she said formally, bowing her head just enough to show respect. “We’re honored by your presence.”
Sebastian barely glanced at her. A flicker of acknowledgment, then he moved on, offering only a clipped greeting to the assembled managers.
The day passed in a blur of numbers and meetings-performance reports, project briefings, ledger reviews. The kind of work that demanded silence, focus, and a certain calculated aggression.
At noon, Amara arranged a lunch featuring local specialties. That evening, she hosted a dinner with key project partners. The private room was grand, its long table lined with executives, suppliers, and Silver Peak’s top brass.
Exhausted, Beta Sawyer and I stayed outside in the waiting area, seated in the quiet shadows just beyond the light’s reach.
“She’s different from last night,” Beta Sawyer murmured, his voice low so only I could hear.
I didn’t look up from my tablet. “That was her personal face. This is her professional one. She knows how to separate the two.”
He gave a faint, humorless laugh. “You haven’t seen the way she blends them when it suits her.”
I said nothing.
He tilted his head, studying me. “Last night shook you.”
“It was too much,” I admitted softly.
Sebastian’s words echoed in my mind-what he claimed he didn’t want-and my gaze drifted, just for a moment, to Sawyer.
Refined, composed, undeniably handsome.
He caught my look. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
I blinked and looked away. “It’s nothing.”
He leaned toward my screen. “What are you looking at?”
“Factory records,” I said. “Payroll. Attendance.”
He frowned. “Something wrong?”
I nodded slowly. “There’s a discrepancy. Every day, two workers are missing from the physical count. Yet the clock-in logs and payroll show full attendance.”
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