Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother

124 Chapter 124

Seraphina’s POV

The storage room smells like cleaning supplies and old paper. Dust motes drift through the afternoon light streaming from the small window, and I press my palms against the one-way glass, trying to steady my

breathing.

I can see everything.

Emma Rodriguez sits at my old desk-*my* desk-her perfectly manicured fingers flying across the keyboard

with the kind of confidence I used to have. Her hair is swept up in an elegant chignon. Her burgundy blazer

fits like it was tailored specifically for her body. Even from here, even through the glass, I can see the way she

holds herself. Straight spine. Shoulders back. Every inch the competent professional.

I catch my reflection in the glass and wince. My hair is falling out of the ponytail I hastily threw it into this

morning. There’s a stain on my sweater-probably from Lily’s last feeding. My eyes look hollow, ringed with

the kind of dark circles that no amount of concealer can hide.

*Human nanny.* The words echo in my head, Emma’s voice from yesterday when she saw me at Damien’s

door.

The office door opens, and my heart clenches as Damien walks in. He’s wearing the charcoal gray suit I

bought him for his birthday last year, the one that makes his eyes look almost silver in certain light. He looks

every inch the powerful Alpha he is-commanding, confident, untouchable.

Emma stands immediately, and I watch as she moves around the desk to greet him. She’s close. Too close.

Her body language is professional, but there’s something else there. The way she tilts her head slightly when

she speaks. The way she touches his arm briefly while handing him a file.

My chest tightens with something ugly and familiar that makes me feel small and pathetic.

Damien doesn’t seem to notice her proximity. He’s focused on the documents she’s showing him, his brow furrowed in concentration. But that’s how he’s always been-single-minded when it comes to business. It’s one of the things I used to love about working with him. We were a perfect team.

Now I’m on the wrong side of the glass, watching someone else take my place.

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to hear what they’re saying, but the glass is too thick. Their voices are just

makes my

is like fingernails on a chalkboard. It’s a perfect laugh -not too loud, not too soft, just professional enough to be appropriate while still showing she has a sense of

before he voiced them.

maintenance guy

back after she finished “just one

Twenty minutes ago.

press them flat against the glass and try

been. But being trapped while watching

is making

the window, pointing at something outside.

whatever she’s showing him. They’re silhouetted

business with

makes my stomach

is completely absorbed by whatever Emma is telling him. She’s

to gesture as she explains something. He nods, asks what looks

obvious enthusiasm.

like a team. Like

used

phone, shows him something on the screen. He studies

Not the professional smile she’s been wearing all morning-a real one. Warm

smile that would make

fingernails dig into my palms. I’m being ridiculous, I know that. Emma is doing her

nothing inappropriate happening here, nothing I can

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214

make it

to find some of that inner strength that used

backing me up, I feel hollow.

an empty well.

eyes, Damien is checking his watch.

papers. They’re wrapping

remember that I exist and come let me

of leaving, Emma walks around the desk and settles

for the door, pausing to say something over

acknowledgment.

And then he’s gone.

is back to typing, her fingers moving across the keyboard with practiced efficiency. She

in control of her

and slide down until I’m sitting on the floor among boxes of