Watch Me Win, Alpha

Chapter 23

Olivia’s POV

I hit the floor hard.

The gasps around me didn’t bother me. It was Chole’s words that echoed like a thunderclap across the ballroom. She wasn’t just attacking me-she was trying to poison everyone’s image of me, make Ethan hate me beyond repair.

But she had made one mistake,

She knew too much.

I lay there for only a second before I pushed myself up, ignoring the sharp pain in my elbow. The murmurs were al- ready spreading like wildfire.

I met Chole’s wild eyes and gave her a cold smile. “Interesting,” I said, brushing imaginary dust from my dress. “You seem awfully well-informed for someone who wasn’t there.”

Her lips parted. “I-someone told me!”

“Who?” I stepped forward slowly. “Who told you what happened to me last night, Chole? You said I wasgang raped by rogues-words only someone on the inside would use. Were you there?”

Chole paled, but her pride refused to let her back down. “Everyone knows you—”

I didn’t let her finish. “Everyone knows what? Because until you shouted it here in a ballroom full of people, no one knewanything.” I turned to the guests. “Chole exposed herself before I could even press charges. That’s not just cruel -that’s stupid.”

The crowd murmured louder. Shock was now folding into suspicion. I looked at Amelia next, who stood frozen be- side Madeline Windsor.

“This,” I said, gesturing to the hysterical girl in white, “is your ideal Luna? This is your carefully chosen Alpha’s daughter?” My voice was thick with sarcasm. “She’s slandering her fiancé’s wife in public, after orchestrating a trap to destroy her.”

Amelia trembled. Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

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Ethan’s face was thunder. His fists clenched at his sides, I saw something shift in him. Rage, shame, and something darker. He didn’t ask Chole to deny it. He didn’t even look at her.

Instead, he stepped forward and seized her by the throat.

“What the hell did you do to her?” he growled, his voice like steel breaking.

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to pry his fingers

‘Answer me!” he shouted.

said with a strained calm. “Maybe Chole’s just

behind Felix, coughing and red-faced. But it wasn’t just her

Pack and always too eager to prove her diplomacy, walked into the cen-

to conclusions,” Bella said, smoothing her silk sleeve with calculated calm. “Even if what Chole said is truc-and that’s still uncertain-it doesn’t prove that she

pointed look. “Perhaps someone saw Olivia with rogues and reported it to Chole. That would

room tensed again. Some guests exchanged glances. The tide

me, her voice cool. “And if that’s the case, then maybe you feared the scandal would spread, and acted first. Before Ethan could find out,

when I heard Bella speak.

come rushing in to play peacemaker, being the sister of Chole. Her subtle words coated in sweetness, but sharpened to cut. I could already see how the gears in Chole’s brain turned. Sure enough, she latched onto Bella’s

staggered up from the floor, rubbing her throat, her expression

cence.

clinging to Ethan’s arm, “I would never do

didn’t react. His jaw was clenched so tight I thought he might shatter his own

a hotel room last night. And before that, she saw a bunch of men enter the same room-how would I

eyebrows, amused. “Your

Chole sniffled, ignoring me. “But the way she came barging in tonight, stirring up

and I—we’re in love. Everyone knows that. Olivia and Ethan might be married on paper, but they don’t love each other. She’s the third party here!

she wanted the

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spoke, was low and deadly calm. “So you’re saying you’re

I’m lying, I’ll die

careful what you offer,”

She flinched.

trying to be manipulative tonight, Olivia. That’s how you must have se- duced Ethan in the first

didn’t even blink. Her

other hand, was

That’s when I moved.