“Exactly. Nine employees getting paid who don’t exist. That’s

payroll fraud.”

He whistled under his breath. “If that’s been happening for ten

years-”

“It’s a million–dollar bleed,” I finished. “Someone’s been

syphoning money by inflating the headcount.“‘

He began pacing. “This means someone inside the system-

maybe mid–level or even at the auditing stage–knows how to

manipulate the checks. The list goes through layers, but no one

really verifies every name manually at the top.”

“Which is why it never triggered a red flag until now,” I

murmured. “It’s disguised just enough to look clean, but the

numbers don’t lie.”

“We need to report this to Alpha Alexander,” Gai said

immediately.

I nodded. “Yes. But he’s going to be swamped with the alpha

summit tomorrow.”

Gai rubbed his temple. “Then?”

Chapter 5

“I’ll go to the factory,” I said. “In person. Quietly. If we can

identify who’s behind it before bringing it to Alexander, we’ll

have a stronger case.”

Gai looked at me with something between concern and respect.

“You’re serious.”

didn’t answer. I just turned back to the

scrolling for more anomalies.

Gai noticed was the man

from a nearby

dangled between his fingers, forgotten,

hidden behind a glass panel.

face hardening with every

upon… wasn’t just a minor payroll error. It was a thread

worked hard to bury.

were

Olivia’s POV

ended later than expected. The moment

the restaurant, I caught a glimpse

stiff, serious look etched

I

beside me. “When he tapped

he fumbled twice. That man only

when he’s

That didn’t quite match the Alpha’s usual control.

looked radiant under the

reached Alexander quickly, her hand slipping through the crook of his

done it a

to my room,” she said in a light, persuasive tone.

wine

Alexander didn’t hesitate. “No.”

pulled his arm free, stepping

looking

faltered but tried to recover with a

carpet was slightly uneven, and

just a bit too long on

posture dip slightly forward. Gai and I

him. We both reached out instinctively–but Jess

faster.

arms out, body

him. I

Chapter 35

then, in a blur of

turned

hand caught my wrist so tightly that I yelped. In the

he pulled me toward

forward, crashing awkwardly

nearly bumped hers, and for a terrifying second,

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