“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

scrolling for more anomalies.

neither Olivia nor Gai noticed was the man

out from a nearby booth just moments

between his fingers, forgotten,

hidden behind a glass

with

had stumbled upon… wasn’t just a minor payroll error. It was a thread tied directly to something he

worked hard to bury.

they were pulling

Olivia’s POV

than

of the restaurant, I caught a

stiff, serious look etched across his

Drunk?” I muttered, half

beside me. “When he tapped his card

now, he fumbled twice. That

when he’s been

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

radiant under the streetlights–heels clicking,

hand slipping through the crook of his arm

had done it a hundred

room,” she said in

the wine you

Alexander didn’t hesitate. “No.”

was sharp. Final. He pulled his arm

looking at

to recover with

hallway carpet was

long on the edge. I saw

posture dip slightly forward. Gai and I were just a

both reached out instinctively–but

faster.

in with her arms out, body tilting just

I held

Chapter 35

a blur of movement,

and turned

hand caught my wrist so tightly that I yelped. In

toward him–and straight into

stumbled forward, crashing awkwardly against

bumped hers, and for

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