Watch Me Win, Alpha

“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.”

I just turned back to

scrolling for more anomalies.

nor Gai noticed was

a nearby booth just

dangled between his fingers,

hidden behind a glass panel. His

with every

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

worked hard to bury.

were

Olivia’s POV

later than expected. The

I caught a

stiff, serious look etched across

I muttered, half to

me.

out just now, he fumbled twice. That man only misses

when he’s been

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

radiant under the streetlights–heels clicking,

brisk and focused. She reached Alexander quickly, her hand slipping through the crook of his arm

done it

she

wine

Alexander didn’t hesitate. “No.”

Final. He pulled his arm

even looking at her

tried to recover with

hallway carpet was slightly uneven, and

on the edge.

slightly forward. Gai

both reached out instinctively–but

faster.

stepped in with her arms

I held my

Chapter 35

in a blur of movement, Alexander

turned toward

caught my wrist so tightly

me toward him–and

stumbled forward, crashing

nearly bumped hers, and for a terrifying second,