Alpha's Regret: Losing His True Mate-Chapter 172

Before he sat down, he couldn’t help himself. "Wait... aren’t you Secretary Miller?"

He smiled, the kind of genuine smile you give someone you actually remember. "I was just thinking the other day, haven’t seen you in forever. So you left Wilson and came here?"

Back when Elodie worked at Wilson Group, she’d crossed paths with him a few times. He’d always found her competent. Sharp.

Elodie smiled back politely. "Yeah. I’ve been here a little while now."

"Good for you. Really, good for you," he said, still smiling.

The pleasantries wrapped up quickly after that. Time to get to business.

The General Manager slid his folder across the table to Johnny. Sienna did the same with hers.

Johnny took both, then without even looking at Sienna’s, he passed it straight to Elodie.

"El, can you look over Miss Brown’s proposal?"

Elodie nodded. "Sure."

Sienna’s hand froze mid-reach for her water glass. She didn’t say anything, but her jaw tightened just slightly.

Elodie opened the folder and started reading.

She wasn’t one of those speed-readers who could flip through a document in thirty seconds, but she was fast. Faster than most. Her eyes moved steadily down each page, taking it in, processing.

A few minutes later, she closed the folder. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

She handed it back to Sienna, meeting her eyes calmly. "It’s obvious you put work into this. But there are problems. A lot of them, actually. Compared to other companies that have pitched to us, this doesn’t stand out. At all."

Sienna’s smile didn’t waver. "Is that so?"

Her tone was light, but her eyes were sharp. Focused.

"Well then," Sienna continued smoothly, "maybe you could tell me what those problems are? That way I can fix them based on your feedback."

Elodie saw it immediately. The setup. The trap.

Sienna was baiting her. If Elodie listed specific issues, Sienna would have ammunition to argue back, twist things, make it look like Elodie was being unreasonable or nitpicky.

But Elodie wasn’t biting.

She smiled, just a little. "Miss Brown, the problems in your proposal are yours to figure out. If you can’t spot them yourself, why should we do it for you? Does that seem reasonable to you?”

“You need to understand, we don’t owe you a partnership. If you’re asking us to walk you through what’s wrong, that tells me you don’t even know what this company needs. And if that’s the case, then yeah, I’m even more sure your proposal isn’t a fit."

Sienna’s face stayed calm, but inside, she was scrambling.

She had been setting a trap. She’d been so sure Elodie would take the bait, list out a bunch of criticisms, and then Sienna could counter each one, making her look petty or inexperienced.

But Elodie had flipped it. Turned it around completely. Now Sienna was the one sitting in a hole she’d dug herself.

She kept her expression neutral. Didn’t let the frustration show.

"Miss Miller, I think you misunderstood," Sienna said evenly. "What I meant was, partnerships are about working together. If there are issues, wouldn’t it make sense to talk through them? Improve the proposal together? That benefits both sides, doesn’t it?"

Elodie blinked, genuinely caught off guard by the audacity.

She tilted her head slightly. "Is this your first time negotiating a partnership?"

Sienna’s eyebrows pulled together. Where was this going?

Before she could respond, Elodie’s smile softened. Her voice stayed gentle, almost kind.

"The kind of ’working together to improve things’ you’re talking about? That’s something you do at home. Or maybe in school. But in business, people show up for one reason which is profit. If there’s no benefit, there’s no deal. And if we’ve got better options sitting on the table, why would we waste time on something that doesn’t help us?"

Her tone was so warm. So polite. She was even smiling.

But the words hit like ice water.

Sienna felt her stomach drop.

She’d underestimated Elodie. Badly.

Looking at her now, so calm, composed, completely in control... Sienna realized she’d walked into this meeting thinking she had the upper hand. She didn’t.

Elodie slid the teacup across the table toward Sienna, still smiling. "Miss Brown, please. Have some tea."

Sienna stared at the cup.

This was a power move. A polite dismissal wrapped in hospitality. And refusing it? That would make her look petty. Rude.

She had no choice.

She picked up the cup. "Thank you, Miss Miller."

"Of course, Miss Brown."

Johnny had been watching the whole thing in silence, trying not to react.

Honestly? He’d been worried. Sienna had a way of getting under people’s skin, twisting situations to her advantage. He’d been afraid Elodie might get cornered, might stumble.

But she hadn’t.

She’d handled it perfectly. Shut Sienna down without even raising her voice.

He was genuinely impressed.

After wrapping up the discussion with the General Manager, Johnny walked them both downstairs to see them out.

The second they were gone, he turned to Elodie and gave her a huge grin, thumbs up.

"That was incredible."

Elodie looked down, a small smile tugging at her lips. "I worked at Wilson Group for years. As a secretary. You pick things up."

Johnny blinked. Right. He’d almost forgotten.

She might’ve been stuck in a dead-end position there, but she’d still dealt with clients, negotiations, and high-stakes meetings. She’d been quietly learning the whole time.

"So," Johnny asked, leaning against the wall, "was there actually something wrong with Sienna’s proposal? Or were you just shutting her down?"

"No, there were real problems."

The proposal was detailed. The technical stuff was solid, probably because Dante had helped her with it. Elodie would bet money on that.

But when it came to the actual implementation? There were gaps. Small ones, but they were there.

Johnny nodded, then switched gears. "What about Wilson Group’s proposal?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking almost sheepish. "You know Dante’s in our field. He knows the tech inside and out."

Wilson Group had money. Tons of it. They had some of the best engineers in the industry. And on top of that, Dante himself was sharp when it came to technology.

So the proposal he’d sent over wasn’t just good.

It was perfect.

That’s probably why Dante had waited this long to reach out. He knew Johnny would have a hard time saying no.

Elodie wasn’t surprised.

She looked at Johnny, her expression calm. "When it’s time to decide, just look at the facts. Judge it on merit."

Working with a solid team meant fewer headaches down the line. And whatever personal mess existed between her and Dante? That didn’t matter when it came to business. Business was business.

Later that afternoon, Rex showed up at Cole.

This time, Johnny didn’t even bother meeting with him.

Rex waited around for a bit, realized nobody was coming, and left.

Not long after he was gone, Harry arrived.

Johnny and Elodie met with him together.

They went through Harry’s new proposal, flipping pages, scanning numbers. At one point, Johnny glanced up at Elodie. She met his eyes. They didn’t need to say anything, they were on the same page.

Elodie looked back at Harry and smiled. "Mr. Becker, we look forward to working with you."

Harry had been watching them both carefully. It was clear Elodie had real influence here. More than he’d initially thought. His eyes shifted between her and Johnny for a second before he stood and extended his hand.

"Looking forward to it as well."

They sat back down and started hammering out contract details.

Hours passed. Outside, the sky faded from blue to orange to deep purple. They were almost done with the preliminary stuff when Elodie’s phone buzzed on the table.

She glanced at the screen.

And saw it was Liora.

Her chest tightened.

The phone kept ringing. She let it go to voicemail.

It rang again with the same name. She declined it again.

This time, Liora didn’t call back.

---

Meanwhile, across town, Dante picked up his phone.

Half an hour later, he walked through the front door of his house.

Liora was in bed, an IV drip attached to her arm. Her face was pale, a thin sheen of sweat still clinging to her forehead. When she saw him, her voice came out small and tired.

"Dad..."

Dante sat on the edge of the bed, pulling out a handkerchief. He gently wiped her forehead. "Does your stomach still hurt?"

"A little better now..."

She had improved, but not by much. The pain was still there, dull and lingering.

Dante didn’t lecture her about eating something she shouldn’t have. He could see she was already miserable. And more than that... she looked sad. Upset about something beyond just feeling sick.

"You want me to call Aunt Sienna?" he asked quietly. "She could come keep you company."

Normally, Liora would’ve lit up at that. She loved when Sienna came over.

But this time, she grabbed his hand and shook her head hard.

"No. I want Mommy."

Her voice cracked just a little.

She loved Sienna. She did. But when she felt this bad, the person she wanted, the person she needed, was her mother.

She wanted her mom to be the one sitting here. Holding her hand. Telling her it would be okay.

Dante looked at her for a long moment. Then he nodded.

"Okay."

He didn’t let go of her hand. Instead, he pulled out his phone with his free one and dialed Elodie’s number.

---

Elodie had just wrapped things up with Harry. They were about to head out for dinner when her phone rang again.

It was Dante. Her stomach dropped.

She thought about those two missed calls from Liora. Something was wrong.

She hesitated, then answered.

"Hello?"

Dante’s voice came through, calmly but direct to business. "Liora has mild food poisoning. She’s at home on an IV. She’s asking for you."