Alpha’s Double game.

THE PRICE OF RUMOURS

~ELENA~

The glass doors of Sterling Global’s lobby did nothing to dull the oppressive heat of the morning sun, but inside my chest, everything felt numb.

I barely slept through the night, it felt like there was a gun pointed at my head. It has been four hours since Alexander Sterling had dragged me into his sleek, black Maybach, dropped me off at my cramped downtown apartment under the watchful eyes of two armed guards, and told me to report to work at my usual time.

Before now, Alexander barely knew who I was. We were nothing but boss and worker. No one would ever suspect such an honourable-looking man was capable of belonging to an underground elite group, not to mention being The Boss.

I was back in the company but a hundred per cent different. He could still kill me if he chooses, I was a liability…

My fingers were tight around my cardboard coffee cup as I stepped into the elevator, my heart hammering against my chest. On my left hand, the massive emerald-cut diamond felt like a lead weight. I turned the stone inward, hiding the rock against my palm.

I need to call Maya, I thought frantically. Maya was my best friend since college, a freelance graphic designer who knew everything about me. If I went missing, she’d be the only one to notice.

My parents were overseas, completely disconnected. But Alexander’s warning echoes in my skull: No unauthorised contact.

The elevator doors chimed, opening onto the accounting floor. The second I stepped out, the usual hum of ringing phones and clacking keyboards died a sudden, violent death.

Whispers broke out instantly.

“Is that her?” Sarah from corporate compliance muttered to a junior analyst, not even bothering to lower her voice. “I heard security found her up on the executive floor at two in the morning.”

“With Sterling?” The analyst whispered back, eyes wide. “Someone said she was trying to scrub the audit file. I bet she got caught trading favours for her contract.”

My face burned with a toxic mix of humiliation and anger. They thought I was a corporate climber selling my body to the billionaire CEO. They had no idea I was fighting for my literal survival.

“Miss Vance.”

The cold, clipped voice cut through the bullpen like a guillotine. I froze.

Alexander stood at the end of the corridor. He was dressed in a pristine, navy-blue bespoke suit, his hair perfectly parted, looking every bit the ruthless tech mogul. There was no trace of the syndicate king who had ripped my skirt open hours prior.

His eyes washed over me, completely blank, void of a single shred of recognition or warmth.

“My office. Now,” he commanded, turned on his heel without waiting for an answer.

The walk through the bullpen felt like a March through the gallows. The whispers flared up behind me, a wall of judgment.

“Look at her…she looks completely wrecked.”

I wonder what he did to her up there.”

The private elevator ride to the fifty-fifth floor was silent, the air thick with suffocating tension. When the doors opened. The memory of the red strobe light and the steel shutters hit me so hard I nearly gasped.

Alexander walked straight to his mahogany desk, sitting down behind it. He didn’t look at me as I entered. He simply opened a leather-bound folder.

“Sit,” he said, his voice flat. Cold.

I sat in the chair across from him, my knees shaking. “Mr: Sterling, the rumours downstairs…the entire company thinks I—”

“I don’t care what the company thinks, Miss Vance.” He interrupted, his green eyes flicking up, completely deadpan. “In fact, rumours serve a purpose. Let them think you are my dirty little secret. It makes the transition to fiancée far more believable to the board of directors.”

My jaw tightened. “You’re ruining my professional reputation.”

“Your reputation was forfeit the moment you opened Project Aegis,” he countered, leaning forward, resting his thick forearms on the desk. The rolled-up sleeves were gone, but I could still feel the phantom print of his calloused hands on my skin.

“The press release announcing our engagement goes out at noon. Tonight, there is a gala for the Sterling Foundation. You will be by my side.”

He slid a heavy, matte-black credit card across the desk.

“A stylist will arrive at your apartment by three. Buy a dress that matches the price of that ring on your finger. And remember your place, Elena. In public, you adore me. In private, you obey me. Now get back to your desk.”

The ice in his voice was sharper than any knife. He was playing the cold billionaire to perfection, treating me like a piece of faulty software he had bought and paid for.

I snatched the card, the diamond on my finger catching the sunlight, and walked out before I could break down. I wish I could go back to yesterday and unmake the stupid decision I made to get those files.

Going back to my desk was a death warrant. Voices would come from every angle, and everyone tags me as a slut and he was enjoying it and using it to his advantage.

I just ruined my life.

I was in the elevator when my phone chimed. Alexander. Again.

“Wear matching lingerie, preferably one that doesn’t have anything at the torso.”

I almost puked just reaching his message. And what the hell does my underwear have to do with a gala?