MARKED BY THE CURSED ALPHA

Kayda's POV The cold barrel of a gun pressed against my forehead, but I didn't flinch. My eyes remained fixed on the man standing a few feet away—the man I had loved since I was sixteen. For eight years, I had sacrificed my dreams, my youth, and countless sleepless nights to help Nathan build Sterling Innovations from nothing into one of the fastest-growing companies in the country. Tonight, he was throwing me away. "Nathan..." My voice trembled. "Please tell them the truth." The police officers surrounding me remained silent, their eyes never leaving me. I waited for Nathan to laugh and tell everyone this was some terrible misunderstanding. Instead, he smiled—a smile so cold it shattered every memory we had ever shared. "I already told them the truth," he said. "You stole the company's money." My heart stopped. "What?" I whispered. "You heard me." I shook my head desperately. "Nathan, you know I didn't." A soft laugh echoed through the conference room, and I slowly turned to find Lila standing beside him. The same secretary who had once cried in my apartment because she couldn't find a job. The same woman I had begged Nathan to hire when no one else would give her a chance. Now she wore the diamond necklace I had gifted her on her birthday as she wrapped an arm around Nathan's waist. "Stop embarrassing yourself, Kayda," she sneered. "You lost." My chest tightened as I stared at them. The late-night meetings, the secret phone calls, the unfamiliar perfume on his clothes... I had ignored every sign because I believed love meant trust. I was wrong. Very wrong. Before I could say another word, an officer stepped forward. "Miss Kayda Hart, you're under arrest for embezzling company funds amounting to fifty million dollars." My eyes widened. "I didn't steal anything!" Nathan calmly placed a thick file on the table. Every transfer, every signature, every document carried my name. "This is fake," I whispered, staggering backward. "You forged everything!" He looked at me without a trace of guilt. "I don't have to argue with a thief." Those words broke something inside me. For eight years, I had skipped meals so the company could pay its employees. I sold my jewelry when we couldn't afford office equipment and turned down better job offers because I believed in Nathan's dream. Every success he enjoyed carried my fingerprints, yet today I had become the villain in the story I helped create. An officer grabbed my wrist, but I pulled away and looked at Nathan one last time. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you never loved me." For a brief second, hope flickered inside me when he replied, "I did." Then he crushed it. "But I love Lila now." Silence filled the room. Lila rested her head on his shoulder with a victorious smile. "Helping me get this job was the best decision you ever made," she mocked. A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "I created the monster that destroyed me." The cold handcuffs clicked around my wrists as the officers dragged me outside. Hundreds of reporters surrounded the building, camera flashes blinding me as they shouted questions. "Miss Kayda! Did you really steal the company's money?" "How long have you been embezzling funds?" "Were you planning to flee the country?" Every accusation felt like another knife piercing my heart. I turned back one last time. Nathan didn't chase after me. He didn't defend me. He simply stood beside the woman who had stolen both my love and my life. At that moment, I realized the prison sentence waiting for me wasn't the worst punishment. The real punishment... was loving the wrong person for eight years.