Filed to story: Watch Me Win Alpha (Olivia & Ethan)
Liv?”
I swallowed. “This is small to me now. I’ve lost more than I ever expected, but I’m not losing myself.”
Grandma hummed in agreement. “The world may shake, but you stand steady.”
After lunch, sunlight streamed through the windows. I combed through my phone one last time-news still roiled online, but I recognized something: people were polarizing, but lines had been drawn. And now, the other party had more to lose.
My phone buzzed. It was Lily-my former subordinate. I stepped onto the porch, something in Lily’s tone unusual.
“Olivia,” she whispered, voice loaded. “I’ve got an info.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s about Hawthrone’s loan-Eclipse Bank just froze the second phase. All funds blocked.”
My heart sank. “Blocked? Why?”
“Alpha Ethan ordered it. He said the negative publicity was wrong for the project. Told Windsor he loved only you-and refused to marry Chole.”
I closed my eyes. So even he… My chest tightened. “Lily, are they arguing with Windsor now?”
“Yes. Windsor’s plan is unraveling. They’re fighting hard- threats, pressure, accusations. It’s chaos.”
“During a dispute between the Windsor family and the
Hawthrone family, Mr. Windsor learned that the loan had been frozen.”
Olivia’s POV
It finally hit me-Alpha Alexander had stood up for me.Quietly, efficiently, without fanfare, he had taken action the moment the slanderous press release dropped. I hadn’t asked him. I hadn’t even known he would. But he did. And not just for show.
By freezing the loans tied to the Hawthrone and Windsor families, he’d put them both in a corner. At a time when the world debated my worth, he’d spoken through action. He made it known that I was not to be trampled. That I washis secretary.
I didn’t need to ask for a shield.He gave me one.
That thought warmed something deep in my chest. It didn’t solve everything, not yet, but it reminded me I had something to fall back on. A stable place to rebuild. Not just physically, but mentally. I wasn’t entirely alone anymore.
The car ride back to New York felt lighter than it had in days.
The wind through the cracked window, the soft hum of tires on asphalt, even the rhythm of my own breathing-it all felt like a small victory.
I pulled into a highway service area just past noon, near a wooded stretch that usually stayed quiet. I wanted to stretch my legs, maybe grab a snack.
I was still gathering myself when Yve stirred.
“Look left. That man-same one from three nights ago.”
My body didn’t flinch, but my heart dropped. I kept my eyes trained on the mirror instead of turning outright. I saw him.
Leaning against the side of a weathered gray sedan was a man, maybe in his forties. Brown leather jacket, beat-up sneakers, a casual cigarette between his fingers, phone pressed to his ear. He was facing sideways, but his gaze flickered-almost too often -in my direction.
Three nights ago, at a convenience store just outside the city, I had seen that same man. He had stood behind the chip aisle pretending to browse, yet his reflection in the cooler doors gave him away. Now here he was again.
I didn’t panic. Icouldn’tpanic.
Instead, I calmly stepped back into my car and shut the door gently. I pressed the lock button.Click.
I pulled my blindfold from the glove box and leaned the seat back. Carefully, I draped the blindfold across my face but left a sliver at the bottom so I could watch.
And I did.
He was still there-smoking, murmuring into the phone. His posture was relaxed, but the tension in his eyes gave him away.
They kept sliding toward me, as if checking whether I was still inside or had disappeared.
I remained motionless. Breathing shallow. Observing.
Eventually, he ended the call and walked to his car-an older model with plates I didn’t recognize. He sat in the driver’s seat, reclined casually, and sipped from a paper cup.
And he didn’t leave.
He didn’t drive away.
He justsat there. In the vehicle directly across from mine. No rush. No urgency. Just lingering.
It wasn’t the only thing bothering me.
Three days ago, when I had left New York in the dead of night. I had noticed a car-same make, same dull gray-behind me for longer than felt reasonable. I had chalked it up to paranoia.
Stress.
But now? Now I was certain.
The fact that both of us had left the city at the same timeandwere now returning on the same day, on the same highway, stopping at the same service station?
That was no coincidence.
I stayed still for half an hour, barely breathing, muscles stiff with tension as I lay across the backseat. Through the thin slit between my fingers and the edge of the blindfold, I kept watching him. The man hadn’t moved from his vehicle. He was just… waiting. Still. Too still.
I already knew now that something was off. People didn’t linger at rest stops for that long without a reason. My instincts kept whispering that this wasn’t random-and Yve was alert too, coiled inside me like a spring. Her low growl echoed in my chest, silent to everyone else, but loud in my blood.
But I had no proof.
Even if I called the police, what would I say? That a man was parked legally at a rest stop and happened to glance in my direction more than once? They’d laugh me off. Or worse- report it. And the last thing I needed right now was to show up on the news again with another scandal.
I sat up slowly, adjusted the blindfold to shield my eyes from the sun, and started the car with feigned casualness. My fingers trembled around the steering wheel.
In the rearview mirror, I saw the man’s car pull out moments after I did. Same distance. Same rhythm. Not tailgating, but keeping steady behind me, as if he’d done this before.
As if I was prey.
I merged back onto the highway, heart thudding the whole time. Each mile felt longer than the last. Every time I glanced in the rearview, he was there. Still. Always there.
It wasn’t until I passed the sign that welcomed me back into the city that I finally dared to exhale. Duskhollow Pines was close now. My home. My safe corner.
I gripped the wheel tighter.
No matter what happened next, I just needed to reach the garage.
When the dusky gold light of the streetlamps started dotting the sky, I took a sharp right turn-too sharp. Tires screeched.
The car behind slowed, but didn’t turn. I blew through a yellow light, then another intersection, ignoring the horn that blared behind me. I glanced into the mirror-he was gone.
