A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 261

ALEXANDER

My secretary’s voice came through the intercom while I was going through some contracts I had to review.

“Sir, Miss Diana Brown is here to see you.”

I frowned slightly. Diana?

What reason did she have to be here?

“What is she doing here?” I asked. She shouldn’t need to see me for anything related to her land issue.

“She said it’s urgent, sir.”

I leaned back in my chair, irritation prickling beneath my calm. I had made a deliberate decision to

remove myself from her case. That was remove myself from her case. That was the entire point of assigning Cole to it.

“Tell Miss Brown I’m busy,” I said. “If it’s important, she can send a message.”

“Yes, sir.”

The line went dead, and I turned back to my screen, already pushing the interruption out of my mind.

Less than a minute later, my office door opened.

“Sir…” my secretary began, clearly flustered. “I tried to stop her…”

I looked up, prepared to be angry.

Diana stood there.

Whatever sharp words I’d been about to say lodged in my throat.

Her eyes were swollen, rimmed red. Her face looked drawn, exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with theatrics. She didn’t look triumphant or calculating. She looked… broken.

“It’s fine,” I said after a beat, my voice tighter than I intended. “You can go.”

My secretary hesitated, clearly uncomfortable, then nodded and slipped out, closing the door behind her.

The silence that followed was heavy.

I straightened in my chair. “What is the meaning of this?” I asked coolly. “You can’t barge into my office like that. This isn’t the pack house–and it isn’t my father’s office anymore.”

The words landed. I saw it in the way her shoulders stiffened.

“I know,” she said quietly, lowering her gaze. “I’m sorry.”

That surprised me.

“I shouldn’t have come in like that,” she added. “I truly am sorry.”

I stood. “Then explain why you did.”

She lifted her head slowly, and when she spoke, her voice wavered. “Because I didn’t know what else to do.”

I crossed my arms. “Go straight to the point, Diana. I have work.”

Her lips trembled. “I can’t take this anymore.”

Before I could respond, she dropped to her knees.

“What are you doing?” I asked sharply, stepping around my desk. “Get up.”

She shook her head. “Please. Just listen to me.”

“This is not appropriate,” I said, my tone low. “Stand up.”

“I can’t,” she whispered, tears spilling freely now. “I really can’t.”

“Diana-”

“I know you hate me, Alexander,” she cut in, her voice breaking. “And I deserve it. I know that. I know why you put Cole in charge of my case. You didn’t want anything to do with me.”

I didn’t deny it. In fact, I was glad she knew that.

“At first, I thought I could accept that,” she went on. “I told myself it was fair. That I had no right to expect anything from you.”

She laughed weakly, the sound hollow. “But after today… after my meeting with Cole… I realized it’s over. For my family. If you don’t intervene yourself.”

“Cole is handling the matter,” I said firmly. “As he should.”

She shook her head harder. “You don’t understand. If you don’t step in as Alpha, we’re finished.”

I frowned. “Is this why you forced your way in here?”

“Because you won’t listen to me any other way,” she said, tears streaking down her cheeks. “You won’t even look at me.”

“Get up, Diana,” I said again. “Now.”

She didn’t move.

“I can accept it if you truly have no feelings for me anymore,” she said softly. “If you’ve moved on. I can accept that.”

Something in my chest tightened.

“But there has to be something left,” she continued. “Even if it’s just pity.”

I clenched my jaw.

“My father is already sick from worrying,” she added. “I don’t know how much more he can take.”

I closed my eyes briefly and exhaled.

“Enough,” I muttered.

I stepped forward and reached for her arm. “Get up

Reluctantly, she allowed me to pull her to her feet.

“This is an office,” I said stiffly. “Not a place for scenes like this.”

“I know,” she whispered.

I meant to step back immediately, to put distance between us… thinking she’d do the same.

Instead, Diana leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.

I shoved her back instantly.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snapped, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, anger cutting through the room. “Have you lost it?”

Diana staggered a step, shock flashing across her face–but I barely registered it.

Because something moved beyond her shoulder.

Through the glass wall of my office, I caught a glimpse of a figure in motion–too fast, already turning away.

But the ache in my chest didn’t care about logic.

Pain curled deep in my stomach, sharp and humiliating. I hated it. Hated how fast it had taken hold, how it made my thoughts irrational and messy and ugly.

I had trusted him.

I still did.

And yet-

My grip tightened on the steering wheel.

Why hadn’t he told me she was coming to see him?

Why had I found out like that?

Why did it feel like everyone else knew what was happening except me?

The questions piled up, one after the other, until my chest felt too tight to breathe properly. I laughed weakly, the sound breaking halfway through, because it was ridiculous–wasn’t it?-to feel this undone over a single moment.

But it hadn’t just been a moment.

It was what that moment represented.

The fear that I was always one step behind. That conversations were happening without me. That decisions were being made in rooms I wasn’t invited into. That I was standing in the middle of my

own life, watching pieces of it move without my consent.

Tears spilled over before I could stop them. I wiped them away angrily, blinking hard, forcing my eyes back to the road.

“Pull yourself together,” I muttered.

But my thoughts wouldn’t settle.

I thought of Alexander’s face–how gentle he could be with me, how steady, how certain. The way he looked at me like I was something precious, something irreplaceable.

And then I thought of the way Diana had fit against him so easily, like she knew exactly where to stand.

The contrast hurt more than I wanted to admit.

The car sped along the highway, the hum of the engine loud in my ears, drowning out everything else. A horn blared somewhere behind me, sharp and sudden.

I flinched, my hands jerking slightly on the wheel.

“Focus,” I whispered, my voice trembling.

I inhaled shakily, trying to slow my breathing, trying to force my mind to stay in the present instead of spiraling through what–ifs and half–formed fears.

What if I had stayed?

What if I had confronted him instead of running?

The road curved ahead, sunlight flashing briefly across the windshield. I wiped my eyes again, my chest aching, my thoughts tangled and racing faster than the car beneath me.

I didn’t see the other vehicle until it was too late.

There was a sudden screech of tires.

A flash of metal.

A violent impact-

And everything shattered.