Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99: Chapter 99 – Sera, stay awake, will you?

Voren experienced a quiet sense of relief when he realized that Ravyn had managed to walk away from the earlier confrontation with Seraphine without losing another massive fortune, although that relief did not lead him back to Ravyn’s side or tempt him to resume their earlier conversation.

The tension surrounding that entire situation had already drained enough of his patience for one evening and he preferred to keep his distance while the atmosphere inside the club remained thick with ambition and rivalry.

Instead of returning to Ravyn’s table, Voren spent the next stretch of time circulating through the private investors’ lounge, exchanging polite greetings and measured conversation with several powerful men whose influence stretched across multiple industries.

His attention never truly settled on any of the discussions because his instincts remained alert in the way they always did whenever Alpha Gray occupied the same room as him.

Gray possessed a reputation that had been built on manipulation, cruelty, and the kind of political maneuvering that allowed him to smile in public while quietly dismantling his enemies behind closed doors, which meant Voren trusted nothing about the man’s presence at a gathering like this.

That instinct proved correct the moment Voren overheard a low voice behind him.

"Make sure she drinks it in front of you."

The words were spoken quietly, almost casually, although the cold intention behind them caused every instinct in Voren’s body to tighten at once.

He recognized the voice immediately.

Alpha Gray.

Voren did not turn immediately, because reacting too quickly would only alert the speaker that someone had overheard him, although he slowly angled his body just enough to observe the reflection from the polished surface of a nearby glass cabinet.

In that reflection, he caught sight of a waiter moving away with a tray containing a single glass of dark liquor, while Gray remained standing beside Riven with a thin smile stretched across his face.

Gray leaned slightly toward Riven as though sharing an inside joke. "We’ll teach her that this isn’t her place."

The meaning of those words settled heavily inside Voren’s chest.

For a moment, anger surged through him so strongly that confronting Gray right there in the middle of the room almost felt unavoidable, although his instincts forced him to think one step further before acting, because the far more urgent question was not whether Gray deserved confrontation but who exactly the intended victim might be.

Voren’s gaze followed the waiter.

The man moved smoothly through the room, navigating past groups of investors and wealthy guests with professional ease while holding the tray steady in his hand.

When the waiter finally reached his destination and lowered the glass toward the woman seated nearby, Voren felt his stomach tighten.

The drink was being offered to Seraphine.

She sat across from Mark at one of the lounge tables, her posture relaxed and her smile warm enough to convince anyone watching that she felt completely comfortable inside this room filled with men who had spent most of the evening trying to undermine her.

However, Voren knew better than anyone that the softness on her face rarely revealed what she truly felt, because Seraphine possessed a remarkable ability to slip into that composed business persona whenever negotiations required patience, charm, or deception.

From a distance, the scene looked perfectly harmless. Seraphine lifted the glass politely, and the waiter stepped back.

Mark continued speaking casually and there was no sign of anything unusual happening.

But Voren began walking toward them immediately, his pace quickening with every second because the unease inside his chest had grown into a sharp, urgent warning that refused to quiet down.

Unfortunately, he arrived a moment too late. Seraphine had already taken a sip.

The instant the waiter noticed Voren approaching with obvious urgency, the man’s expression tightened with a flicker of panic before he swiftly reached forward, collected the glass from Seraphine’s hand despite the fact that she had not finished the drink, and disappeared through a side exit that most guests rarely noticed.

Seraphine blinked in confusion as she watched the waiter vanish.

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