Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 178

Chapter 178 A Lead

AMY

Finfaned

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that we could still control something in this mess. But the truth was, Clara’s reach had grown deeper than either of us realized.

Across the city, she was already moving her pieces. From a hidden location, she watched the fallout unfold with satisfaction. Her goons whispered updates while she traced my communications, reading half my messages before I even sent them. The breach at Carter Holdings wasn’t just a strike, it was bait.

And she wasn’t done. That night, Selene met one of Elias’s men behind the derelict trainyard. A man I later learned went by Vance. He wore Southern insignia beneath his coat and spoke like someone used to giving orders. Selene’s tone was sharp, transactional.

“You get me what I asked for,” she told him, “and I’ll make sure the Northern Pack bends to your side when this ends.”

Vance smiled faintly. “Careful what you promise, princess. Clara doesn’t like competition.”

Selene crossed her arms. “Clara doesn’t have to like it. She just has to stay out of my way.”

What she didn’t know was that Clara already had someone tailing her one of her own spies. Trust wasn’t a word in Clara’s vocabulary; everyone around her was just a tool to be replaced when dull.

―

By midnight, when I returned and got in, the estate was locked down, the guards stationed outside my door. I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to make sense of the puzzle pieces Elias’s phantom companies, Clara’s interference, the fabricated ship. Every thread I pulled led back to the same place: someone wanted me blind, chasing ghosts.

My phone buzzed. No caller ID. Just a notification — an email.

For a moment, I hesitated. Every instinct told me not to open it. But curiosity won.

The message contained only one sentence, it was still the same threat. My heart stopped.

–

No signature. No traceable metadata. Just a clean threat – the kind that meant whoever sent it wasn’t bluffing.

I stared at the screen until the words blurred. Then I locked the phone, shoved it into the drawer, and sat in the dark.

Whoever they were, they weren’t after money anymore. They wanted control and Daniel was the leverage.

The war had officially gone personal.

The threat on my phone hadn’t left my mind since the moment I read it. Whoever sent it knew exactly where to strike. Daniel was the one thing I couldn’t risk losing. So I did what I always did when fear tried to corner me I buried it under work.

But Elias was playing a deeper game. He wasn’t just tearing through the packs anymore, he wanted Carter Holdings from the inside out. The company wasn’t just business to him, it was legacy. The Carters had built their empire on alliances between the packs, and if he could own that, he could control everything.

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08:49 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 178 A Lead

Finished

By the next morning, news of the leaked documents had pushed the board into a frenzy. They called for an immediate audit and summoned me to defend myself. I didn’t even get a chance to finish my coffee before Cole appeared at my office door.

“They’re gathering in the main boardroom,” he said. “And Daniel’s already there.”

I took a breath, grabbed my files, and followed him. The walk down that hall felt longer than it ever had.

Inside, tension hung thick. The board members sat shoulder high, faces tight with worry or suspicion. Daniel was at the far end of the table beside Mrs. Carter. She looked calm, but her eyes were sharp – like she was daring anyone to move against me.

“Amy,” the chairman began, voice clipped, “you’ve been accused of manipulating southern contracts and authorizing unauthorized transfers. You’re here to respond.”

I kept my tone even. “Show me the evidence.”

They slid the report across the table. Dozens of pages, transaction logs, timestamps all designed to paint me as the mastermind behind the mess. I scanned the data, my mind racing. On the surface, it looked solid. Too solid. That’s what bothered me.

Then I saw a pattern that didn’t fit. The timestamps were consistent to the second. No system produced that kind of uniformity unless someone had manually altered them.

“May I?” I asked, pulling the document closer. “You said these were original copies from the finance servers?”

“Yes,” the chairman replied.

“Then explain this,” I said, tapping the page. “The server clocks for Carter Holdings aren’t synchronized across regions. Each location runs its own system, which means there should be at least a two–second variation between time logs. But every single entry here is identical 13:00:05. That doesn’t happen naturally.”

A low murmur spread through the room. One of the auditors leaned forward, frowning at the document.

“So you’re saying these logs were-”

“Fabricated,” I finished. “Or at the very least, manipulated before being submitted.”

The room went silent. Daniel’s gaze met mine, and for the first time that day, a flicker of pride crossed his face.

I leaned back in my chair, steadying my voice. “You’re accusing me with falsified data. Whoever planted this didn’t just want to ruin me, they wanted to destroy Carter Holdings‘ credibility.”

Mrs. Carter stood then, her tone cool but cutting. “And you all accepted this at face value? Without verifying the system logs?”

No one answered.

“I think this meeting’s over,” she said sharply. “Amy stays. Until we find the real leak, no one will touch her department.”

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