Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236 Productive Evening

MRS. CARTER

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+5 Pearls

I stayed later than everyone else that night at the office. Most offices in the building had already gone quiet, and the cleaning staff moved around carefully, trying not to disturb me. I didn’t blame them.

I probably looked like someone who hadn’t slept in days. My desk was buried under files, printouts, and old audit logs I dug out of storage. None of this was work I should have been doing alone, but I didn’t trust half the board anymore, and the other half were too scared to act. I didn’t want to stress Daniel and Amy either. They’ve been through stress.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned back in my chair. “Come on,” I muttered under my breath. “You two slipped up somewhere. Everyone makes mistakes. Even you.”

I turned back to my screen and opened another folder of internal emails. At first, nothing caught my attention. Most of it was harmless chatter–meeting reminders, vague questions about the financial freeze, requests for clarification. Then one message jumped out at me. The subject line had an encryption signature that didn’t belong to any of my staff. I recognized the pattern immediately as Clara’s.

The email wasn’t addressed to me. It had been forwarded to my inbox by mistake, originally meant for a junior accountant. For a second, I wondered if it was bait. But the accountant was someone I had hired personally, someone too inexperienced to be involved in anything larger. My gut told me the mistake came from Clara, not from anyone else.

I clicked the message.

At first glance, it seemed boring–just a list of scheduled fund movements for the week. But the timestamps nagged at me. None of them matched the official ledger. I opened the financial system and cross–referenced the numbers. It took less than two minutes for my stomach to tighten.

“These accounts aren’t ours,” I whispered.

The account numbers belonged to a shell company Daniel shut down years ago. I remembered that time clearly. Daniel brought me a stack of evidence and told me the company had been siphoning money through fake logistics contracts. We closed it quickly, He even filed a report with the council so they wouldn’t accuse Carter Holdings of hiding anything.

Why were those accounts active again?

I scrolled further down the email chain and saw two more messages. The timestamps were only minutes apart. Clara had sent the first version, then immediately sent a “corrected” version to the same group. The second message had completely different account numbers and timestamps. She tried to cover her tracks, but she accidentally copied the wrong recipient the first time.

I hit print before she could recall anything.

‘

The documents came out warm, smelling of toner. I gathered them quickly, checked the hallway to make sure no one was around, and slipped everything into a secure folder. My hand shook a little as I locked it in my drawer.

I didn’t tell Daniel. I didn’t tell Amy. Not yet. I knew both of them well enough to understand what would happen if I did. Daniel would storm out of the house the moment I finished explaining. Amy would try to

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11:20 Wed, Jan 21 M

Chapter 236 Productive Evening

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stay calm, but she was already carrying too much, and the last thing she needed was another weight on her shoulders.

No. I needed more proof–something airtight. Something the council couldn’t twist or ignore.

I grabbed my phone and scrolled to a private contact. “Mr. Hale,” I said once he answered, “I need you in my office first thing tomorrow. Bring your full team.”

“That sounds serious,” he replied.

“It is,” I said. “And it needs to be handled quietly.”

He didn’t ask more questions, which was one of the reasons I trusted him. We ended the call, and I finally shut down my computer. The screen went dark, casting the office into dim light.

When I stepped out, the atmosphere in the hallway changed immediately. The building wasn’t busy anymore, but some of board members were still gathered in corners whispering. Their tones lowered when they saw me. Some straightened their jackets. Others avoided eye contact.

And then there was Clara.

She stood in the center of a small group, smiling the way she always did–polite, friendly, and completely aware of the power she believed she held. Her eyes met mine. She didn’t flinch or look away. She simply held the smile.

I walked past her without slowing down. She didn’t deserve acknowledgment.

As I approached the elevators, I heard her voice behind me.

“Long night?” she asked, casual and sweet.

I pressed the elevator button and kept my tone even. “Productive.”

“It’s good to stay busy,” she replied.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside. Clara didn’t follow, but she didn’t need to. Her little games were getting sloppier. She didn’t realize the room was already shifting away from her. Investors were uneasy. The press had started questioning the timing of recent events. And the pregnancy revelation—Amy fainting on camera and recovering so quickly–had softened public opinion toward us.

The elevator reached the ground floor. As soon as the doors opened, I exhaled quietly. My hands were stiff from how tightly I held my bag.

I walked outside into the night air. It wasn’t cold, but there was a heaviness to it, like the city itself had been waiting for a turning point. I stepped aside from the building entrance, letting people pass.

My phone buzzed. A message from Daniel:

>“Heading home soon? Amy’s resting”

I typed back:

>“I’m leaving now. Is everything alright?”

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Chapter 236 Productive Evening

He responded quickly.

>“Just tired. We’ll talk later.”

+5 Pearls

I slipped my phone away and tightened my grip on my bag. Inside it was the first real mistake Clara had made in weeks. Something she wouldn’t be able to deny or manipulate. Something Elias couldn’t twist into another smear campaign.

I stood there a moment, letting the weight of it settle.

For the first time since this whole ordeal began, I felt the smallest sense of relief–not victory, not confidence, just the simple knowledge that we finally had something solid.

“Good,” I whispered to myself. “Now I just need proof strong enough to end this.”

Because my son deserved peace. Amy deserved peace. And I would not let anyone tear apart what we built.

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