Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 374

Chapter 374 Settlement

CLARA

Finished

I agreed to meet Selene because refusing would have been worse. She didn’t frame it as a request. She never did.

The message was brief, precise, and timed to make it clear she already knew where I would be. Southern- controlled territory, wrapped in glass, steel, and corporate branding.

A place that pretended neutrality while reminding everyone who owned the ground underneath.

I arrived early. Not because I was eager, but because arriving late would have looked careless. I reviewed the lies I was prepared to tell, not word for word, but by shape. I needed them to be flexible. Selene didn’t listen for statements. She listened for gaps.

She came in without apology, dressed like she was stepping into a board meeting rather than a private confrontation. She didn’t hug me.

She didn’t smile. She sat across from me and placed her phone on the table, screen down, like she wanted me to notice she wasn’t recording. Or like she wanted me to wonder if she already had.

“You look settled,” she said. “That’s new.”

“I’ve been busy,” I replied. It was true enough.

She studied me for a moment, not my face exactly, but the way I held myself. Selene always looked for changes first. She leaned back slightly.

“Elias doesn’t trust easily,” she said. “So tell me how you managed that.”

I kept my expression neutral. “I didn’t manage anything. He needed someone.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting.”

She nodded, like she had expected that. Then she shifted.

“Amy,” Selene said casually. “She was unreachable for months. Suddenly, she’s not. Interesting timing.”

I said nothing. Silence annoyed Selene more than denial.

“And Mark,” she continued. “Being positioned as a bridge. That one surprised me. He’s always been emotional. Sloppy. Not Elias’s style.”

“You’re making assumptions,” I said.

She smiled faintly. “No. I’m confirming patterns.”

dub

That was when I knew this meeting wasn’t about discovery. Selene already had her conclusions. This was about pressure. About seeing how I reacted when she laid everything out without naming it directly.

36 pm P WH

Chapter 374 Settlement

Finished

She leaned forward. “You’re standing too close to too many moving parts. That wally means someone thinks you’re disposable”

I met her gaze. “You didn’t ask me here to warn the

“No,” she said. “I asked you here to see if you knew

There it was. The part she always enjoyed. Watching realization settle.

She brought up our father next. Not his name, just the idea of him. The way he divided his attention. The way he decided who mattered and who didn’t. Selene spoke without bitterness, which somehow made it

worse.

“You were never meant to be here,” she said. “Not in this position. Not this visible. You were supposed to stay small”

“I didn’t choose where I was born.” I said.

“No,” she replied. “But you keep choosing where you stand.”

I didn’t rase my voice. I never did with her. “I’m standing because I’m useful.”

“That’s the problem,” Selene said. “Usefulness expires.”

She paused, letting that settle before delivering what she really came to say.

“When this collapses,” she said, “the Southern Alpha won’t protect you.”

I didn’t react. I didn’t allow myself to.

“You were never meant to survive the endgame,” she continued. “You were chosen because you’re close enough to burn convincingly. Close enough to take the blame.”

“That’s your theory,” I said.

She shook her head slightly. “That’s the plan.”

For a brief moment, I wondered if she was lying to destabilize me. Selene enjoyed control. Fear was one of her tools. But this didn’t feel like manipulation. It felt like confirmation of something I’d been avoiding

She stood, signaling the meeting was over. “You’re smarter than this, Clara. Don’t mistake attention for protection.”

I remained seated until she left. Only then did I allow myself to process what she’d said. I replayer the last few months, Elias’s instructions, the way responsibility kept funneling toward me while authority stayed just out of reach.

By the time I left the building, my face was calm. Anyone watching would have seen confidence, beside, doubt had already taken root

I told myself Selene could be wrong. She had her own motives. She always did. But I couldn’t ignore the logic. Elias positioned people like chess pieces. And I had moved forward too casily

9:36 pm P W M

Chapter 374 Settlement

Finished

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