Chapter 204 The Ring And The Betrayal
Lady Flourish’s POV
24
Finished
For several seconds I could not speak, because Rhys’s words had left my mind completely blank.
My fingers tightened around the phone while Damian watched me closely, and I could feel his wolf pressing against mine through the mate bond.
“My name?” I finally managed to say.
“Yes.” Rhys sounded tense. “Someone used your executive authorization to approve several transfers.”
I closed my eyes briefly. “How much?”
“Enough to make the board suspicious.”
My stomach tightened. “How long has this been happening?”
“We’re still checking,” he said, exhaling hard. “But the oldest transaction is from three weeks ago.”
Three weeks. That was before my suspension, before the latest board confrontation, and before I had even realized how deeply the sabotage inside F-Tech had gone. I looked at Damian. His expression was controlled, but the Alpha in him was already awake beneath the surface.
“Who discovered it?” I asked.
“The finance department.” Rhys hesitated. “Chris was the one who brought it to the board.”
My eyes narrowed. Of course. Chris had been one of the people who benefited most from the chaos surrounding my suspension, and Poppy had been pushing against me for weeks now, both of them tangled in connections I hadn’t fully traced yet.
“Where are you?”
“At the office.”
“Don’t leave.”
I ended the call, and Damian stepped closer at once. “What happened?”
I told him everything, and he listened without interrupting, though the longer I spoke, the harder his jaw became. By the time I finished, his wolf was so close to the surface that his eyes
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Chapter 204 The Ring And The Betrayal
had darkened noticeably.
“You aren’t going there alone.”
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Finished
“I wasn’t planning to.”
He picked up his jacket. “Good.”
I glanced at the silver ring on his finger, and even in the middle of this new crisis, seeing it there gave me a strange sense of steadiness.
I had bought those rings simply to thank him, but now they felt like proof that I didn’t have to carry every battle by myself.
Damian noticed me looking. “Do you regret buying it?”
“Never.”
His expression softened. “Then keep wearing yours.”
“And you keep wearing yours.”
“I will.”
We left the house together, and the drive to F-Tech was quiet, though the silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable.
Damian kept one hand on the wheel while the other rested near the gearshift, and every few minutes his wolf reached toward mine through the bond, checking that I was still steady.
I appreciated it more than I could put into words.
When we arrived, the building was still lit despite the late hour, and Rhys was waiting in the lobby. The moment he saw Damian beside me, his posture straightened.
“Alpha.”
Damian gave him a short nod. “Show us the documents.”
Rhys led us upstairs to the boardroom, where several directors were already seated, including Chris and Poppy.
Their faces changed the moment Damian walked in beside me, and I caught the nervous shift in Chris’s scent immediately. Fear, faint but there, enough to keep my wolf alert.
I took my seat. “Let’s begin.”
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Chapter 204 The Ring And The Betrayal
Chris pushed a folder across the table. “These are the transactions.”
I opened it, and the authorization carried my digital signature, matching mine almost perfectly. But I had never approved those payments.
“This is fabricated.”
Chris folded his arms. “You expect the board to believe that?”
“I expect the board to investigate before accusing its CEO of embezzlement.”
Poppy spoke quietly. “The documents came directly from the finance system.”
I turned toward her. “And who had administrative access to my executive account?”
Silence settled over the table until Rhys answered. “Three people.”
“Name them.”
“Me, Chris, and Poppy.”
Chris’s expression tightened. “I didn’t touch your account.”
“Neither did I,” Poppy said quickly.
I leaned back in my chair. “Then we’ll find out who did.”
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Finished
Damian remained silent beside me, but I could feel his presence through the bond, his Alpha instincts tracking every person in the room.
His fingers brushed occasionally against the silver ring on his hand, and I noticed Chris watching it a second too long before looking away.
My wolf growled quietly. “Chris.”
He looked at me. “Yes?”
“Why were you looking at my husband’s ring?”
His face changed at once. “I wasn’t.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed, but I didn’t press further, because at that moment the boardroom door opened. A security officer stepped inside carrying a sealed evidence bag.
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