The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate (Jason and Laila) by Caroline Above Story novel Chapter 37

Then a memory surfaced, crystalline and painful in its vividness.

Meeting Vanessa at that grimy dive bar where I'd been scraping by. Six years back now. Heavily pregnant, I'd been desperate for ANY employment that would overlook my condition.

She'd been perched alone at the bar. Pale, skeletal thin, radiating that hollow aura that screamed terminal illness.

"You look like you need a friend," she'd said.

We talked for hours. Two women having hit rock bottom, discovering unexpected kinship in their shared hopelessness.

After Ava's traumatic delivery—when complications nearly killed me—Vanessa showed up. Hospital visits. Thoughtful gifts. Comfort when I had literally nobody.

Then she told me the truth of her diagnosis. Terminal cancer. Months remaining, maybe. Both of us in the hospital at the same time, me recovering and her declining.

"I'm running out of time," she'd whispered, her hand fragile and cold in mine. "And I've got a serious problem. My family... they're predators. They'll dismantle everything I've created the instant I'm gone. My business, everything I fought to build, I can’t just let it be destroyed."

"How can I help?"

"Assume my identity." Her eyes locked onto mine with frightening intensity. "My sisters need protection. The company needs strength. You can do this."

I'd assumed medication was making her delirious. But she'd been utterly, terrifyingly lucid.

"We're similar enough. Same height, frame, coloring. With appropriate styling, they won't question anything." She squeezed my hand weakly. "You've got innate talent for reading people, for negotiation. I've seen you managing difficult customers, mediating conflicts—you're better at this than you realize."

She spent her last few months teaching me everything she knew. Business tactics. Client dynamics. Corporate politics navigation.

"Promise me," she'd rasped on her deathbed. "Promise you'll demonstrate more strength than I managed. Don't let them win."

I'd promised.

And now I was failing her spectacularly.

"The management team has a proposition," Sheila announced, dragging me back to the present. "We believe it's optimal if you resign as CEO. We'll restructure your position into something less intensive."

"You want my resignation."

"We want you prioritizing your daughter," she corrected with practiced smoothness. "And permitting someone with greater availability to lead."

The room watched. Waiting to witness my collapse.

Part of me wanted to surrender. To release this crushing burden and simply be Ava's mother.

But another part—the part that had promised Vanessa—absolutely refused.

"No," I said.

Sheila's eyebrows rocketed upward. "Pardon?"

"No. I'm not resigning." I rose slowly, locking eyes with each individual person. "I understand these concerns. Recent weeks have been brutal. But I constructed this company from nothing. I secured every significant contract we possess. And I'm not abandoning ship because of one turbulent period."

"This exceeds one turbulent period—"

"Give me a deadline." I severed Sheila's protest cleanly. "One month. If I can't reverse trajectory, secure fresh contracts, demonstrate the company's stability—then I'll resign voluntarily."

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