Free Web NovelChapter 152: Chapter 152
Nathan’s POV
The moment Collins handed me the manuscript, I didn’t linger any further. My wolf was already pacing beneath my skin, restless and irritated, and the last thing I wanted was an audience.
“Head back to the company,” I told Collins, my voice clipped. He nodded and left immediately.
Inside the car, I tried, truly tried, to relax. But my wolf had other ideas. My jaw stayed tight, and every muscle in my body was coiled, ready to spring. Even Ken, Sophia’s advisor sitting across from me, kept shifting nervously. I could smell the unease rolling off him, sharp and sour.
I broke the silence first. “The Hemsworth Group has been dealing with some... troublesome issues lately,” I said, keeping my tone even. “Thank you for stepping in.”
My voice might have sounded calm, but I knew how heavy my aura was. It wasn’t something I could completely shut off. An Alpha, even one pretending to be just a CEO, didn’t stop being an Alpha.
Ken gave a weak chuckle. “My student isn’t very skilled yet. It’s only right I look out for her.”
He shot Sophia a look, one he probably thought I wouldn’t notice. But my wolf caught everything, her nervous swallow, the tightened fingers on her bag, but that was the least of my concern. My mind was elsewhere. Aria had gone to see Francis. Just thinking about it made my claws twitch beneath my skin.
I pressed my lips together and turned to stare out the window, focusing on the trees blurring past. Anything to distract myself from the low growl building in my chest. Aria is safe, I reminded myself. Francis wouldn’t dare harm her.
Still, my wolf didn’t like her being anywhere I couldn’t scent her. The absence of her scent gnawed at me.
Silence settled in the car, heavy and thick until Collins’s voice cut through.
“Alpha Nathan.”
We had arrived.
I stepped out, and noticed Ken’s breath caught. Towering above us stood the Hemsworth Group headquarters, A single powerful skyscraper tall enough to scrape the sky. Taller than every building around it.
He was filled with awe as he stared at it.
I turned to Sophia. “Take your teacher to your office,” I ordered softly but firmly.
Then I strode away, my steps quickening. I didn’t bother looking back.
We entered the executive elevator, just Collins and me.
Aria’s POV
Francis said it with a half-serious, half-playful tone. “I didn’t expect the address to have changed to somewhere within your soon to be ex husband’s company”. He parked in the underground garage and got out, then helped open my door. “Would this pretty lady walk me a bit?”
I couldn’t help it...despite everything weighing on my chest, a laugh slipped out. For a moment, the heaviness I’d been carrying loosened.
But the moment was short-lived.
A rough, unfamiliar male voice cut through the air. “You’re Aria?”
My instincts sharpened instantly. Before I could even turn, a thick arm lunged toward me.
My wolf snapped forward, my claws itching, but Francis reacted faster, shoving the hand away and pulling me behind him. His stance shifted. He became protective and tense.
“Who are you? What do you want?” He asked.
The stranger glared at him. “This has nothing to do with you. We’re looking for Aria.”
He flicked his hand, and several men behind him surged forward.
Francis didn’t wait. He kicked the first one square in the chest. The crack echoed across the pavement, followed by the man’s strangled cry as he crashed to the burning ground tiles. The midday sun was so fierce the stone felt like fire.
The others froze, fear thick in the air. My wolf inhaled it, sorting through their scents. They were all angry desperate wolves.
“I don’t know you,” I said evenly. “What do you want from me?”
I gently nudged Francis’s arm, signaling him to give me space. He hesitated but eventually stepped aside enough for me to face the leader of the group directly.
He jabbed a finger at my face. “It’s all over the internet! You’re Aria, as Alpha Nathan’s wife, you definitely know. Stop pretending you don’t!”
My wolf snarled. I slapped his hand away, the sound sharp enough to make the men behind him flinch.
I remembered the Hemsworth Group news. The accusations, the chaos.
But his words—You’re Aria—hadn’t been spoken with recognition. This man didn’t even know who I truly was. So who sent him?
Before I could ask, a shrill voice pierced the air.
“She knows!”
It was Sophia. fгeewebnovёl.com
She clutched her wrist dramatically as she walked over, false concern plastered across her face. “Nathan mentioned the Hemsworth Group problems in front of her! She knows!”
She repeated the accusation like she was performing onstage, then turned to me with a look so fake it made my wolf bare her teeth. “Aria, you’re Nathan’s wife. The company is in trouble. They already have a solution, you helped put it together. You have to explain that to them!”
She acted like she was some loyal guardian of the Hemsworth Group. It was almost laughable.
Her words, however, lit a fuse in the leader of the group.
“The solution?” he repeated. “Did you help them make it?”
He looked frantic, sweating through his shirt. “Impossible! My design drafts were posted online before Hemsworth Group’s! They copied us! How can they reverse this?”
His fear twisted into rage. He pointed at me with trembling fury. “You’re a bad woman too! Protecting Nathan with dirty tricks—aren’t you afraid of retribution?!”
