The old Alpha's dying wish.
Kayden, who'd been struggling just a moment before, went still like someone had hit pause. My heart twisted. I searched his face desperately, waiting for him to deny it.
Waiting for him to say something—anything—with that same desperate urgency he'd had when he showed me the journal. Just one word would be enough.
Deny her. Tell her you won't marry her.
But Kayden stayed silent.
That moment of hesitation—maybe less than three seconds—I saw it all. His throat worked. His lips parted like he wanted to speak, butnothing came out. Only those silver eyes boring into mine, begging me to understand something.
What? That this was difficult for him? That he had responsibilities?
Diana howled in the depths of my mind. She could sense our mate, feel that destined pull, and she was screaming at me to lunge forward, tear that woman apart, take back what belonged to us.
Take him back! He's ours! Our mate!
He rejected you, Diana. Rejected us both.
My heart went cold, plummeted, shattered.
He's not our mate.
Diana let out an even more anguished cry, like her soul was being torn in two, before she curled up in the back of my consciousness, leaving only dead silence.
Don't do this, Layla. Do something. Force yourself to do something.
I closed my eyes hard, swallowed the urge to cry, adjusted my expression, and put on that perfect, professional, polite smile—the mask that had saved me countless times over the past seven years.
"Hello, Miss Victoria." I extended my hand, my voice terrifyingly steady. "I'm Ella Ross, Mr. Blackwood's..."
I paused, my gaze sliding to Kayden. A flash of pain crossed those silver eyes—so obvious, so real.
But so what?
"Your fiancé's business partner. Nothing more."
I called Kayden—the mate who should have been mine—another woman's fiancé.
Each syllable felt like it was tearing my heart apart, the pain almost suffocating. Blood dripped, drop by drop, pooling in my chest.
But I couldn't let it show.
I couldn't.
Victoria smiled with satisfaction, a hint of victory in her expression. "Miss Ross, you're so professional. No wonder Kayden speaks so highly of your work."
She emphasized "Kayden" deliberately, staking her claim.
"You're too kind." I withdrew my hand and turned to Kayden, my tone businesslike to the point of cold. "I'll email you the rest of the project details, sir."
I took a step back and gave a small nod.
"To avoid any impropriety, we shouldn't meet again."
Then I turned and walked away.
"Ella—" Kayden's voice came from behind me, carrying an urgency I'd never heard before.
