His Defiant Omega's Secret Double Life

Dorian Sterling POV:

I stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around my waist, the freezing water having finally cleared the last of the drug-induced fog from my mind. As the door swung open, my sharp Alpha hearing caught the distinct sound of the heavy balcony glass door sliding, accompanied by a rush of cold wind.

My eyes instantly zeroed in on the balcony. My heart gave a violent jolt.

A slender pair of hands, gripping the edge of the window sill, slipped from view. Someone had just dropped out of the window. From the thirty-second floor.

"Stop right there!" I roared, my Alpha aura exploding out of me instinctively. I lunged forward, crossing the room in a blur of speed, and grabbed the window frame, leaning halfway out.

She wasn't falling to her death. Using the building's ledges and an agility that was breathtaking to watch, a woman in a torn dress was moving down the sheer wall like a ghost. She was already two floors below me.

Sensing my intense gaze, she paused her descent in mid-air. She tilted her head up, giving me a side profile shrouded in the morning shadows. Her eyes, cold and filled with utter contempt, met mine directly. Then, with a sheer audacity that left me stunned, she freed one hand and elegantly pointed a finger back toward the room behind me.

Before I could process the gesture, she let go, continuing her rapid descent and quickly disappearing into the dawn shadows of the city below.

She escaped. Right under my nose, with a parting provocation.

An unprecedented rage, mixed with a dark, thrilling sense of being challenged, surged through my veins. I pulled myself back inside, my chest heaving, and walked over to the bedside table she had pointed at.

There, illuminated by the morning light, was a crisp hundred-dollar bill. Beneath it was a hotel notepad.

I picked it up, my eyes narrowing dangerously at the bold, elegant cursive.

"Mediocre performance. Here's a tip for your effort. Don't flatter yourself, Alpha."

I stared at the words, the sheer insult of them burning into my retinas. She paid me? She treated the most powerful Alpha in Silver Creek City like a cheap, unsatisfactory gigolo?

I let out a dark, furious laugh, my fingers crushing the edge of the wooden bedside table until it splintered.

"Kasey," I commanded my Gamma through our mind-link, my voice vibrating with ice-cold fury. "Use every resource. Find the woman who just climbed down from my balcony. I want her brought to me. Now."

Kira Beaumont POV:

I was in my friend Maya's apartment, my fingers flying across her laptop keyboard.

The security system topology of the Hilton Hotel was laid out on the screen. To Hawkeye of the Eagle's Nest, their firewalls were a joke.

I expertly bypassed several layers of defense and found all the surveillance footage from the corridor to the elevators from last night.

My objective: erase my presence.

With precision, I cut out every clip that showed my face or figure, replacing them with a seamless loop of an empty hallway.

Only after I was done did I let out a breath of relief. Now, at least through conventional means, Dorian Sterling wouldn't find me.

"Kira, you look terrible," Maya said, walking over with a cup of hot cocoa. Her face was etched with worry. "Are you really okay? Who did you meet last night?"

I shook my head, taking the cup. "A business client. It wasn't pleasant. Thanks for letting me stay, Maya." I couldn't tell her the truth. It would only drag her into my mess.

The hot cocoa warmed me, restoring some of my strength. I had to see someone. My father, Tucker Hicks.

I left Maya's apartment and took a cab back to the Hicks estate.

I stormed directly into my father's study. When he saw my disheveled state and torn dress, a flicker of shock crossed his face, but it was instantly replaced by cold calculation.

"Did you drug him?" I asked, my voice trembling with cold rage. I glared at the man who was supposed to protect me.

Tucker didn't even flinch. He leaned back in his leather chair, his eyes scanning my ruined dress with blatant disappointment. "Drug him? I heard the VP from Apex Industries was planning to use some dirty tricks to get close to Sterling, but I didn't interfere."

He sneered, his voice completely devoid of fatherly affection. "It was the perfect setup! A drugged Alpha, a locked room... it was a golden opportunity for you to finally make yourself useful to this family! But looking at your pathetic state, you blew the chance, didn't you? You couldn't even keep a drugged Alpha in bed long enough to get a signature! You useless girl!"

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water. He knew. He knew it was a trap, and he eagerly pushed me into it, hoping to profit from my violation. He didn't care about my dignity or my safety; he only cared about the investment.

"I am not your disposable tool," I said, my voice dropping to a deadly calm. The last shred of hope I had for this family shattered into dust. "I hope you enjoy watching your precious Pack burn."

I turned on my heel and left the study, ignoring his angry shouts behind me.

Walking down the hall, I ran right into my fake sister, Ashlee.

She saw my wretched state, and a flash of glee crossed her eyes before she quickly masked it with a look of concern. "Sister, what happened to you? You didn't come back last night. We were all so worried."

I ignored her fake sympathy and walked past her, heading to my room.

I couldn't stand being in this house a moment longer.

I opened my closet and started packing my few belongings. The villa, the one stipulated in the marriage contract as mine, it was time to move in.