CHAPTER 140: CHAPTER 140 THE MISTAKE IN NEW YORK

Draven’s POV

When I woke up,my head was pounding and sunlight was streaming through unfamiliar curtains.I was naked in Liz’s bed, with her naked body pressed against mine.

Panic surged through me as fragmented memories of the night before flickered through my mind—Liz undressing me, her mouth on mine, her hands everywhere. But the memories were hazy, dreamlike.

My phone was ringing somewhere in the room. I disentangled myself from Liz and stumbled around, finally finding it in the pocket of my discarded pants.

"Goddamnit, Draven, do you know what time it is?" Ryan’s voice boomed through the speaker. "I don’t know what else to make up for our clients anymore, for Christ’s sake!"

I glanced at the time and cursed. It was nearly noon,I’d missed the morning meeting entirely.

"I’ll be there in an hour," I promised.

"Don’t even think about showing up here. I’ve already told them you were feeling unwell. Go back to the hotel and wait for me there, locked in your room and alone!" Ryan hung up, not waiting for a response.Ryan was one of the few who could piss me off, but I’d never take it personally. He was my Beta, and he wasn’t wrong all those years ago—Liz did bring out the worst in me.But I wasn’t that reckless college kid anymore,I was an Alpha with responsibilities.

I dressed quickly and left without waking Liz, leaving only a hastily scribbled note apologizing for leaving without saying goodbye.

Back at the hotel, I showered and tried to piece together what had happened. Why couldn’t I remember clearly? I’d been drunk before, but never had blackouts like this. Alaric was agitated, growling and pacing within me, equally confused and distressed.

When Ryan and Kyle knocked on my door an hour later, their anger hit me like a physical force before they even entered.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ryan demanded as soon as I let them in. "You missed the most important meeting of this trip!"

"Ryan, it won’t happen again," I assured him, massaging my temples. My head was still pounding.

"It better not, because like my mother says, if you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas!" Ryan was shouting. I’d rarely seen him this angry.

"If Caroline finds out about this or if any of the other women in the office find out, you’ll lose her forever. Mark my words!"

"I know," I admitted, collapsing into a chair. "I don’t know what got into me last night. I just wanted... to forget for a while."

"Oh really?" Ryan’s voice dripped with sarcasm. "Remember when we went to that club in Vegas and you ended up with that dancer’s number? Remember the night of the masquerade ball that you can barely recall? Oh right, you don’t remember that one at all!"

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water. I loved Caroline, truly loved her, and here I was, making the same mistakes that could drive her away forever.

"Did you sleep with Liz?" he asked bluntly.

"I think so," I said quietly.

"You think so?" His voice was sharp.

"Can you keep this between us?" I asked, feeling the burn of shame. "I promise for the rest of our time here, I’ll only leave this room for meetings."

"You better," Ryan warned. "If this reaches any of the girls’ ears, I will be in trouble too. Ruby would kill me if she found out I was covering for you, and I don’t even want to think about what would happen if Caroline knew."

"I promise," I said solemnly, raising my hand as if taking an oath.

For the remainder of our stay, I kept that promise. I only left my hotel room for client meetings, focusing entirely on business. Ryan and Kyle seemed eager to wrap things up and get out of New York as quickly as possible.

Ryan mentioned that Liz had come looking for us at the hotel, but he’d instructed the staff not to tell her we were staying there. That worried him,he knew how persistent she could be when she wanted something.

We managed to close a very advantageous contract addendum with the New York clients, which at least seemed to calm Ryan’s anger toward me somewhat. By Thursday night, we were on a flight back home.

Friday morning we were back at the office, and I braced myself for seeing Caroline again. When she walked into my office for our debriefing meeting, she looked beautiful but somehow fragile—slightly thinner, with subtle shadows under her eyes. Seeing her made my chest tighten with guilt and longing.

"Welcome back," she said,keeping her distance."I’ve prepared a summary of everything that happened while you were away."

As she began her report, my phone buzzed with an email from my lawyer. The prenup agreement with Ella was ready—with the clause about mandatory paternity testing included as a stipulation of my father’s will, under penalty of losing all assets to a charitable foundation. This would force Ella to take the tests I needed to prove the child wasn’t mine.

I couldn’t give Howard a chance to intervene or give Ella time to prepare. I needed to act quickly. I called Dr. Molina immediately after Caroline left my office and asked if he would be at the hospital the next day. He told me he usually didn’t work Saturdays but assured me it wouldn’t be a problem to meet me. We scheduled the tests for the following day.

As I hung up, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was balancing on a knife’s edge. One wrong move and I could lose everything—my company, my reputation, and worst of all, any chance with Caroline.