Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever-Chapter 137 – That means I slept on the wrong side of the bed

Voren had driven into the hotel with a very specific purpose in mind, his schedule already tight and his patience running thin from the urgency of the meeting he had arranged with a business partner, and the last thing he expected was to come face to face with someone he would have preferred never to encounter again.

"Mr. Ashkael, we meet again."

The voice came smooth and slow, almost lazy in its delivery, but the weight behind it was anything but casual, and Voren didn’t need to look twice to recognize the man standing across from him, a cigar resting at the corner of his lips, dressed head to toe in pristine white like something out of a twisted illusion of purity.

Don Santiago Russo stood there like a fallen angel who had perfected the art of disguise, because under that polished exterior was something far darker, that had earned him a reputation whispered in places most people didn’t even know existed.

"That means I slept on the wrong side of the bed," Voren replied, his tone cold enough to strip any warmth from the air between them, his eyes narrowing just slightly as he took in the man before him.

Wherever Santiago went, chaos followed, and Voren knew that better than most, because if there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was that Santiago didn’t move without purpose, and whatever that purpose was, it was never harmless.

"I’m surprised," he looked around curiously. "Where are those thugs of yours?" He asked sarcastically, referring to Santiago’s unruly bodyguards.

A faint smile curled Santiago’s lips as he responded calmly. "I have eyes on a woman. I just feel the presence of my bodyguards might scare her."

Voren raised a brow but did not say anymore, wondering who that unfortunate woman was.

The timing of their arrival only made things worse, both stepping into the luxury hotel restaurant at the exact same moment, their presence instantly commanding attention in a way that made it seem to anyone watching from the outside, as though they were associates rather than enemies bound by a long history of silent war.

Santiago was not just another wealthy man with influence, or a figure operating in the shadows of power, because his reach extended into places that were rotten at their core, into dealings that left traces of destruction no one could ever quite pin on him.

And although Voren could connect him to countless acts of corruption and ruin across the world, there was never a single piece of evidence strong enough to bring him down, because Santiago had mastered the art of erasing his tracks so completely that it was almost as if they had never existed at all.

That was exactly why he remained untouchable, and dangerous.

Today, his presence here was not a coincidence. Santiago had come with intent, his attention already locked onto someone he had been watching from afar, someone who had captured his interest in a way that very few ever managed to do, and it didn’t take long for him to find her once he stepped inside.

His gaze landed on her almost instantly, drawn in as if by instinct, the woman in the red dress standing out effortlessly against everything around her, commanding attention without even trying, but the moment his eyes registered the man whose arm rested around her, something inside him tightened sharply, a reaction so immediate it bordered on irritation.

He bit down harder on his cigar, the faint tension in his jaw betraying the change in his mood, because the information he had been given painted a very different picture.

She had a boyfriend but he knew that man so well to know that whatever relationship they claimed to have was not real and yet, what he was seeing now didn’t quite align with that narrative.

The man we seeing her with did not sit right with Santiago, and the unease it stirred wasn’t something he was used to ignoring, but before he could act on that instinct, or step forward and test the situation himself, Voren’s voice cut through the tension with a sharp edge of sarcasm directed straight at Seraphine.

"It amazes me how you still have time to enjoy yourself when there is so much on your shoulders."

Santiago watched closely, expecting hesitation, discomfort, or even the slightest crack in her composure, but what he got instead only confirmed everything he had already been told about her.

She didn’t flinch, didn’t back down. Returning Voren’s sarcasm like a tennis ball.

"I heard that unease lays heavy on the head that wears the crown," Seraphine replied, her voice steady and unshaken, her gaze meeting Voren’s without the slightest trace of fear.

"The last time I checked, your net worth was in the trillions and climbing fast, so you should constantly be under pressure trying to manage all of that wealth, and yet here you are, making time to be here too."

There was something almost impressive in the way she held her ground, something that made Santiago’s interest sharpen rather than fade, because it wasn’t often that someone stood in front of Voren Ashkael and spoke to him like that without consequence.

Expecting to see anger or annoyance in his eyes, Voren’s lips curved into a faint smirk, the tension between them almost impossible to ignore. "We should stop meeting like this, but if it interests you, I’m here to meet a client."

"Oh, Sera was just going to rest," Corvine’s voice came in smoothly, stepping into the conversation with careful timing, as if he understood exactly how quickly things could spiral if left unchecked.

Voren’s attention moved past him, his sharp gaze sweeping over the others present, taking in Leon, then Augustine, and the moment his eyes settled on the latter, a subtle frown formed, the pieces not quite fitting together in a way he liked.

"Mr. Clyde, what brought you here?"

The question carried weight, and before Augustine could answer in a way that might complicate things even further, Seraphine stepped in, cutting him off before a single word could leave his mouth.

"We were discussing business, and now it’s late, so I should leave."

Her tone was controlled, but there was an underlying urgency there, a quiet push to end the conversation before it grew into something harder to manage, but just as she attempted to move past them, Santiago stepped forward, positioning himself directly in her path with an ease that felt far too intentional to be anything but calculated.

His presence was imposing in a way that didn’t rely on volume or aggression, but rather on the quiet certainty that he was not someone to be ignored, and the tension in the air around them was immediate, subtle but undeniable.

"Miss, I’d like to have a word with you."

For the first time, Seraphine felt uneasy, her gaze flickered toward Voren, as though measuring something unspoken between them.

Santiago’s lips curved faintly as he added, his voice dropping just enough to emphasize the intent behind his words. "In private."