Find Sean

Rhea’s lips remained parted long after Alaric had walked past her. She was so shocked she neither moved nor blinked. She simply stood there, rooted to the floor, her mind refusing to process what had just happened.

CEO Thorne.

The words echoed relentlessly inside her head. It was Alaric. Her mother’s boyfriend. The man she had been avoiding ever since that disastrous dinner. The same man who had saved her life. Her CEO.

“What the fuck, Rhea!”

Maya hurried over, looking just as stunned as she did.

“What the hell was that?”

Rhea slowly turned to look at her.

“I…”

She couldn’t even finish her sentence. Maya grabbed both of her shoulders, careful not to touch the arm in the cast.

“Your mom’s boyfriend is CEO Thorne?”

Rhea stared blankly.

“I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know?” Maya almost squeaked before lowering her voice when a few nearby employees glanced in their direction. “Rhea… that’s impossible.”

“I swear.”

Maya searched her face for any sign that she was joking. There wasn’t one.

“Oh my God…” She ran a hand through her hair. “So your mother’s boyfriend is our CEO?”

Rhea let out a slow breath.

“I’m so screwed, Maya.”

Her mind drifted back to the evening before the accident. Alaric had been wearing an expensive charcoal suit, and she had assumed he’d dressed that way because Melissa wanted the dinner to be special. Now it all made sense. He hadn’t dressed for dinner. He had come straight from work.

“No wonder,” she whispered almost to herself.

Maya frowned.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

But it wasn’t nothing. It explained why he always carried himself with such quiet authority. Why people seemed to listen whenever he spoke.

Maya was still trying to wrap her head around it.

“I honestly don’t know which part shocks me more,” she admitted. “The fact that CEO Thorne is dating your mom… or the fact that you had absolutely no idea.”

Rhea managed a weak laugh.

“I’m trying to decide that myself.”

Just then, Maya’s phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen before slipping it back into her pocket.

“Come on, we should head back.”

Rhea nodded, but her thoughts remained somewhere else entirely forgetting that Matt had called her to his office earlier. Even after returning to her desk, she found herself glancing toward the executive wing more than once. She had come back expecting today to feel normal. Instead… everything had changed.

Several floors above, the doors of the executive elevator slid open. Alaric stepped out first. Matt followed closely behind him. Neither man spoke until they entered the spacious corner office. The moment the door closed, Alaric loosened his tie and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. Matt quietly shut the door behind them.

“I thought I told you to keep her away from the executive floor.”

Matt rubbed the back of his neck.

“I tried.”

Alaric turned.

“You tried?”

“I sent her a message to wait outside my office. I figured she’d still be there by the time you walked past.”

Alaric raised an eyebrow.

“Clearly she wasn’t.”

Matt let out a quiet sigh.

“She’s just coming back from medical leave. I couldn’t exactly ask her manager to send her carrying files around the building with a fractured wrist.”

Silence settled between them. After a moment, Alaric looked away again.

“The damage is done.”

Matt studied him carefully.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“I expected she’d find out eventually.”

“And now she has.”

Alaric nodded once.

“It doesn’t change anything.”

He crossed the room toward his desk and unlocked the top drawer. After searching through several folders, he pulled out a small worn notebook along with a stack of photocopied documents. He placed everything on the desk. Matt’s expression became serious.

“These are the files I recovered from Melissa Bennett’s villa house.”

Alaric continued quietly, resting one hand on the notebook. “The night of the accident, Melissa finally spoke about part of her past. Not everything. Just enough for me to realize we may be wrong about her. But I don’t trust anyone without proof.”

He slid the notebook across the desk. Matt flipped through it. Every page was filled with medical terminology, patient identification numbers, surgery dates, and handwritten notes. One patient's name appeared repeatedly—Sarah. Several questions had been circled over and over in dark ink, as though Melissa had spent years searching for answers no one wanted her to find.

“She was investigating the same case we are.” Alaric looked at Matt. “Then, suddenly, she stopped. Why?”

“Only Melissa can answer that.” Matt closed the notebook. “But asking her now would only make her suspicious.”

Alaric nodded slightly.

“You’re right.”

His hand drifted to another file inside the drawer. It was a worn brown envelope, delivered anonymously to him one month after Sarah’s death years ago. Inside was a single document accusing Melissa Bennett of medical negligence and naming her as the surgeon responsible for Sarah’s death. He placed it beside the notebook.

“But something doesn’t add up.”

Matt looked up.

“Melissa’s notes say six people were inside the operating room that day, naming a doctor called Sean.”

Alaric slid the anonymous report toward him.

“This report lists only five with Melissa as a lead surgeon.”

Matt frowned.

“Which means one of them is lying.”

Alaric’s gaze remained fixed on the documents.

“Or someone erased a name. But we can't trust any of these information.”

The office fell silent. After several long seconds, Alaric closed the notebook carefully before sliding it back across the desk.

“Find Sean.”

Matt nodded once.

“I already planned to.”

“Don’t just find him,” Alaric said. “Find out everything about him and get back to me. Check if he still works in the hospital. if not, find him.”

****

The rest of the afternoon disappeared beneath meetings, contracts, and endless paperwork, but every so often Alaric’s thoughts drifted back to the notebook resting inside his desk drawer. By the time the last meeting ended, darkness had already settled over the city. He gathered his keys and phone before leaving the office. Most of the employees had already gone home. The lobby was nearly empty as he and Matt stepped through the revolving doors.

Matt was halfway through their discussion when Alaric suddenly stopped walking. His eyes settled on the sidewalk across the driveway. Rhea was standing there. A tall man stood in front of her, his face filled with desperation as he carefully reached for her uninjured hand.

Alaric’s face revealed nothing. But Matt had worked beside him long enough to notice the subtle tightening of his jaw. It was enough.

“Do you know him?” Matt asked quietly.

Alaric didn’t answer. His gaze remained fixed on the man standing in front of Rhea.

Noah.