Chapter 2 The Boardroom Takedown

8:30 a.m. Kingston Group headquarters break room.

Darcy stood in front of the coffee machine, watching the black liquid slowly drip into her cup. The rich, bitter aroma filled the air around her, mingling with the faint scent of burnt beans and the low hum of the machine.

She wore a sharp-cut black business suit today, her hair pinned neatly at the back of her head in a tight bun. The cold fluorescent light fell across her pale skin, making it look almost translucent. Her amber eyes were calm, still as glass. Every trace of sharpness buried beneath the mask of a "part-time actuarial analyst in the risk control group." Nothing about her appearance suggested she was anything more than another low-level employee grabbing caffeine before the daily grind.

Click-clack. Click-clack.

High heels struck the wooden floor with a crisp, rhythmic sound, cutting through the low murmur of the break room.

Chloe walked in, dressed in a sleek skirt suit. As a low-ranked wolf who had also slipped out of the northern border, Chloe had used her gray-fox hybrid blood, docile and unassuming, to blend into the company's front desk without raising suspicion. It was a perfect cover for someone who wanted to stay invisible.

Not long ago, she had accidentally recognized some of Darcy's northern habits. The way Darcy held herself. The small tells in her speech. To avoid trouble, Darcy had brushed her off with the story of being a "Packless rogue," a story that was close enough to the truth to be believable. Chloe had accepted it, but she still watched Darcy like a hawk, always looking for an angle, always searching for leverage.

Chloe carried two lattes in her hands, steam rising from the cups. The look she gave Darcy was a messy tangle of fear, envy, and selfish panic. Her eyes darted around the room before she approached.

"Darcy, you worked late last night, didn't you?"

Chloe set a latte beside Darcy's hand and grabbed her wrist, her fingers cold and slightly damp. She lowered her voice to a tense whisper, leaning in close.

"You pulled core data from the risk control system last night? You've always been terrified of the North finding you. The more attention you draw, the easier you are to track! If you get exposed, I'll be dragged into it too! Do you have any idea what they'd do to us if they found out we're both runaways?"

Chloe's eyes went red around the edges. Her voice trembled with genuine fear, though there was something calculating beneath the panic. She wasn't just worried about Darcy. She was worried about herself.

Darcy gently pulled her hand free and picked up her black coffee. The warmth seeped into her palm, grounding her. Her voice was soft and calm, carrying no trace of the tension that coiled in her chest.

"If I don't draw attention, I'm dead by the end of today. They're setting me up to take the fall for thirty million in bad debt. If I stay quiet, I'm the one who ends up in prison. Or worse."

Chloe's expression froze. Her face cycled through shades of white and red. She opened her mouth as if to argue, her lips parting and closing like a fish gasping for air. But when she met Darcy's eyes, those clear, unyielding amber eyes, the defiance in her gaze crumbled like ice under hot water.

Darcy knew Chloe too well. This woman was selfish above all else, driven by survival and self-preservation. The moment she realized threats and moral guilt-tripping worked on Darcy, she would push harder, demanding more, taking everything she could. But the moment she sensed she had no leverage, her survival instincts would kick in, and she would retreat like a frightened animal.

Sure enough, a flicker of retreat crossed Chloe's eyes. She clenched her jaw so hard the muscles stood out along her jawline. She didn't dare say another word. She let go of Darcy's sleeve, her fingers uncurling slowly, and stepped back half a pace. The distance between them grew.

"Fine. Suit yourself." Chloe threw out a weak, unconvincing threat, her voice lacking any real bite. She turned sharply on her heel and walked out of the break room, her heels clicking a rapid, agitated rhythm against the floor.

Darcy watched her go, then took a slow sip of her black coffee. The bitterness settled on her tongue like a promise.

Nine o'clock. Top-floor boardroom.

The oval table was packed with executives and representatives from five major affiliated Packs. The air was thick with suppressed Alpha presence, the tension so heavy it felt like a physical weight pressing down on everyone in the room. The representatives from the five Packs sat in rigid silence, their eyes tracking one another with the wariness of wolves who knew that alliances could shift in an instant.

The PR director sat near the front, straightening his tie with a smug, self-satisfied smile. His hands were steady, his posture relaxed. He was certain of victory. He had planted the trap, and now he was about to spring it.

Darcy walked in with her laptop and sat down quietly at the presentation station. She didn't make eye contact with anyone. She just opened her computer, placed her fingers on the keyboard, and waited.

The heavy wooden doors swung open. The low murmur in the room died instantly, replaced by the kind of silence that presses against the ears.

Asher Kingston walked in. He wore a black tailored suit, the fabric so dark it seemed to absorb the light around him. He radiated the cold, oppressive energy of a top-tier Alpha, the kind of presence that made lesser wolves lower their eyes and hold their breath.

Darcy looked up.

The man before her was calm, regal, untouchable. His face was carved from ice, his expression unreadable. But on the right side of his lower lip, a fresh wound, still beaded with blood. The mark he'd bitten into himself last night to hold back his beast. The cut was small, barely visible unless you knew where to look. But she knew. She remembered the taste of blood in the air, the sound of his low, strangled growl.

Asher settled into the head chair. His dark gray, almost black pupils swept across the room without warning and locked onto Darcy.

Darcy's gaze paused on the wound on his lip for half a second. Just a flicker of recognition. No one else in the room would have noticed.

But Asher caught it. A slow, deep gold flicker surfaced beneath his dark irises, there and gone in less than a heartbeat. His gaze dropped to her right hand resting on the keyboard, the back of her hand, where three faint scratches from his claws still marked her skin. The lines were thin, already healing, but they were there. Evidence of last night.

They held each other's gaze across a room full of executives. Neither spoke. But only the two of them knew what had happened in that elevator. The tension between them was invisible to everyone else, but it crackled in the air like static before a storm.

"Begin." Asher's low, hoarse voice shattered the silence. The single word landed like a hammer blow, drawing every pair of eyes in the room to the front of the table.

The director shot to his feet, launching his attack with practiced theatricality. "Board members, Mr. Kingston! The billion-dollar merger has uncovered a thirty-million-dollar bad debt exposure. This is a serious verification error by our part-time actuarial analyst, Darcy! She has already signed off on the risk report, and her signature is on the final document!"

The large screen displayed a final document bearing Darcy's electronic signature. The letters were crisp, clear, unmistakably hers.

"Darcy, look for yourself. Is this your signature or not?!" The director's voice dripped with cold triumph. His smile was wide, confident, cruel.

Darcy rose unhurriedly from her seat. She adjusted her microphone with a calm that bordered on detached, and her voice cut through the murmuring room.

"The signature is real."

The entire room held its breath. The director's face lit up with victory, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. He opened his mouth to deliver the final blow.

But Darcy kept going, her voice smooth and steady, her eyes fixed on the screen.

"But the document on the screen is fake."

The room went dead silent. The director's smile faltered.

Darcy's fingers flew across the keyboard, pulling up the server log stream. The code scrolled across the massive display in green text, each line a piece of a larger puzzle.

"I signed off on Version 17. The document on the screen is Version 19. The modification was made within half an hour after my signature, and the alteration permissions came from the director's office. Every edit, every change, every falsified entry, it all traces back to his terminal."

The director's face went pale. "You're lying! This is a fabrication!"

Darcy brought up the next layer of evidence without missing a beat. Her hands moved with practiced precision, her eyes never leaving the data.

"The thirty million in bad debt that was added through the alteration. It was routed through an offshore laundering channel, one commonly used by the northern territories. And the legal representative of the receiving account." She paused, letting the silence stretch. "Your wife."

BOOM. The room erupted. Representatives from the five affiliated Packs exchanged sharp glances. Whispers broke out like wildfire.

The director slumped in his chair, his face drained of all color. His hands gripped the armrests so hard his knuckles went white. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

At the head of the table, Asher had not spoken a single word in Darcy's defense. He simply sat with his hands braced on the table edge, his cold gaze fixed on her as she closed the evidence loop on her own. There was no surprise in his expression. No shock. Just a quiet, watchful patience, the look of a man who had already known how this would end.

Only when the final fund record hit the screen, confirming every detail of the fraud, did Asher finally move. He straightened in his chair, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.

"Take him. Hand him over to legal for financial fraud and illegal benefit transfer."

Guards stepped forward and dragged the ashen-faced director out of the room. His legs gave out beneath him, and he had to be half-carried across the floor.

Asher rose to his feet. His dominant gaze swept across the room, silencing the murmurs, and landed on Darcy.

"From this moment on, you will independently review the risk control for this merger. You report to no department. You report directly to me."

A wave of low murmurs rippled across the table. Some faces showed shock. Others showed clear dissatisfaction, mouths pressed into thin lines. But no one dared to openly challenge Asher's decision.

The meeting broke up.

Darcy had just packed up her laptop and stepped out of the boardroom when Asher's chief aide approached her. He bowed respectfully, holding out a sleek black elevator card.

"Miss Clark. Mr. Kingston is waiting for you in the top-floor office."