MARKED BY THE ALPHA CEO のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 5

For two years, I lived with the comforting delusion that my life was stable.Not happy, necessarily. Not the kind of life people write inspirational captions about. But stable in a way that felt safe, like a chair that hadn’t collapsed yet, so you assumed it wouldn’t. Kit and I shared an apartment, a bed, and the mutual understanding that love didn’t have to be dramatic to be real. We argued about stupid things. Whose turn it was to cook? Why he never replaced the empty milk carton? Normal relationship stuff.I thought that meant we were solid.Apparently, it just meant I was spectacularly naive. Three months ago, Murphy showed up at my door.She didn’t knock like someone who belonged there. She knocked like someone asking permission to exist. The kind of knock designed to tug at your conscience before you even opened the door.When I did, she looked exactly like Murphy always had. Beautiful in a way that made people forgive her before she spoke. Blonde hair falling just slightly out

Elara's point of viewTerror is inconvenient like that. It doesn’t arrive with clarity or structure. It doesn’t wait for you to sit down and process it properly. It scrambles things. Erases details. Leaves you with fragments instead of memories, like a badly edited film that cuts out the most important scenes.I remembered the crash... I remembered hands grabbing me. Too strong. Too fast. I remembered a voice telling me not to look, and then nothing at all.When I woke up, I was staring at a ceiling that was not mine.For a brief, disoriented moment, I wondered if I’d finally lost my mind and teleported into a stranger’s apartment. Then I noticed the faint lavender scent in the air and the aggressively cheerful throw pillows.It was Emily’s place.My head throbbed as I shifted, every movement reminding me that my body had been through something it hadn’t signed up for. Emily appeared almost instantly, hovering over me like a worried mother hen who had definitely judged my life choices

Elara's point of viewBy the time Margaret told me the CEO wanted to see me, my brain had already reached its own verdict. I was in trouble.The kind that came with carefully worded emails and phrases like “not aligned with company culture” and “we wish you the best in your future endeavors.” The kind that made you regret every life choice that had led you to stepping into the wrong elevator on the wrong morning with the wrong man.I nodded like a professional adult and stood up like someone walking toward a firing squad.The walk to the executive floor felt longer than it should have. Each step echoed too loudly, my heels tapping out a rhythm that sounded suspiciously like you messed up, you messed up, you messed up. My mind replayed the morning without my permission. The elevator doors. The quiet. The way he’d looked at me. Not angry. Not amused. Just… aware.Too aware.I stopped in front of the CEO’s office and hesitated.This was ridiculous. I had presented to directors before. I