Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Emilia’s POV

"Okay, I’ll be there in a minute."

I put on a coat and hurriedly drove to the company.

When I arrived at the Simons Imperial Group headquarters, Fynn was already waiting outside the executive suite. The moment I stepped off the elevator, his shoulders dropped with relief.

"Thank the Moon Goddess you’re here," he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair. "They’ve been at it ten minutes already."

"How bad?"

"Bad enough I’m worried one of them won’t walk out of there." He nodded at Sebastian’s office door. "I can’t go in. Alphas have fights. But you can."

I approached the heavy door but didn’t reach for the handle. Instead, I pressed my ear against the wood, listening.

Something shattered inside. Porcelain, by the sound of it.

"How dare you show your face to me?" Sebastian’s voice was pure venom. "Get the hell out of my office."

"I didn’t come to apologize." Damien, his voice pulled tight. "I came to tell you the truth. Abigail never betrayed you, Sebastian. Not with her body, not with her heart."

A bitter laugh. "And I’m supposed to believe anything out of your mouth? After what you did?"

"Believe me or don’t." Damien’s voice climbed. "But you could ask Abigail yourself. Or are you too much of a coward to face her?"

"Don’t you—" Sebastian’s words broke into a snarl, more wolf than man.

A fist landed. Furniture went over. I winced against the door.

"I won’t let you talk about her like that," Damien ground out. "Anyone in this world gets to judge her. Not you. You lost that right."

"If you love her so damn much, why come back?" Sebastian’s voice scraped raw. "To rub it in my face? Show me how happy you are?"

"She left because of you!" Damien roared. "And she came back because of you too. In Abigail’s whole world there’s only ever been one person, and it’s you, you blind fool."

"Shut your mouth. I’m not the naive idiot you and Abigail made a fool of three years ago."

A beat of scuffling. Then Damien, sharp with accusation: "Abigail’s family was destroyed because of you. I came to get her justice."

The room went dead silent.

When Sebastian spoke again, his voice was deadly quiet. "What did you just say?"

"You want the truth, ask Abigail yourself." Damien sounded winded now. "Don’t assume she wasn’t bleeding just because she didn’t cry in front of you. Don’t assume she betrayed you when she’s the one who got wronged. The Simons family owes her everything."

"Explain. Now."

"I don’t owe you a thing." Damien’s footsteps came toward the door. "Want answers? Go dig them up yourself. But ask yourself this, Sebastian. Why would a woman who loved you with everything she had suddenly run off with another man? Did you ever once look into what actually happened? Or did you just decide you’d been betrayed and call it a day?"

The handle turned. I barely got a step back before Damien wrenched the door open.

We locked eyes. His face was a mess, blood beading at a split lip, a bruise already darkening along his jaw. His guitar case leaned against the wall where he’d left it before going in.

Neither of us said a word. He grabbed the case and brushed past me toward the elevators.

I stood there half a second, thoughts racing. Then, instead of walking into Sebastian’s office like I was supposed to, I turned and went after Damien.

"Wait." I caught him at the building’s front entrance. "We need to talk."

He stopped and searched my face. After a long moment, he nodded. "Alright."

We ended up at a quiet café two blocks down, the kind with dark wood paneling and soft jazz. I ordered two cappuccinos without asking what he wanted. When the server left, I pulled a clean tissue from my bag and slid it across the table.

"For your face."

"Thanks." He dabbed at the corner of his mouth and winced. "I’m guessing you heard all that."

"Most of it." I wrapped both hands around my cup, even though it was still too hot to drink. "We’re friends, aren’t we?"

Something flickered across his face. "Yes."

"Then as your friend, I have to ask. Why are you trying to blow up my marriage?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

"You know Sebastian hasn’t gotten over Abigail. You know that." I leaned in. "So why walk into his office and say all that? That she still loves him, that she’s been waiting, that it was all his fault? What did you think was going to happen?"

"I was telling him the truth."

"The truth." I laughed, no humor in it. "What truth? What happened to Abigail? How is her family falling apart Sebastian’s fault?"

"It’s complicated."

"That’s not an answer, Damien."

"Some things are better left alone." His green eyes, so like Sebastian’s but softer, held mine. "Don’t dig into this, Emilia."

"You think I’m going to let it go?"

"Do what you want." He pulled something from his jacket and set it on the table between us. A concert ticket. "But I’m warning you as a friend. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss."

I picked it up and read the elegant print. Magic: A Date Night With You.

"You’re in a band?"

"I was. We broke up three years ago, when I left Silverlake City." A ghost of a smile. "This is our reunion show. First time on stage in three years. Come if you want."

He stood, dropped a few bills for the coffee, and left before I could get another word out.

I sat there a long time, turning that ticket over and over in my hands.

Magic. I remembered them now. Four years ago, when I first started at Hanson Group, they were everywhere. Their songs played in every café, every shop, every car radio. Then one day they just vanished. I never knew why.

"Now you do," Eve murmured in my mind. "He left because of Abigail."

"Seems like it."

"Are you going to go?"

"I don’t know yet."

But even as I thought it, I knew I would. I needed answers. And something told me that concert would hand me a few.