Verity:

I was walking through the corridors when I accidentally bumped into Jaguar.

Keyword: accidentally.

It was not an accident. I had planned it.

Theodore had completely ignored me, whereas Jaguar had brought his ex back, and I wanted to know exactly what was going through his head before I decided my next steps carefully.

So obviously, I was intrigued to find out more.

"I’m so sorry," I said as I knelt to gather the files.

He remained standing.

Usually, he would have immediately jumped in to help me. This time, he took his sweet time.

I hated the thought that I already felt as if I was starting to lose him without ever having him.

Finally, he knelt down.

"I hope you haven’t received any more texts or calls from Gigi’s crazy lover," Jaguar commented.

My fist slowly curled around one of the files, but I did it subtly.

"Um, so far, everything is good," I responded dryly.

He nodded and slowly got to his feet with me.

We stood face-to-face, and at least he seemed willing to have a conversation.

"I had a nightmare last night, and I thought–" I began, trying to stir some emotion in him. "What if somebody breaks into my house again?"

"Oh, I’ll give you my warrior’s number. Call him anytime you feel threatened," he replied.

It was not his usual tone. It lacked that casual, sexy edge I was used to hearing, and I did not like it.

He could not discard me like that.

"Right," I said, taking a deep breath. "I almost called you, but then I stopped myself."

I was in the middle of speaking when he began to nod.

"You did the right thing."

As soon as he said that, I froze.

"Excuse me?" I asked in confusion.

"Actually, you must have found out that I’m dating someone, so it wouldn’t be appropriate if she found out you’ve been calling me," he replied softly, though there was confidence in his voice, as if he was certain he wasn’t saying anything wrong.

Or maybe he just did not care anymore.

"I’m just curious," I uttered.

He narrowed his eyes, almost as if he were asking what I was curious about.

"You had a girlfriend?" I asked. "I just didn’t really get that. And I was thinking about the words you should have said to me."

"Yeah. I had broken things off with her. It’s just that recently we’ve been trying to rekindle things."

He wasn’t looking me directly in the eye. That was how I knew what a coward he was.

"Oh," I uttered.

"Recently? You mean when you were in my home and wanted to take things a little further?"

The moment I brought that up, I watched him look at me.

It wasn’t a look of anger or frustration. It was the look of someone who didn’t like being reminded of his shortcomings.

"I don’t want to make you feel some sort of way, but you made me feel some sort of way," I said.

Before I could continue, he began to shake his head.

"I guess you’re the one who said there would never be anything between us. So I’m not sure why it’s such a big thing now."

As he said that, I watched him in silence.

"Yeah, I said it," I replied. "And I’m so glad I did, because that’s exactly what I meant."

I mumbled softly, smiling at him, finally looking as though I had found closure.

"You have a different kind of status, and you can always do things your way. I’m just an omega. I won’t have any say in the matter. So I’m glad you told me about it, and I’m really happy for you, sir. Aster is a pretty woman."

No matter how hard I tried to look confident, he could tell he had been caught in a very messy situation.

Because it looked as though I had caught him cheating on me.

The points I had raised had clearly called out his hypocrisy. He had come to my house and promised that he would win me over, that he would bridge the differences between us.

Yet now he was telling me that he was already trying to rekindle his relationship with his ex.

At that moment, he had no answer.

He simply stood there, silently looking at me.

"Have a great rest of the day," I said before walking past him.

"Baby, I’ve planned dinner for us."

I had only taken a few steps when Aster arrived and started speaking with him.

I overheard where they were heading, and at that moment, I decided I could not let them drift too far away from me for too long.

Before they completely forgot about me, I would have to work my magic again.

And there was one more thing a woman could do to make a man fall for her.

More than beauty, jealousy worked.

So I decided to do something.

As I sat behind my desk, I checked my dating profile.

And well, guess what?

I had several matches and several men waiting to take me out to dinner.

I guess I would have to pick one for the night.

I was tired all day, and all I wanted was to go home and get ready for the date.

They could not just get a taste of my body and then move on.

I had done all that for revenge, and revenge was what should be served.

So I was ready for the night.

When the day finally ended, I took the elevator and hurried to the ground floor.

I was so angry that I did not even realize someone was right behind me.

"Miss Verity!" a voice thundered across the empty hall, making me stop in my tracks.

I was always the last one to leave, thanks to Alpha King Ragnar.

He made me do so much work, and now he was stopping me when I was finally about to escape this hellhole.

I stopped and turned around, only to see the three brothers walking toward me.

Wow. What a moment.