Alpha's Regret: Losing His True Mate-Chapter 180

After dinner, on the drive home, Rex was thinking about calling his father.

But before he could, his phone rang. Reed Hardin. Calling him first.

Rex answered. "Hey—"

"How’s the Cole deal going?"

Straight to the point. No pleasantries.

Rex grimaced. "...It didn’t work out. I was actually about to ask for your help."

"What happened?"

Rex sighed. "I offended one of their technical staff. And Johnny’s backing her, so now he won’t even talk to me—"

"What’s her name?" Reed cut in.

Rex blinked, a little surprised his father cared about the details. "Uh... Elodie."

Silence on the other end.

Then Reed let out a long breath and laughed. Actually laughed. "So let me get this straight. You haven’t even closed the deal yet, and you’ve already managed to piss off their core technical person. That’s impressive, son. Really."

Rex opened his mouth to clarify that Elodie wasn’t exactly ‘core’ staff, more like someone Johnny had a thing for but Reed didn’t let him.

"I’ll handle it," Reed said simply.

Rex perked up immediately. "Really? Thanks, Dad!"

"Shameless."

"When are you coming back for a visit?"

Reed snorted. "I was thinking about it. But now? I don’t know if I can handle seeing you in person. Might take years off my life."

Then he hung up.

Rex stared at his phone, unsure if that had gone well or badly.

---

On the other end, Reed sat back in his chair, shaking his head.

He wasn’t going to tell Rex the real reason he’d help. That Elodie wasn’t just some random employee. That she mattered.

Sometimes, when life handed you easy wins, it made you soft. Reed figured his son could use a little humility.

He then dialed Elodie’s number.

She answered on the second ring. "Uncle Hardin?"

Reed smiled. Sharp as ever. "You already know why I’m calling, don’t you?"

"Yeah."

Even though she’d guessed, Reed still asked properly. "Can you agree to work with Rex? As a favor to me?"

He kept his tone light. Business was business, after all. If both sides were professional about it, even people who didn’t like each other could make a deal work. And Elodie and Rex weren’t exactly enemies.

Still, Elodie hadn’t done anything wrong here. And Reed knew she wasn’t the type to roll over just because someone asked nicely.

But if he asked? She might.

Before she could answer, he added gently, "Take your time, Mag. No rush. Think it over and let me know when you’re ready."

"Okay."

Reed’s voice softened even more. "And as for Rex? Handle him however you see fit. Don’t worry about sparing my feelings."

"I understand."

He chuckled. She was always so straightforward. "Good. I’ll let you go. Talk soon."

"Goodbye, Uncle Hardin."

---

After she hung up, Elodie sat there for a moment, thinking.

Then she called Professor Nolan.

He didn’t pick up right away. About half an hour later, her phone rang.

"What’s going on?" Nolan’s familiar voice came through, calm and curious.

Elodie gave him a quick rundown of the situation with Rex and the Cole deal.

Nolan was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Reed doesn’t ask for favors often. When he does, it means something. Think carefully about this, Mag."

He was vouching for Reed. Making sure she understood the weight of the favour.

"I will. Thank you, Professor."

"Mm."

That was it. Nolan hung up without saying anything else.

---

Elodie didn’t call Reed back until the next morning.

When he picked up and heard her answer, his voice went soft. "Alright. I understand. Thank you, Mag."

"Of course, Uncle Hardin."

After they hung up, Reed leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

One of his colleagues walked by and laughed. "What’s with the face, Commander Hardin?"

Reed rubbed his temples. "I think I want a daughter."

The guy snorted. "You’re getting sentimental in your old age. Your son’s old enough to get married, focus on getting yourself a daughter-in-law instead."

Reed muttered, "It’s not that my son isn’t capable. He’s just not trying hard enough."

---

That afternoon, Rex showed up at Cole.

Reed had already talked to Elodie. She’d talked to Johnny.

When Johnny heard Rex was downstairs, he made him wait. Over an hour.

When Rex finally got called up, he came prepared. He had a brand-new proposal in hand, even better than the last one.

Johnny skimmed through it, his expression unreadable. Then he looked up.

"Looking forward to working with you," he said flatly.

Rex shook his hand. "The sooner we start, the better."

Rex didn’t have a problem with Johnny. His issue was with Elodie. But if they could put personal feelings aside and just do business? Fine. He could do that.

"It’s getting late," Rex said. "Why don’t we grab dinner and go over some of the details?"

Johnny smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. "Sure. But Elodie will be joining us. That’s okay with you, Mr. Hardin?"

Rex figured Johnny had only agreed to this deal because Reed had pulled strings through Nolan. So really, Elodie didn’t matter.

He didn’t like her. But if this was what it took to close the deal, he’d deal with it.

"Fine by me," Rex said. "As long as Miss Miller doesn’t mind."

Johnny didn’t answer. Just called someone to bring Elodie in.

A few minutes later, she walked through the door.

Rex expected her to look annoyed. Maybe even pissed at Johnny for dragging her into this.

But when she saw him, her expression stayed calm. Professional.

She walked over, extended her hand, and said simply, "Looking forward to working with you."

Elodie’s calm tone made it sound like she’d known all along they’d end up working together.

Rex didn’t think much of it. Figured Johnny had probably filled her in beforehand.

He shook her hand stiffly. "Looking forward to it."

---

They all headed to the same restaurant. As Elodie and Johnny were getting out of the car and about to head inside, Rex spotted something or rather, someone.

Dante and Sienna, they were walking in from the other entrance.

Rex stopped and called out. "Mr. Wilson. Miss Brown."

Dante and Sienna turned and noticed them.

Dante nodded politely. "Mr. Hardin. Mr. Gray."

Johnny’s smile was cold as ice. "Mr. Wilson."

Before anyone could say anything else, Johnny cut in. "You two enjoy your evening. We’re heading up."

And just like that, he and Elodie stepped into the elevator.

Rex stood there, a little thrown off.

He’d noticed before that Johnny didn’t like Dante. But this time, Johnny didn’t even bother hiding it. Just straight-up dismissed him.

Rex had no idea what bad blood existed between them, but it was obvious Dante was trying to keep things civil while Johnny... wasn’t.

Once the elevator doors closed, Dante and Sienna turned away.

Sienna glanced at Rex. "So the deal with Cole went through?"

Rex smiled. "Yeah. All set."

Sienna had known the deal fell apart before because Rex had pissed off Elodie, and Johnny had backed her up. Johnny had flat-out refused to work with Rex after that.

But now? Rex had gotten what he wanted.

Which meant that even though Elodie mattered to Johnny, when it came down to it, business came first.

Maybe she wasn’t that important after all.

Sienna smiled. "Congratulations."

Rex nodded. "Thanks."

Then he turned to Dante. "By the way, there’s a project your company’s working on that I’m interested in. When are you free? I’d like to sit down and talk about it."

Dante didn’t hesitate. "I’ve got time this week. Just let me know when works for you."

"Will do."

They got off the elevator on different floors. Rex headed to his private room.

When he walked in, Johnny and Elodie were already looking at menus. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Johnny glanced up. "Oh, Mr. Hardin. Done catching up?"

Rex sat down, deliberately choosing a seat farther from Elodie. He ignored Johnny’s tone and asked casually, "Is there some kind of issue between you and Mr. Wilson?"

Johnny didn’t even look up from the menu. "Not an issue. An old grudge."

Rex blinked. "...Right."

Nobody just casually dropped the phrase "old grudge" like that.

Deciding it wasn’t worth digging into, Rex changed the subject. "This meal’s on me. Order whatever you want. Don’t hold back."

Johnny still didn’t look up. "We weren’t planning to."

Rex... simply opened his mouth and then clamped it shut.