Chapter 132

The manila folder Charlie placed on my desk felt heavier than it should have, its contents representing weeks of careful investigation that I'd both dreaded and demanded. My Beta stood across from me with the careful posture he adopted when delivering information that would cause pain, his usually confident demeanor tempered by something that looked uncomfortably like sympathy. "Alpha," he began, his voice carrying the weight of reluctant duty, "we've identified who was responsible for the campaign against Ms. Claire." I opened the folder with steady hands, though something in Charlie's expression had already prepared me for devastation. The photographs and documents inside told a story I'd hoped never to see confirmed, each piece of evidence building toward a conclusion that felt like a physical blow to my chest. "It was Adrian and Nicole," Charlie said quietly, the words falling between us like stones dropped into still water. "Working together." The silence that followed stretched u