All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S REGRET: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

Leslie stumbled through the parking lot, her vision blurred with tears.She needed to leave. Now. Before anyone else saw her like this.She pulled out her phone with shaking hands and opened the cab app. Her fingers were still sticky. The smell made her want to vomit.The same app she’d used to get here. Because Tony never let her ride in his car. Never let her use any of the family vehicles.“You’ll take cabs like you used to,” his mother had said on their wedding day. “Don’t get comfortable. You’re not family. You’re temporary help.”And Tony had nodded. Agreed. Like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.So Leslie took cabs. Always. Even to events like this where everyone else arrived in luxury cars with drivers in uniforms.She’d gotten used to the shame of it. The way the valet attendants looked at her when she climbed out of a beaten-up Toyota instead of a Mercedes. The way other guests whispered when they saw her arriving alone, without her husband.But tonight, standin

Catherine poured herself a glass of brandy, her hands steady. Elegant. Like she hadn’t just destroyed a girl upstairs.Tony loosened his tie and dropped into the leather chair across from her. “She made it easy.”“She always does.” Catherine took a sip, savoring it. “Did you see her face when you called her an embarrassment? I thought she might actually faint.”Tony laughed. It was cold. Empty. “She’s pathetic.”“Useful, though.” Catherine swirled the brandy in her glass. “For now.”“For now,” Tony agreed.Silence settled between them. Comfortable. Conspiratorial.Catherine walked to the window, looking out at the manicured gardens. The estate that now belonged to them. Every inch of it paid for with blood and lies.“I spoke with the warden today,” she said casually.Tony looked up. “And?”“Your dear step-brother is doing poorly.” Catherine’s lips curved into a smile. “Apparently prison doesn’t agree with him. No family visits. No phone calls. No hope. It’s all very depressing.”“Good

Back at the Blackwell mansion.Leslie returned from the salon late in the afternoon. Her hair was perfect now. Shiny. Styled. Expensive looking.It made her feel like even more of a fraud.She stood in the entrance hall for a moment after the driver dropped her off, looking at herself in the large mirror by the door. The woman staring back at her had perfect hair and hollow eyes and a face that had learned to show nothing.She barely recognized her.Eight months ago she had been a waitress who laughed too loud and cried at commercials and called her mother every single day. Now she stood in a mansion that cost more than her entire neighborhood and felt less like a person than she ever had in her life.She turned away from the mirror and walked inside.She heard the voices before she reached the sitting room.Laughter. Coming from behind the partially open door.Her stomach twisted.She knew that laugh.Victoria.Leslie walked quietly toward the sound, her heels barely making noise on