Claimed by My Bestie's Alpha Daddy novel Chapter 88

Chapter 156

I showed her my journal, the way I catalogued every interaction, every glance, every word, because it was the only place I had to say any of it out loud. I couldn’t tell him, and I couldn’t tell anyone else, so the journal became the only place I could admit what he meant to me. I wrote down everything, not just what happened but how it felt, what I wished he’d said, what I wished I’d said back. I told her how I kept hoping he’d say something, do something, make it real. And how every time he didn’t, it hurt more, because I had all those hopes spelled out. in ink, proof that I wanted more even when I couldn’t ask for it.

Emma didn’t interrupt. She let me pour it all out, eyes never leaving mine.

“I thought I could handle being the secret,” | whispered. “I thought I could take the scraps. But I’m drowning in them now. And I still can’t stop wanting him.”

Emma’s voice was quiet when she finally spoke. “I always suspected there was something. But I didn’t know it went that deep.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I admitted. “But pretending | don’t care doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

She took my hand. “It never does.”

We didn’t-finish the movie. I think we both needed the silence more.

Sometime past midnight, I woke to my phone buzzing. My fingers fumbled for it in the dark.

New memo: Potential document leak. Source unknown. Investigation ongoing.

Emma stirred beside me. “Another disaster?”

“Looks like it.”Later, Richard texted: Secure wing. 11 PM. Come alone.

I didn’t answer, but I went.

The estate was dim, quiet, unnervingly still. I moved through it like a ghost, like someone retracing her own footsteps. When I reached the secure wing, he was waiting, standing like a shadow against the glass.

He didn’t speak at first. Just stepped forward and took my hand, brushing a kiss across it like I was something sacred. For a second, I thought he might tell me he missed me, or that he was sorry. His eyes searched mine like he was trying to find the right words, and maybe he did, but none of them made it to his lips.

“What am I doing here, Richard?” I asked quietly.

He exhaled, his grip on my hand tightening. “I wanted to see you. To explain, maybe.”

“Then explain.”

His mouth opened, but nothing came out at first. Then, haltingly, ” didn’t know about the leak. Not at first. Nathan said the image was fabricated, built from spliced footage, but I—I didn’t know if it was real. I couldn’t tell. That’s how messed up this has all become. I couldn’t even recognize the truth.”

We were too close. I was still angry, but part of me ached for him, for us. I leaned in before I could stop myself, kissed him hard, desperate, needing something from him I couldn’t name.

He responded instantly, pulling me close, but something in me recoiled. The moment cracked open mid-kiss, and I pulled back suddenly, breathless and furious. “I can’t do this,” I said, stepping away.

“I thought I could, but I can’t. I’m still mad at you. And you don’t get to kiss me like that without fixing any of it.”

His face fell. “Amelia-“I shook my head. “No. Not tonight.”

Then I turned and left him standing there, hand still half-raised, as the door clicked shut behind me.

The apartment was cold when I returned. Not physically, but something in the air felt… wrong. I noticed it before I even unlocked the door. It was slightly ajar, like someone had meant to close it but didn’t.

I froze.

Emma’s eyes softened, her worry turning sharper. “We need to tell Nathan. Right now.”

He arrived within the hour, still in yesterday’s clothes, exhaustion etched into the lines of his face. The three of us gathered in the kitchen, where the overhead lights hummed and the smelt of coffee did nothing to settle the panic in my gut.

“if it was stolen,” Nathan said slowly, folding his arms, “we have to assume the worst. That it’s already been read. Possibly scanned.

Leaked.”

My fingers curled around the coffee mug, knuckles white. “What would David do with it?”

Emma exchanged a look with Nathan. “He’d use it to paint Richard as compromised. Frame it as a scandal. Say he was hiding personal ties that cloud his judgment.”

Nathan nodded grimly. “Or twist it into a narrative about coercion.

Abuse of power. Emotional manipulation. That journal exposes both of you in ways no one else has seen.”

I didn’t realize I was shaking until Emma placed a steadying hand on mine. “So what do we do now?”

Nathan stood. “We go to Richard.”

By dawn, we were seated in a secured side room at the estate. The lights overhead were too bright, casting harsh shadows on all our tired faces. Richard looked like he hadn’t slept in days. The room was silent except for the occasional rustle of paper as we reviewed documents.

He nodded to me. “Tell him.”So I did. I explained about the journal, what I had written in it, how i had gone missing, and when. I told him what it meant, that every vulnerable moment, every secret about us, every fear and longing I hadn’t dared say aloud was in that notebook. When I finally said the words “second chance bond,” the air left the room. My voice stayed steady until | mentioned the overwritten mark.