Encounter With an Alpha
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Kim F.
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905K
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23
Chapter 1
STORM
The elevator dinged, its doors sliding open to let a few people off. Storm followed suit. This was her husband’s floor. She had just landed the big promotion she’d been aiming for and couldn’t wait to surprise him with the news.
Storm didn’t bother knocking. She just pushed the door open. “Babe, you won’t believe…” Her words trailed off into a gasp as her violet eyes took in the sight of her husband’s bare backside, his pants pooled around his ankles as he thrust into the woman bent over his desk.
The woman’s dress was hiked up her back, her breasts squashed against a mess of papers and folders. She was moaning like her life depended on it.
Lyle froze mid-thrust, his gray eyes meeting Storm’s shocked gaze. The woman looked up, and Storm instantly recognized her as Jessica, her husband’s personal assistant.
“Storm!” Lyle gasped. “Babe, it’s not what it looks like.”
Storm reached for the cord of the blinds that separated her husband’s office from the rest of the office workers. She yanked it open, then flung the office door wider before turning and bolting for the elevator bank.
She darted into the first elevator that opened. As she turned, she saw Lyle struggling to pull up his pants while everyone in the outer office stared at him.
Storm frantically pressed the button for the lobby, holding back a sob. As the elevator doors slid shut, she caught sight of Mr. Jameson, her husband’s boss, rushing toward Lyle’s office.
Once she was out of the building, she was lucky enough to find a cab dropping someone off. She hopped in before it could drive away.
After giving her address, Storm pulled out her phone and dialed her brother River. He answered on the third ring. “Hey, sis. Did you tell Lyle your news? Was he excited?” His voice was cheerful over the phone, and Storm couldn’t hold it in any longer.
She burst into tears on the phone, and his tone immediately changed. “Storm! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.” The worry in his voice was palpable.
“I’m in a cab,” she sniffled. “Lyle is cheating on me!” She hiccuped. “I went to his office to surprise him with the news and found him balls deep in his personal assistant.”
“That dirty son of a… Okay. Okay, Storm, I’ve got this. Come to the office, and we’ll start the paperwork for the divorce. You are going to divorce him, right, sis?”
She nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Yes! I had a feeling something was off with him, but I didn’t have any proof until now. I want nothing to do with him anymore.
“He can have everything. The condo, the money in our joint checking account, all of it. I want nothing except the shares that daddy left me in the company, my personal belongings, and my truck. I still have my savings and the checking account you made me keep.”
Storm leaned forward to give the driver River’s office address. “I’ll be at your office in about ten minutes.” She sat back as the driver turned around and headed back to downtown Seattle. When the cab pulled up at River’s building, Storm paid the driver and went up to her brother’s office, where he greeted her with a comforting hug.
“Hey, baby.” He held her close while she buried her face in his chest. “I sent my assistant, June, over to your condo to pack a few bags for you so you won’t have to see him. I called your housekeeper to let her in. You’re staying at my place until we figure out what to do next. Has he tried to call you yet?”
She sniffled and took a seat in the chair in front of his desk. “No, but I’m sure he will.”
River reached into his desk and pulled out a phone. “Give me your phone. Use this one. I already programmed my number in it. We’ll turn yours off and disconnect it.”
Storm handed over her old phone, and River removed the battery.
“I’ve already got my partner working on the first draft of the divorce paperwork,” he continued. “I’m going to take you to my place as soon as June brings your bags. We’ll go over the paperwork tomorrow, and I’ll have a process server deliver the papers to Lyle. We’ll get the ball rolling.”
“Thank you, River. You’re the best brother a girl could have.”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “I love you, sis. We’ll get the shares to Dad’s business back too. No reason for him to have any of that.”
***
An hour later, June arrived with three suitcases and a cosmetic bag. She had grabbed as much as she could, including shoes, a toothbrush, and Storm’s hair dryer. As June left the office, she gave Storm a sympathetic smile and a comforting squeeze on her shoulder.
Just as June was leaving, River’s office phone rang, and he answered immediately. “Okay, good, Peter. Just bring it up to me, and I’ll go over it this evening with Storm. Have the process server we use ready first thing tomorrow morning.”
He hung up and looked at Storm. “That was the partner I had draft the divorce papers. He has a rough draft ready.
“Since you’re not asking for any of the assets and are only claiming what was yours before the marriage, it should be a relatively smooth process.
“If he tries to fight, it will be for the company shares. But there’s no way a judge will let him keep them since they were your inheritance, not his.”
She gave him a weak smile. “When I made him my proxy, he was so thrilled. He couldn’t wait to get that corner office and be the boss. Now I catch him screwing his personal assistant in it and telling me it’s not what I think! I know exactly what I saw, and I made sure the whole office saw too.”
Her brother smirked. “Well, hopefully, someone took a picture or two. That would really seal his fate.” They both chuckled.
He rose to his feet, reaching out to take her hand. “Let’s get you back to my place, get some food in your stomach. After that, we can go through the paperwork and tweak anything you want.”
“Thanks, River. Again.” She looped her arms around him, holding on as if her life depended on it.
