Chapter 31 The Data Doesn’t Lie

Inside the conference room, Eira saw what real authority looked like.

Alpha Killian placed the marked proposal on the table and looked at the project team.

The proposal moved around the table.

The room went silent.

One by one, the project leads found Eira’s red circles and notes. Their expressions tightened.

Alpha Killian waited until everyone had read them.

"You missed these," he said. "An outside auditor won’t."

The project director cleared his throat. "We’ll revise the proposal immediately, Alpha Killian."

"Do it here." Alpha Killian tapped the document once. "Now."

No one argued.

The team opened their laptops and got to work.

Eira sat at the side table with Natalie and Kate. Natalie tracked action items while Kate updated the deadline sheet. Eira followed the discussion, comparing each revised section with the original proposal.

Twenty minutes later, a new spreadsheet appeared on the screen.

Something still looked wrong.

Eira checked the source column, then checked it again.

"That figure still doesn’t work," she said.

Every head turned toward her.

Alpha Killian looked up. "Why?"

"The result doesn’t match the input." Eira pointed at the screen. "This row uses the current demand forecast, but that number came from an older data set."

The project manager frowned. "That’s the figure in the system."

"Then the system is pulling from the wrong source."

A quiet tension moved through the room.

That did not automatically mean someone had changed the data. It could be an old file, a bad link, or a simple entry error.

But any of those could damage the bid.

The manager leaned back. "With respect, Miss Crawford, you joined the executive office this week. Our analysts have been working on this project for months."

Alpha Killian’s voice cut in. "And they still missed the errors that brought everyone into this room."

The manager stopped.

Alpha Killian looked at Eira. "Can you trace the source?"

"I can try."

He turned to one of the analysts. "Give her access to the source log."

The analyst entered a temporary access code on Eira’s laptop.

Alpha Killian turned back to the team.

"The rest of you keep working. We’re not leaving this room until the numbers match."

The room filled with keyboard clicks.

Eira connected the spreadsheet to the source log. A few minutes later, she found the problem.

"This forecast is linked to last quarter’s database snapshot."

The project director checked the file path and swore under his breath. "She’s right."

Alpha Killian’s expression did not change. "Fix the link. Rebuild the model. I want the corrected proposal by five."

"Yes, Alpha Killian."

Alpha Killian stood and gathered his files. At the door, he looked at Eira. "Miss Crawford. Back to the executive floor."

She picked up her tablet and followed.

The second the door closed, voices rose behind them.

"Who is she?"

"Her name sat in Administrative Support for years, but I don’t remember ever seeing her."

"And now she’s working directly for Alpha Killian?"

--

Back at her desk, Eira finished setting up her new personal phone.

The white Sterling-issued device sat beside it, still in the box.

Kate nodded toward it. "You know that thing has a full terabyte, right?"

"It’s for work."

"I could fill a terabyte by Friday."

Natalie glanced over her monitor. "That is not the flex you think it is."

While they argued, Eira’s old photo library continued syncing.

Hundreds of pictures became thousands.

Breakfasts. Dinners. Carefully plated meals built around Alpha Sebastian’s schedule, his diet, and whatever he happened to want that day.

Kate leaned closer. "You made all of those?"

"Yes."

Eira opened the largest album.

SEBASTIAN

More than two thousand photos.

She stared at the album for a moment, then stopped the transfer.

Kate glanced at her. "Having second thoughts?"

"Not anymore."

Eira deleted the album. Then she cleared it from Recently Deleted.

Next came the contacts she had saved for Alpha Sebastian. His tailor. His dry cleaner. Hale Pack vendors. Relatives who only called when they needed something fixed.

One by one, she removed them.

When she finished, the new phone looked almost empty.

It did not feel like losing four years.

It felt like taking back the space.

She powered off the old phone and put it in her desk drawer.

Kate watched the whole thing. "That was either extremely healthy or the first five minutes of a revenge movie."

"Could be both."

Natalie nodded. "Either way, I support it."

The Sterling phone chimed.

Miles had added Eira to Sterling Secure, the company’s encrypted workspace for executive staff and Pack leadership.

The first channel appeared automatically.

Executive Operations

Five members: Alpha Killian, Miles, Natalie, Kate, and Eira.

A second invitation arrived a second later.

Executive Survival Guide

Four members.

No Alpha.

Eira looked at Kate.

"Don’t ask," Kate said.

Natalie lowered her voice. "Never leave it open when he walks by."

Three rules were pinned at the top.

No screenshots.

Nothing leaves this channel.

If he says "quick meeting," cancel your evening.

A laugh slipped out of Eira.

The lab had given her impossible problems to solve. Hale Pack had given her endless messes to clean up.

This felt different.

Light. Easy. Almost normal.

Natalie pointed at the official channel. "Send Alpha Killian a quick message so he knows your device is active."

"Is there a standard format?"

"I can send you one."

Eira had already typed.

Eira: Sterling device is active. Eira Crawford.

Natalie blinked. "Or that."

Kate leaned back in her chair. "He’ll answer sometime before the next full moon."

The phone chimed seven seconds later.

Alpha Killian: Noted. Keep both phones with you.

Silence.

Kate slowly turned toward Natalie.

Natalie checked the time, as if the clock might explain what had just happened.

"Seven seconds."

"He was probably already online," Eira said.

Then she returned to her work.

Her personal phone buzzed.

Alpha Sebastian.

Sebastian: My suit is still at the tailor. Pick it up tonight. I need it for the expo next week.

No please. No mention of the evening mixer. Just another task dropped into her lap because he assumed she would handle it.

For four years, she always had.

Not today.

Eira: I’ll arrange delivery.

She opened the tailor’s website through the order link Alpha Sebastian had sent months ago and called the listed number.

Done.

She returned to work.

Twenty minutes before the end of the day, Alpha Sebastian called.

"Why didn’t you bring the suit yourself?"

Eira kept typing. "Because I was working."

"You could’ve dropped it off on your way home."

"I’m not going home."

A beat of silence.

"You used to bring dinner to my office all the time."

That stopped her hands.

She remembered one evening at Hale Group. She had stood near reception with an insulated dinner bag while two employees spoke behind the desk.

"Alpha Sebastian’s house manager is here again."

"The blonde with the food?"

"Yeah. Must be nice. She cooks, runs errands, probably organizes his whole life."

"I thought she was his wife."

The other woman had laughed.

"Please. If Sebastian Hale were married, the whole Bay Area business grapevine would know."

Eira had walked away before they noticed her.

At the time, she had told herself it did not matter.

Now she knew better.

No one knew because Alpha Sebastian had made sure they never would.