Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 145

POV: Seraphina

Killian's absence left a void that was larger and more profound than I could have ever anticipated. With him gone, the full, crushing weight of leadership settled squarely onto my shoulders. I had always been a partner in this enterprise, the chief architect of our strategy. But now, I was its sole custodian.

The days that followed his departure blurred into a relentless cycle of work and duty. My mornings were spent in the command center, managing the sprawling, complex web of our joint commercial empire. I made decisions that affected thousands of lives and billions in assets, my mind a cold, efficient machine of logic and calculation. My afternoons were spent in the medical wing, my mind switching from the macro to the micro, from the queen back to the daughter. I would patiently work with my father, celebrating the small, hard-won victory of him being able to hold a fork steady, or the milestone of him walking the entire length of the hallway without support.

My evenings were for my people. I would walk through the settlement, listening to the concerns of the families, mediating disputes, and projecting an aura of calm, unwavering strength that I rarely felt. I was the queen, the daughter, the strategist, the judge. I was everything to everyone. And I was utterly, completely alone.

It was during a rehabilitation session that my father, with his newfound quiet wisdom, saw the cracks in my armor. I was helping him with a difficult balancing exercise, my mind clearly a million miles away, running through the logistics of a new shipping contract.

He stopped, steadying himself on the support bars. He looked at me, not at the queen, but at his daughter, his gaze gentle but piercingly insightful.

"You're tired, child," he said, his voice a soft rasp.

"I'm fine, Dad," I replied automatically, the same lie I told everyone.

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