Chapter 1

I went to the office to report to my husband, Carter Vance, when I caught a whiff of a strange yet familiar, metallic, musky scent.

"Why does it smell so weird in here? Let me open a window."

Just as I was about to walk behind Carter's massive mahogany desk to reach the glass, he panicked and stopped me.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just have the cleaning crew come up and take care of it later."

The moment I placed the files on his desk, a glowing line of chat text floated right before my eyes:

「What an idiot. She still has no idea that her husband's secretary is hiding under the desk right now.」

「Once they turn off the smart-glass transparency, nobody outside can see how wild Carter and his secretary get in there.」

I frowned, testing Carter.

"Your new secretary isn't doing a great job. We should replace her."

Carter immediately defended her. "She works incredibly hard. She stays late every single night."

I sneered inwardly. Hard at work? Under your desk?

As I walked out of the office, I casually slid my hand over the wall panel and flipped the smart-glass override switch.

If the floating comments were telling the truth, the entire company was about to get a front-row seat to a very dirty show.

「Holy crap! Is the wife crazy? She turned on the smart-glass! Everyone outside can see the CEO and his little secretary inside!」

「The secretary doesn't even know! She's still going at it so enthusiastically!」

「The employees outside are already noticing!」

「Am I the only one worried about the CEO's reputation? Everyone is watching!」

「Why would our male lead care about his reputation? He owns the place! Half the office wants to sleep with him anyway. You clearly don't understand the appeal of an alpha male harem novel!」

The comments scrolled wildly before my eyes, practically oozing disgusting excitement.

A cold smirk played at the corner of my lips.

How amusing.

I wanted to see exactly how "alpha" Carter would feel once his private live show became public knowledge.

I swayed slightly, pressing a hand to my forehead, pretending to stagger.

"I think my blood sugar is dropping. I feel so dizzy."

Before my voice even faded, I smoothly sat down in the armchair right across from him.

Since I was the one who had pulled the curtain open on this little drama, it would be a shame to leave before the climax.

Seeing that I hadn't left but had instead settled comfortably into the chair opposite him, beads of sweat began to break out on Carter's forehead.

He was violently suppressing his reactions, his voice tight and strained. "Is there... anything else?"

"Of course."

I pulled my iPad from my bag, opened a spreadsheet, and pushed it across the desk toward him.

"The Chicago project. The third-quarter budget doesn't match the data you gave me yesterday. There's a three-million-dollar discrepancy. Explain this to me."

「Why isn't the wife leaving? She's so clueless! With her sitting right there, how is the secretary supposed to play freely?」

「This is even hotter! The male lead is getting pleased while forced to use his brain at high speed. Talk about fire and ice!」

「Poor Carter, he's definitely going to lose his stamina now.」

「Bullsht! Our alpha male is biologically gifted!」

Carter's eyes flickered to the spreadsheet for less than a second before he looked away irritably. His hands gripped the edge of the desk so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands bulged.

"It's just a minor issue. I'll have the accounting department re-audit it. You don't need to handle this personally..."

His words were cut off by a muffled groan.

I watched his spine instantly stiffen, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

「The secretary is a pro! Compared to her, the wife is probably like a dead fish in bed. No wonder Carter cheats!」

「Cheating right in front of his wife in the office? Double the thrill! That's how a real alpha lives!」

「The outside world is going wild! Someone filmed a video and put it in the company Snapchat group! High-def, unedited! You can see the crown of the secretary's head! The whole company knows now!」

「The more who know, the better! Now Carter can build his harem in the office without any shame!」

The ecstatic comments and Carter's agonizing torture formed a perfect, ironic contrast.

I leaned back comfortably against the chair, my fingers lazily scrolling through the iPad, making soft tapping sounds that felt exceptionally loud in the tense, silent office.

"Can't explain it?" I looked up at him. "Or did you never plan to run this money through the company accounts in the first place?"

My voice was calm, but it was like a nail driven precisely into his crumbling sanity.

Sweat drenched Carter's forehead, dripping down his tense jawline.

He stared deathly at a random, blank spot on the desk.

"It was... an accounting error," he squeezed out, his voice raspy from extreme suppression. "I'll have them re-calculate it."

"An accounting error?"

I let out a soft laugh, pushing the iPad an inch closer to him.

"Carter, three million dollars isn't a misplaced decimal point."

"This expense is listed under 'Market Channel Maintenance.' But I've personally spoken with every channel manager on the Chicago project. Not a single one of them received this money."

"As the CEO, you want to brush off a discrepancy of this size as a simple 'error'?"

Every word I spoke was a bullseye.