Tabitha's POV
Soon, everyone in the department knew Daphne had slapped me.
Meanwhile, Derek left me in full charge of the project, and a warning was issued in all the chat groups.
Those who weren't stupid sensed something off.
Given that it was Alvin who had arranged for me to work here, they now suspected that instead of Alvin, Derek was the one backing me up!
My colleagues in Group C were terrified the second they realized that.
No one dared to compete with me for the project anymore. They were practically waiting in line to fawn me up.
Emma placed the latte I had asked for respectfully on my desk with an ingratiating smile.
"Tabitha, here's the latte I bought for you. It's precisely how you wanted it. Easy on the sugar, no ice. Oh, and I got you an afternoon tea as well."
The exquisite pastries filled my desk. Everyone else looked at her with disdain.
As I glanced at her, she continued, "I was ignorant. Please forgive me. If you need anything, feel free to ask."
I lazily said, "You're blocking the light."
"Sorry. You know, I'm sitting right next to you. You can always come to me if anything."
Emma sensibly returned to her seat though still glancing at me from time to time.
I didn't refuse those delicate pastries on the desk. In fact, I used to have a sweet tooth.
As far as I was concerned, sweets had the healing powers to cure all the unhappiness in the world.
Yet back then, all my unhappiness was simply caused by non-ideal academic performance.
In the past two years, I barely had regular meals, let alone desserts.
I took a bite. It was as sweet as ever, yet it was also greasy now.
I put it down without taking another bite.
For me, nothing else mattered now. I was well aware that everyone around me was trying to butter me up, but I didn't have the time to deal with them.
Only now did I finally realize why Derek had handed over the project to me. Besides testing my strength, he mostly wanted to tell everyone that he treated me differently.
And he didn't give a damn about how they thought of the relationship between him and me.
This was his way of backing me up.
If I hadn't remembered what he had done to me, maybe I would have been a little touched.
But those hurts were like knives cutting my body ceaselessly, and they still hadn't healed.
The great pain had long been engraved into my bones. Of course, I wouldn't make the same mistake again.
I continued working.
When I was a kid, in addition to learning how to manage the pack from Dad, I also went to the Silver Moon Pack's company to learn.
The time spent with Derek wasn't in vain after all. I had learned from him, and a project worth millions was perfect for me to start.
Derek's POV
In my office, I rolled up the end of my tie and once again thought of Tabitha pulling me to her for a kiss.
I hadn't touched her body for two years already. She turned me on again.
"You still haven't figured out what she's doing here?"
Alvin stood aside respectfully. "Nothing Tabitha does is worth attention. But she did send some gifts to those in the Secretary Department."
"Gifts?"
Alvin handed over a tie clip. "This is Hanson's."
I glanced at the logo. It was from a trendy brand and was quite pricey.
"She's quite generous."
"Makes sense that she did this. She probably thought she was gonna work at the Secretary Department at first, so she wanna be nice."
I looked at the small, raised lid on the tie clip. "Open it."
Alvin did as he was told without saying anything.
A mini tracker fell on the desk.
Alvin's face turned pale as he looked at it.
"What... How could this be? What does Tabitha want?"
I picked up the tracker and put it back in. "Give it back to Hanson. Don't tell anyone about this."
"Yes, Alpha Derek."
I fiddled with the tie clip. I felt something was off when Tabitha offered to be my assistant.
I knew her. She wanted to stay away from me as far as possible. On no ground would she propose to stay by my side.
One exception, though. There was something she wanted from me.
Was it money?
Of course, it wasn't. She donated 500 million dollars without blinking.
Then... All there was left was John.
She hesitated to speak that day. Did she find out something?
Meanwhile, Alvin cautiously asked, "About Tabitha..."
"Don't spook her. I wanna see what she's gonna do."
I tapped my fingers on the desk casually, thinking that Tabitha had been in my office twice.
"Get someone to check my office later. Since she tracks them, maybe I'm also one of her targets."
"I see, Alpha Derek."
I lowered my eyes to the desk and once again recalled her pitiful expression as she pleaded for my help.
Surprisingly, the men sent by Alvin actually found something.
There were several mini cameras hidden in my office.
Alvin's expression changed drastically. "Alpha Derek..."
"It can't be Tabitha."
She went here these few days, but those several fixed mini cameras were hidden in some concealed corners of my office.
Tabitha didn't have enough time to plant them there.
Rolf had a bad temper. He said irritably, "Who on earth could be this bold to put those in Alpha Derek's office?"
"Check the model."
"The standby time of this type of mini camera can last up to one year. I've checked and found that two-thirds of the battery has been used."
In other words, they were in my office for about seven or eight months.
During this time, or possibly even before it, someone already knew everything I had been doing.