The pen in his hand snapped from the force he had exerted, making his fingers feel sore.

A knock sounded on the door between hers and Zaria's offices, and when he looked up, Zaria brought a file to him.

"The proposal submitted by the Interior design department. Sign it if you're satisfied."

From her words, it was clear that she was trying hard to contain her anger. But what right did she have to be angry? She was a suspect! Being Jaime's accomplice could mean…

Another document landed on his desk, and he was surprised when he saw that it was her employment contract.

"Are you threatening me with quitting again?" He asked through a scoff.

She flipped to a page and pointed at it. "Page 5, Clause 5.1.1. Can you read or do you need me to read it out loud?"

He swept a glance at the term then at her. It was a threat. Only this time, she was indirectly threatening to report him to the board of directors. But would she need to do that?

"I might be able to tolerate you taking out your anger on me. However, I will not appreciate slander."

"Slander? I'm slandering you?" He burst into a sarcastic laugh. Did this woman know the meaning of that word? "Get out!"

She took back the contract and walked out.

Well, she should have expected this. How could she be peaceful working for Desmond? The few moments of friendliness were but an illusion.

For the rest of the day, it was as though a bomb had exploded between the two of them.

Desmond did what he usually did when he was mad at her—he kept finding fault with everything she did, and she had to keep redoing the same thing no matter how perfect it was.

She didn't even have time for lunch, and by the time evening came, she still had a mountain of work. She was planning to carry some work back home, but unfortunately, that man made sure to let her suffer much more.

"Don't leave before you finish your work." He commanded as he left.

Knowing that arguing would do nothing to help her, she sucked in a breath and got back to work. She only paused when her stomach hurt too much from having eaten nothing. When she glanced at the time, she was even more shocked. 11pm...her dad must be worried to death.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and tried to divert her attention from her empty stomach as she called her dad's number using the telephone on her desk.

"Hello, dad?" She tried to mask her tiredness and sound as normal as possible.

"Where are you? I can't contact you." Theodore let out a sigh of relief when he finally heard his daughter's voice.

"I'm staying over at my friend's. Sorry, my phone broke and I forgot to contact you."

Before she could quickly say goodnight, her father's voice turned stern. "Does your friend live in Preston and Fort Group?"

"Uh…" She was tongue-tied when she realized that she had called using her office phone. She had no choice but to tell the truth. "To tell you the truth, I have so much work I may not come back tonight. Don't worry. There is a sleeping chamber."

She was not lying about the presence of a sleeping chamber. However, the only sleeping chamber she knew of was Desmond's. Although it was fully equipped with a comfortable bed, cooking area, and bathroom, there was no way she would sneak into her boss's chamber to sleep, especially if that boss is Desmond. She was going to have to make do with her office chair. But before that, she had to get something to eat and finish up her work.

It was impossible to get any food in the building at this time of the night. Not to mention, she must be the only one inside the building. She was too scared to take ten steps away from the elevator, much less go to the employees' cafeteria.

She could only get coffee from the break room near Desmond's office. She felt spooked as she heard the sound of the dripping of coffee against the dead silence of the night and wanted to give up a few times.

If this was Desmond's way of tormenting her, he had succeeded.