CHAPTER 24. A job interview

**— VITA.**

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Anxiety is bubbling through my veins, and I twiddle my thumbs impatiently while I wait for my turn to be called into this luxurious room that makes me feel out of place, even if I am in my best clothes.

Now that I’m here, looking at my resume and some sample designs, I remember Frank’s words with a tight throat. The proposal he made me could totally change my life and give me a fresh start out of this mess.

However, I’m still on parole and there are a few things I need to do before moving on, a few issues that can only be resolved if I join the Black Group and discover the missing pieces to the puzzle of Alice’s death.

“Ms. Vita?” A calm voice calls out, making me raise my eyes to meet the beautiful honey-colored hair at shoulder height. The girl smiles at me, but I don’t notice any sincerity — it’s just a courtesy of her position. “They’re ready to welcome you.”

I take a deep breath and stand up, following her down the long corridor until we finally stop in front of a door. She opens it and lets me in, and I thank her with a discreet smile as my attention turns to the long table. Two women are chatting there, and it seems that they haven’t noticed me. And even when I approach, my heels making a discreet click on the floor, they don’t look at me.

Finally, I stop in front of the table, and their conversation slowly withers. One of them looks at me still with a smile on her face, but it immediately falters, and she stares at me oddly as if trying to recognize me.

“Hello, here’s my resume... I’m here for the position of product designer.”

One of the women, Ann — her name marked on the badge — takes my resume with a certain disdain and rests her eyes on it, skimming through the pages so quickly that she doesn’t even bother to look at it, and she pauses over the sketches I’ve made thinking about the brand concept, something I’m fortunately familiar with since Derek used to share his ideas with me, and I know his taste better than my own.

However, Ann doesn’t seem to be paying any attention; she just raises her eyes and asks me, in an annoyed voice, “And where’s your university degree?”

I blink a few times and stutter, surprised by the question, “Oh, I didn’t know I need a degree...”

“No work experience, no portfolio... Are you planning on making fun of the Black Group?” She asks me with raised eyebrows and obvious disdain in her voice.

“Of course not...”

“It must be... after all, you must think this company is a joke if you believe you can take this job with just these sketches and drawings with no concept.” Ann abruptly drops my resume on the table without a care in the world for the scattered sheets.

My face burns, and I’m sure my cheeks give away how embarrassed I am right now.

I grab the sides of my midi skirt and try my best to smile, even though I’m shaking and sweating and want to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Finally, the other woman, Lily, picks up my resume and looks at it carefully, lingering for a few seconds on the sheet with my details. She leaves through it carefully and seems to be watching my drawings intently because long moments of silence pass.

“Vita, your drawings are very good,” Lily says, still looking at the papers, until she finally looks at me again, and her smile is so subtle that I can barely see it. “You can go to H.R.’s main office to continue with the interview.”

I notice that Ann looks at her indignantly and confused but is completely ignored. Lily tidies up the papers and hands them to me, pressing some button on her telephone, saying once again without looking at me, “They’ll be expecting you. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” I nod and finally notice that I’ve been standing all this time, so much so that my heels are starting to hurt.

With the resume in hand, I start to walk away and towards the door when I hear Lily whispering so low that if I weren’t a werewolf with such keen senses, I probably wouldn’t listen to it...

“You should watch your words, Ann... People like her have the world easily in the palm of their hands. Surely she must have some kind of backing, maybe she’s just another one of Manager Hurd’s little whores.”

I feel my stomach lurch, but I just pretend I haven’t heard anything and leave this disgusting room, impregnated with the hostile smell of these women. Outside, I take a deep breath of fresh air, inflating my lungs before facing another stage of the interview.

[...]

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Somehow, I made it to the end. The second interviewer, Manager Hurd, is an elegant and very polite man, and not once was he disrespectful. Not even his eyes or his pheromone seemed to show any malice or ulterior intentions — which I hadn’t expected from the way those two referred to the man in the suit. Well, I may be just not his type. But if that’s the factor he uses to justify his hires, I’ve lost this job.

I press the button that will take me away from this floor, and when the metal doors finally open, my feet lock on the ground, and I simply freeze. I blink a few times, wishing it was an illusion or something...

But when the blue eyes notice me, I feel a shiver run up my spine.

“Vita.” My name escapes Derek’s parted lips, and I feel weak at his surprise, at the way he looks at me so intensely that it steals my air.

The door starts to close, but he reaches out and stops the elevator from going down.

I swallow dry when he moistens his lips and says, “Get in.”

“I’ll wait for the next-”

“Don’t make me tell you twice, Vita.” His voice is husky and commanding, but it’s his scent that makes me gasp. My legs move against my will, and I enter the elevator like an obedient puppy.

Honestly, I hate the power this man has over me.

“Which floor?” Derek asks without looking at me.

“First.”

“First.” He repeats and presses the button, just this one... and that makes me close my eyes because, Goddess, I’m really stuck with Derek for twelve floors. “And what are you doing in my company?”

I bite the inside of my cheek impatiently, tapping my heels.

Derek turns to me, and I find myself swallowing hard once again, looking straight into his eyes as he approaches and shortens the little distance between us.

“I made you a question, Vita. If your ears are working fine, you should use your pretty mouth to answer me.” Derek puts a hand in his pocket and wets his lips, looking at mine. “So let’s start over… What are you doing at my company?”

“A job interview.” My voice comes out thinner and more strangled than I’d like, and he notices my anxiety because a discreet smile lands on his lips.

“How sweet of you to seek a fresh start in the business of the family you destroyed.”

He comes closer, and I find myself retracing my steps until my back meets the metal wall. But he keeps advancing, cornering me little by little.

“First, you sang in the bar that Alice was killed; now you dare show your face in this company?”

I hold my breath, shaken by the strong, overpowering pheromone he’s forcing me to inhale sharply in this tiny cubicle.

“Are you perhaps a sadist? Is it some kind of fetish… push me until I lose my mind?”

“The only sadist here is you, Derek. I don’t find amusement in people’s pain, not even those who hurt me.”

He grits his teeth and slams his hand open into the elevator wall, rocking slightly from the impact and making me flinch, closing my eyes in fear.

“If I am one, it’s because you made me so, Vita,” Derek says slowly, his husky voice making my skin shiver. “And maybe I am... since your misery is so sweet, my love, I can’t resist it.”

I open my eyes in shock at hearing him call me affectionately, but he grips my chin tightly and lifts my face, forcing me to hold his gaze.

“Your human friend is back now, Vita. Why don’t you run to him and beg for a job?”

“Maybe I really should… Now that I think about it, getting away from this land and staying away from you doesn’t sound so bad.” I retort harshly, and his eyes widen. I don’t know if it’s because of my bold mouth or the answer he wasn’t expecting.

"Leave these lands? You can't do that; you're on parole!" He says between his teeth, his expression tightening.

"Call it running away, if you like. From the moment I set foot outside this country, there's nothing you can do."

Derek grabs my neck, squeezing hard, but without taking my breath away. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Sadists, insane... we're always breaking each other." I retort, practically spitting out those bitter words. I lift my chin, looking straight into his eyes. "Why, instead of making my life a living hell, don't you worry about making a deal with those human countries you hate so much? Maybe then you can pick me up on the other side of the world."

Derek squeezes a little harder, now making me run out of air. He looks at my lips and gasps for breath. "You've really acquired a bold mouth."

"Maybe I always have — aren't you the one who says you don't know me?"

My words stun him, and he withdraws his hand, looking hurt. For a moment, I even regret having said something so cruel.

Derek opens his lips to answer me, but the elevator door finally opens, and I disengaging myself from his closeness, running away from his warmth.

Honestly? Going away and leaving all this behind is really tempting. But I promised Alice that I would find the real culprit — and now I’m going all the way, even if it’s down to hell.