Chapter 10 Never Believe In Moon God And Love
Ellis raised an eyebrow, "Honestly, I was shocked when you told me Alicia was your mate. From what I've observed this year, she seems like a kind and simple girl, but I don't have the luxury of keeping an eye on her 24/7," he said, taking a sip of his black tea and continued, "I'm not sure if she's behaving as she usually does. So, perhaps there's no need for you to contact her in two identities."
"But neither of us truly knows her," Damian retorted, brandishing his smartphone at Ellis. "That's why I tested her in the other identity. You see? She wasn't the least bit suspicious and even responded to my message. She's quite an interesting she-wolf."
Ellis sighed. "As long as your mate doesn't interfere with our revenge plans, I don't mind staying your business partner," he said, setting down his teacup and preparing to leave.
"Speaking of mates, Ellis, keep an eye on yours. I don't want another accident to befall Alicia," Damian warned and his expression darkened.
Ellis hung his head and let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect her to stoop so low. I'll pay more attention to her actions. And you may think I'm paranoid, but I must warn you that in this day and age, mate relationships are too fragile."
"I don't think you're paranoid," Damian replied, smiling as he picked up his glass of red wine. He sniffed it and continued, "You just don't believe in mate things anymore."
Ellis shrugged, not denying it.
"Don't worry, Ellis. I never believed in the Moon God or love," Damian added, "I just see her as an interesting coincidence outside of our revenge plan. Or perhaps, an impromptu relaxation game!"
"Wow, things are going to get even more complicated from here on out," Lyon muttered to himself as he examined his latest invention in front of his computer.
Damian took a sip of the wine, his face scrunching up in distaste. "This batch doesn't taste good enough. Did Will not check them? Where is he anyway? Off somewhere picking up another girl?"
Lyon chimed in. "He's on vacation in Italy. But he did ask me to tell you about a wine auction on Friday night at the Times Hotel. He's certain you'd be interested."
"Well, I'll definitely have to check that out," Damian replied, a small smile on his face as he swirled the wine around in his glass.
"Goodness gracious, Allie, did you get bitten by a zombie last night?" Cassie exclaimed upon seeing Alicia slumped over her desk upon returning from a meeting with a client.
Alicia greeted Cassie with dark circles and a pale face, "Good afternoon, Cassie."
"Are you okay? Have you been staying up late to work on your design? It's only Wednesday and I heard the deadline is on Friday," Cassie inquired.
"I'm okay. I just stayed up late last night. You know, I've been sketching designs with paper and pencil, and I need enough time to transfer them into a digital version," Alicia explained with a yawn. She couldn't bring herself to reveal that she had been up all night for two males.
"I love your hand-drawn designs. They are almost as intricate as the software, like a work of art, like a living thing," Nadia praised as she handed Alicia a cup of coffee.
"Thank you! I'm almost finished and I'll send it to Mr. Rhett later," Alicia replied.
Cassie looked towards Lilith's office and then whispered to Alicia, "Allie, be careful. I heard Lilith had sent Rhett her draft for the Alpha Damian project during lunch. It's pretty crazy, isn't it?"
"What the hell! That's unfair! It's Allie's first project," Nadia protested.
"It's alright. I'm a beginner, after all. Besides, Mr. Rhett has agreed to let Lilith send him better design ideas if she has any," Alicia replied with a smile, although she felt uneasy as she thought back to what Lilith had done the previous night.
Alicia suspected that Lilith had done that to check her progress and then send her own design to Mr. Rhett ahead of her.
\[Allie, how's your design going?\] Rhett hesitated before sending a message to ask Alicia.
He had received Lilith's design three hours ago. To be honest, Alpha Damian's case was somewhat time-consuming due to the courtyard's immense size. However, Lilith's design was stunning, natural, and exceptionally detailed. Rhett was impressed.
Meanwhile, Rhett grew concerned about Alicia's progress. She was talented in design and had great skills. However, she lacked experience. Furthermore, Alicia had not emailed him or visited his office for help or advice in the past three days. So Rhett began to doubt that she was struggling with the design due to stress.
After around ten minutes, Alicia emailed him her design.
Rhett eagerly opened the email attachment, his face beaming with anticipation. However, as he studied Alicia's design, his smile slowly faded. He scoured the plan for any discrepancies or areas for improvement and found that, apart from a stargazing area, it was almost identical to Lilith's design.
"Why did Allie add a stargazing point?" Rhett pondered, puzzled. "The proposal didn't mention anything about Alpha Damian wanting a stargazing point."
Rhett furrowed his brow, deep in thought. He hesitated to call Alicia, considering her reputation and character. He couldn't imagine her stealing ideas from Lilith.
"No one messes with my studio and gets away with it," he thought, silently vowing to get to the bottom of things.
Summoning his Beta Andy into his office, Rhett asked, "Andy, I need you to check the CCTV footage from yesterday after hours."
"What happened, Alpha? Is everything alright?" Andy asked, looking concerned.
"I just need to check something," Rhett replied, attempting to sound nonchalant. "Can you download the footage and send it to me? And don't tell anyone about it."
"Of course, Alpha," Andy nodded, exiting the office.
After a few minutes, Andy returned, looking perplexed. "I'm sorry, Alpha. The CCTV footage from last night is missing. It looks like someone tampered with it."
Rhett's face fell. He had a sinking feeling that something fishy was going on.
"Alpha, do you want me to call an engineer from the pack to fix the CCTV?" Andy stood waiting for Rhett's order.
"No. Just ignore it" Rhett told Andy, "Inform everyone to meet in the conference room in half an hour."
Plagiarism was a cardinal sin. Rhett was determined to find the culprit and he wouldn't tolerate it from anyone, whether it was his Beta or someone he had feelings for.
Alicia anxiously checked her email throughout the afternoon, hoping for a response from her boss regarding her design draft. She had spent two full days creating the project and was eager to receive approval and see her ideas come to life in the finished courtyard.
But as the hours ticked by, no message from Mr. Rhett arrived in her inbox, only an oral notice from Andy that there was a meeting in half an hour.
\[DING\]
Just five minutes before the meeting, Alicia received a reminder message.
\[Hi, gorgeous! Are you free Friday night?\]
Alicia groaned inwardly at the sight of Mr. Howard's name. She rubbed her temples, trying to calm herself.
Last night, she had decided to distance herself from Damian after some careful thought. She planned to focus on finishing his design project before slowly fading out of his life.
But Damian seemed to have other ideas. He had messaged her again before she left work today.
\[I received an invitation to a wine auction at the Times Hotel. Permission to bring a fellow participant.\]
\[Are you interested?\]
Alicia couldn't deny that she liked red wine, but after the incident with Vivian's drugged glass, she was wary.
She was about to decline his invitation. But when she sent her reply \[Thanks, I'm not interested.\], the other side sent another message simultaneously.
\[I thought of you first. Will you come with me?\]
A pang of regret shot through her as she read his words. Damian was the King of Rogues, handsome and sexy, and surely had no shortage of female companions. He would easily find someone else to take her place.
But the thought of another female standing beside him made her stomach churn with jealousy. She knew it was the mate pull's effects, but it still hurt.
With a sigh, Alicia walked into the conference room, not waiting for Damian's response. Unbeknownst to her, Lilith was giving her a smug and sinister smile from across the room.