Trevor didn’t know what to say.
Why on earth would he moan out Daphne’s name?!
How do you explain yourself to your lover in a way that makes sense?
He slowly stared at Mabel who was smiling at him.
Didn’t she hear that?
Or was she pretending not to?
Since she wasn’t bringing it up, he smiled back as he pulled her into his arms.
His jaw clenched.
He had to get Daphne out of his head and heart.
Mabel was the one he needed now.
*************
After returning home that evening, Daphne couldn’t sleep.
She gathered all the gifts and engagement presents Trevor had given her, scheduled an Express pickup for the next day to send them back, she wanted completely severed ties with Trevor.
She wanted nothing to remind her of that man.
************
The next day, Marco’s PA, Ian delivered the keys to a Mercedes-Benz to Daphne, explaining that Marco had specifically purchased it for her work use.
Seeing the car being delivered, Daphne was skeptical about accepting.
Of course, she had heard about a few companies gifting cars to their employees for work use but she wasn’t used to it.
Still, she called Marco on the phone.
“Hello, Daphne.” He began after picking up on the first ring.
“Thank you for the car, Mr King, but is it okay to use it?”
“Of course it is.
All the managers in my company are always gifted cars so it’s no big deal.”
Hearing that, Daphne felt relieved.
“Okay, thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.
And em…goodluck on your presentation today.
Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay.” She hung up, still having a feeling that her boss was very nice.
Well, after her strings of bad luck, maybe being blessed with a good boss wasn’t so bad.
***********
Daphne drove the car to work that day and her colleague, Cade happened to see her getting down from it.
“Wow, Daphne, you own a Bentley?!
It’s one of my favorite cars.” Cade gushed as they both walked into the elevator.
“Oh, it’s not mine.
It’s the company’s.”
Cade frowned, confused.
“The company’s?”
“Yeah, Mr King had it delivered this morning with a full tank, he said he does this for all the managers.”
Cade’s frown deepened.
Since when?
“Hmm, Mr King seems to favor you a lot.” He teased, playfully.
“No…no, don’t read any meaning to it.
The car’s for work.” Daphne pressed.
Cade laughed.
But as they walked out of the elevator, and other people walked out too, someone else stayed behind, fuming.
It was engineer Jax.
Since when do Managers get gifted Bentleys?!
Hell, he had worked here for more than five years before he was gifted a car.
And it wasn’t a Bentley!
Now, he found his car pathetic.
His hatred for Daphne increased.
She must have something to do with Mr King or any other higher-ups.
Oh…he was so going to ruin her!
And so, Jax deliberately hinted to his subordinates that Daphne had used her body to climb the corporate ladder and get the car.
Within half a day, the rumor had spread to most departments in the company.
********
Daphne and Cade arrived at Ismark Fund.
After checking, the receptionist suddenly informed them they had no appointment and won’t let them go upstairs.
Daphne held back an agitated Cade and took him to the lobby café to wait.
She then tried to reach the general manager of Ismark but got no answer.
As she tried to figure a way out, she saw some people approaching, Trevor, Mabel and some employees from TM who were involved in this project.
They were heading out.
It seemed they had already met with the client.
It hit her that she had started out the project when she was still at TM and it seemed Trevor truly handed it over to Mabel and worse, he was here with Mabel.
He never accompanied her to meet with clients before.
He would always tell her he had so much faith in her and she could do it on her own.
And so, Daphne would always try to do her best so as not to disappoint him.
But here he was, being of great support to Mabel.
It fucking sucked.
Trevor caught a glimpse of Daphne and was momentarily frozen.
Mabel followed his gaze but only saw the crowd in the café and didn’t catch sight of Daphne.
As the group walked to the parking lot, Mabel told Kayla to ride with another colleague, saying she needed to speak with Trevor alone.
Kayla got into a colleague’s car and saw Mabel leaning close to Trevor with her hand resting on his shoulder.
She secretly snapped a photo of the scene, wanting to used it to taunt Daphne later.
It seemed Daphne’s years of dedication to Trevor had truly gone to waste.
She had wanted to be the one to snatch Trevor away from Daphne but seeing that another woman had done that wasn’t too bad.
As if as Daphne was looking so happy next to Trevor, Kayla was okay.
And now, she was sure there was no way Daphne would get a wealthy man.
She had literally helped build Trevor’s wealth.
And since she had been scarred, she wouldn’t dare to build another man again.
There was no way an already-made man would go for the likes of Daphne.
She was destined to be a nobody now.
Mabel brushed a leaf off Trevor’s shoulder.
“You’ve been upset since we left the conference hall.
I already told you, the project is ours.” Mabel assured.
Trevor glanced at her.
“The manager in charge seems to know you very well.”
“Oh, Vincent?
We went to the same college.”
“He was flirting with you in front of me!”
Mabel pressed herself against him and teased.
“You have no reason to be jealous, babe.
He probably just thought you were just my boss.
Don’t worry, next time, I’ll tell him you’re my boyfriend.”
“Next time?
No, just keep your distance from him.
I know he’s in charge of the project and all but you do not need to sacrifice yourself for the company.”
Mabel sighed.
“Trevor, you’re overthinking.
Vincent isn’t like that.
He was just being friendly.
Besides, he has a girlfriend.”
Trevor suddenly felt guilty as he recalled that having a girlfriend, fiancée even, didn’t stop him from moving onto Mabel the second she got back.
“My relationship with Vincent is strictly professional and I think he was quite impressed with our product.”
Trevor still wasn’t convinced.
He had clearly saw Manager Vincent looking at Mabel the same way he does, with admiration.
Seeing that he was still upset, Mabel proposed.
“Fine, once it’s announced that this bid is ours, I’d my subordinates fully take over the project, I’ll no longer be involved and so I won’t need to see him at all.”
“You’re so certain that we’re winning this bid?”
“Of course I am.
Didn’t I tell you?
Vincent assured me that he’d eliminate every other competition and he also shared the pre-sales proposal, so it’s a sure deal.
We’ll win.”
Trevor felt relieved and happy to hear that.
He had been scared of this project going south as Daphne was the one who started working on it.
It turns out that he had nothing to worry about.
Mabel was just as capable.
But still, he had to keep an eye out for that Vincent.
He wouldn’t want another man stealing his girl.
And so he told Mabel that after the bid was announced, she should focus solely on R&D and management.