"Understood, Miss Yvette."


    With the order given, the assistant hurried off. Gwh returned to her desk as if nothing had happened.


    She understood all too well that Hawthorne Everhart''s word wasw here. Coming from an old, well-established family, Gwh had never really experienced cutthroat scheming at home, but some instincts ran in her blood- she could sense office power ys a mile away.


    Yvette might want her gone, but unless Hawthorne himself gave the nod, nobody could force her out.


    The irony was, did she even want to stay? Hawthorne had already decided she couldn''t be trusted, keeping her close just to watch her every move, waiting for his suspicions to pass.


    If Yvette actually managed to get rid of her, Gwh might even feel grateful. She powered up herputer, only to discover that the original art she''d worked on all night had been deleted.


    Ha.


    A faint smirk tugged at her lips. Such a clumsy, underhanded trick.


    First, they used her of giarizing someone else''s designs; now, they''d wiped her files. If she tried toin to Hawthorne, she''d have no evidence-no artwork, no proof of innocence. It would be her word against theirs, and she''d be left with nothing.


    But-well.


    Her mother had always taught her: if you create something original, always keep backups.


    With a resigned sigh, Gwh unsped the ne around her neck. It looked like a simple piece of jewelry, but in truth, it was a disguised USB drive. She''d already saved copies of her work.


    Today, the game development department was holding a meeting. Everyone was expected to submit their character designs for final testing. If she''d really lost her files, recreating them in time would''ve been impossible-a total disaster.


    It seemed thepany''s internal security left much to be desired. Still, she knew some executives had the authority to ess any employee''sputer, supposedly to prevent staff from walking away withpany IP and causing irreparable losses.


    Calmly, Gwh plugged the USB into herputer and restored her files, waiting for everything to load.


    She sensed someone deliberately passing by her desk, sneaking a nce at her screen and the open files. She didn''t need to guess why.


    Yvette hadn''t gotten where she was vice president of Hawthorne''spany- without talent. Naturally, she had eyes and ears in every department.


    Vera showed up in the game department, clearly on Yvette''s errand. Everyone was busy prepping for the meeting, so when someone scrutinized Gwh, she let her mind wander for a moment before focusing back on her work.


    She hadn''t wanted this transfer, but, truth be told, being a concept artist here was far more interesting than herst job.


    "Vera."


    At the doorway, a colleague called out to her. The two slipped off to the break room. While pretending to make coffee, the colleague lowered her voice to deliver a report.


    "So? What did she do after she got back to her desk?"


    "You think Miss Yvette really told her to resign herself? She just came back,


    opened herputer, and got straight to work. Didn''t go anywhere."


    Vera stared in disbelief. "She actually went back to work?"


    Was this a joke? Miss Yvette had made it clear-Gwh was supposed to hand


    in her resignation, not just ignore the order.


    "She did. And you know what? I


    1.n


    walked past her desk and peeked at her screen. I swear, I deleted all her original files when I hacked her.puter. But there they were all her files,pletely restored like nothing ever happened."


    Vera''s hand trembled, sending a few drops of scalding water onto her skin. The sudden sting was nothingpared to the jolt of shock running through her.