That evening, Anastasia’s coworkers from the design team finally arrived. To avoid letting her colleagues know about her relationship with Cassian, Anastasia basically ditched him and dragged Tamia over to hang out with the work crew. Anastasia had arrived early, but she’d paid her own way and wasn’t taking advantage of company perks. Besides, this wasn’t even company money—Griffin was footing the bill for everyone. So even though Anastasia brought Tamia along, nobody had any complaints. They were all young people and quickly hit it off.

Sharlene and Tamia bonded instantly—both total foodies who camped out by the grill, cooking and munching nonstop. Griffin’s group stayed at a distance because they knew employees didn’t like hanging around the boss—it cramped their style when it came to trash-talking management. Plus, they had a nuclear-level CEO in their midst.

When the Rhodes Global employees spotted Cassian, their smiles vanished, and they seriously considered just going home. Vacation? What vacation?

As long as Cassian kept his distance, though, they were happy enough. Of course, not everyone felt that way. Some people saw Cassian and naturally wanted to brown-nose. One woman even brought him grilled skewers: “Mr. Rhodes, this is for you!”

Seeing someone suck up to Cassian, Tamia got pissed. Where’s your backbone? She turned to Anastasia. “Why don’t you go handle your man…”

The words were barely out of her mouth when Tamia remembered Sharlene was right there. But Sharlene just smiled at Tamia. “Don’t worry, I know about Ana and Mr. Rhodes. But…” She made a zipping motion across her lips, promising to keep quiet.

Since Sharlene was in the loop, Tamia went full throttle. She nudged Anastasia. “Go mark your territory!”

“No need. He won’t take it,” Anastasia said confidently.

Sure enough, Cassian didn’t just refuse—he barely glanced at the woman. “Take it away.”

The woman’s face fell, disappointment and hurt flashing in her eyes as she slunk away with her rejected offering.

“Damn, you called it. He doesn’t give anyone the time of day,” Tamia said.

Sharlene nodded knowingly. She was smart enough to never pull stunts like that.

Just then, Yinsen waved in Tamia’s direction. “Tamia! Bring some of those skewers over here for us!”

Tamia snorted. She barely had enough for herself, and now she had to feed them too? “Greedy capitalists/Stealing food from the workers!” she muttered angrily.

“Whoa, Tamia, you work for Yinsen?” Sharlene finally put the pieces together.

“Tragic family circumstances—ended up as a corporate slave, even had to pick up his…personal items,” Tamia grumbled.

Sharlene’s mouth twitched. What am I supposed to say to that? “Yinsen doesn’t really seem like the type though…”

Tamia was still nursing a grudge. “You can’t judge a book by its cover. You’re young—you’ll learn.” She grabbed a handful of skewers and headed toward Yinsen’s group. Hmph! If he’s gonna make me work, I’ll give them all the burnt, nasty-looking ones. After Yinsen gets a taste of my cooking, he won’t ask me to do this trap again.

Watching Tamia approach, Griffin perked up with interest. “Wanna bet who she serves first?”

Yinsen shot him a look. “Duh, I’m her boss. She’s not gonna serve you first.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Maybe she thinks I’m hotter,” Griffin said smugly.

“You’re delusional!” Yinsen scoffed.

When Tamia arrived, she went straight to Cassian first, handing him the skewers. “Mr. Rhodes, Ana asked me to bring these to you.”

“Thank you,” Cassian said.

“No problem.”

Griffin and Yinsen exchanged looks. Apparently neither of them could compete with Cassian’s pull. Rookie mistake.

“Boss, your food,” Tamia said, walking over to Yinsen with an exaggerated sweet smile.

Yinsen actually flinched. “Uh, don’t ever smile at me like that again.”

“Why not?” Tamia kept the creepy grin plastered on her face.

“It’s terrifying.”

Tamia mentally rolled her eyes but kept smiling. “Sure thing, boss.” She turned and walked away.

“Slave-driving bastard… exploiting workers… hope you get struck by lightning…” she muttered under her breath

“Ms. Summer, what are you mumbling about over there?”

Yinsen had somehow snuck up behind her. Tamia jumped and instinctively ran forward. “Nothing!”

Yinsen chased after her. “Hey, don’t run! You forgot to bring plates…”