Is the rectangle a Panel? If so, then when you drag anything over it, it will enter the panel, and stay there.
Check: If you right click on a "moved" control, you will get a list of "Select..." items which are the hierarchy of where the control is. For a button (say) directly on a tab page, you would get:
Select tabPage1
Select tabControl1
Select Form1
For the same button on a panel, on a tab page:
Select panel1
Select tabPage1
Select tabControl1
Select Form1
And so forth.