Chapter 137
The phone recording was played in the hall. In the recording, hvy stated, “Alicia, I have Stephanie’s rough sketch. It should be prepared for International Golden Finger Contest. Do you want it at the price of 600 thousand dollars?”
Alicia replied, “Send me one. Let me have a look. Then, a WhatsApp image of Stephanie rough sketch was shown. She asked, “Can it be cheaper?”
Ivy responded, “Alicia, you know how miserable I’ve been since Stephanie dismissed me. Other designers refuse to hire ma. I need money. If you don’t
want it, I’ll ask someone else.”
I
Alicia stated, “Wait a minute. I don’chave enough money, either. I’ll ask Flora. To be honest, I hate Stephanie too. It would be amazing if we could utilize her rough sketch, submit it to the Fashion Designer Association for design protection, and then turn against her as she did to Florence. It must be fascinating to see Stephanie’s reaction to being named a plagiarist in such an international competition. I want her out of the design world.”
Ivy laughed and replied. “I’ll wait for your good news.” Then, the call recording was cut off, and everyone knew the whole story.
to
me,
hy was scared that people wouldn’t believe her, so she hurriedly explained, “You can check my account. Alicia used her bank card to transfer the money but Sabrina was cautious and requested to transfer it to one of her besties. Sabrina assured me that she used temporary cards, and it wouldn’t be traced back to me. I hadn’t expected to be so unlucky. I met Mr. Quinlan while on the phone with Alicia, and things were exposed.” Her voice was filled with remorse. She didn’t regret doing it, rather, she regretted her reckless actions, which led to her being caught by others.
Alicia couldn’t refute anymore. All the evidence was conclusive. Even if she created a scene, it was ineffective. They would know right away after the recording was authenticated. Alicia despised Ivy so much that the former grabbed her hair and dragged her madly, yelling. “You idiot! It’s all your fault! Why can’t you just stay home? You insisted on h**i
n g up w ith a rich man, but you’ve gotten yourself into trouble and even dragged me in. If it weren’t for you, I would have become famous tonight. I’ll be the best designer!”
Ivy: screamed in pain and shot back, “It’s your fault! You called me at that time to brag about Stephanie bribing the judges, which would be revealed tonight. You deserved it! A
r e you saying you’ll be the best designer? Stop dreaming! Ah!”
They fought on stage, frantically scratching each other’s faces until two bodyguards intervened to stop them. It wasn’t because they were concerned the two could harm each other, but because Stephanie had something to say.
Stephanie looked at the audience and declared, “I still have proof that Sabrina secretly took photos of my rough sketches.” She connected to her laptop’s Bluetooth system and projected the pictures sent by Giovanni onto the big screen.
That was a data report from Jacaster’s forensic department. It displayed the fingerprints on the rough sketches. Sabrina was the fourth person present, in addition to Stephanie, Vincent, and Julianna. Thus, all of the data could be linked together. The truth was that Sabrina secretly took pictures of the rough sketches and contacted tvy. Ivy was worried that something bad would happen to her and contacted Alicia, who then associated with Flora.
The fact was revealed and sparked outrage. The audience was enraged, if not for their upbringing, they would have rushed up and given the plagiarists at
lesson.
Flora pursed her lips, her face pale, and explained, “Alicia stated she drew all those rough sketches. If I buy them, they’ll help me attain my targets. She wants 800 thousand dollars, and if we win, she can join Dream Design Studio as a designer. I looked through it and thought it was fantastic, so I bought it Jor the price she suggested. She kept me in the dark, too. I didn’t know these were Stephanie’s rough sketches. If I had known, I would never have allowed plagiarism to occur.” She attempted to absolve herself of her involvement, but all she could say was that Alicia was hiding the truth.
Alicia became outraged upon hearing that. Because she had no way out, she wanted to drag Flora into mutual destruction. “That’s not true. I informed her at the beginning that they were Stephanie’s rough sketches. I’m not skilled enough to draw something like this, Flora won’t believe me if I don’t tell the truth.” Alicia then took out her phone to search their chat history. She added, “Herel Look, Flora said Stephanie’s drawings were excellent. What a
Stephanie’s. She was frightened of being held accountable, so she blamed me. Flora, let’s be doomed skill! So she knew these rough sketches
together.”
The screenshot was shown on the big screen, and everyone saw it clearly.
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Chapter 137
Flora’s eyes burned with rage. She gritted her teeth and slapped Alicia. “You b i t c h! They sold you 600 thousand dollars, but you sold me 800 thousand dollars. You earned a price differential of 200 thousand dollars, Am I an easy target for you? Why did you call Ivy? If you didn’t, she wouldn’t be found. It’s your fault. I’ll kill you, you self-righteous fool!”
Flora and Ivy struck Alicia together, knocking her to the ground.
The police soon arrived, separated them, and handcuffed them.
Lisa, the person in charge of Dream Design Studio, appeared depressed. She bowed deeply before Stephanie and Julianna, saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they had plagiarized your sketches before. I didn’t disclose anything when plagiarism arose because I had a fluke mind. After all, admitting it would harm the design studio’s reputation. Stephanie claimed that plagiarism is as addicting as stealing. I should have believed Alicia was such a person, but when she and Flora showed me the tough sketches, I became blinded by fame. Stephanie, I know how despicable I am. I’m willing to resign as the vice president of Dream Design Studio. Can you spare the studio just once? I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but the studio employs many hardworking, innocent designers. Would you please show mercy?”
Julianna said, “It’s too late now, and don’t guilt-trip Stephanie with your innocent employees. Plagiarism is a fact, and it involves the entire team rather than individuals. If you were the one who got plagiarized today, would you simply disregard it? I don’t think so. Don’t make things difficult for Stephie. At the very least, she suffered physical and psychological harm. None of you four can avoid your responsibilities. Let us wait until we return to discuss how we’ll negotiate between Starlight Design Studio and Dream Design Studio. But for the time being, all four of you will be taken to the police station for questioning. You’ll face consequences for causing a commotion before Lela.”
A farce had ended, and the competition continued. To avoid suspicion, Stephanie and the four judges didn’t provide a score and instead asked the audience to rate. Undoubtedly, the final winner was Starlight Design Studio.
Lela hugged Stephanie, put the crown on her, and gave her a bouquet. “Stephie, you’re so beautiful.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Stephanie said.
“You’re welcome. Don’t forget about the celebration party later,” Lela reminded.
Stephanie wanted to say she was going back to Vincent. She looked over and saw Vincent nod slightly, musing, ‘Did he agree?” She then gave a speech on behalf of Starlight Design Studio. “Once, I put Starlight Design Studio in a passive state due to a difficult family situation. I’m sorry to Julia and my colleagues. When I returned to Starlight Design Studio, I wanted to be myself again, so I prepared to remove Star from public view. Unexpectedly, it drew criticism and created a scene tonight. But I think this year’s competition is quite memorable.”
The crowd burst into laughter.
Stephanie smiled, adding, “Star is about to become the past. I hope you’ll remember me as Stephanie. Julia and i will lead Starlight Design Studio’s designers to take bold steps forward. We can do it!”