Natalie’s gaze was bone-chillingly cold.She refused to back down.
If she resigned now, it was like she was admitting to the crime.
“Let me make myself clear.I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m not resigning.” The smile was wiped from the staff’s face.
She took out the resignation document and slid it across the table in front of Natalie.
In a tough tone, she said, “We will fire you sooner or later.By then, you’ll be even more embarrassed.”.
“Judging from her aggressive manner, the senior executives of Larson Group must have given the order to dismiss me,” Natalie thought to herself with a frown.
She was distressed.
Those people were driving her to a dead end.
Just then, her phone pinged.It was a message from Brandon.
She hadn’t heard from him in a long time, so she glanced at the message quickly.
“Natalie, I found evidence that you didn’t plagiarize.”
Pleasantly surprised, Natalie looked up from her phone and sneered at the HR staff. Then she began to type out her reply to Brandon.
“Miss Quinn, please sign on the resignation notice,” the staff member said through gritted teeth. She grew angrier when she saw that Natalie began to tinker with her phone. Ignoring her, Natalie texted Brandon back.
“Are you serious, Mr.Larson? What did you find?” The message from Brandon was a godsend.
She was just about to accept the fact that the Larson Group had given up on her. Brandon replied with a long message.
“Upon investigating the matter, we found out that Klein Silk Fabric took over the platform recently. Luna didn’t upload the design drafts a year ago, but a few days ago. The data was tampered with. Klein Silk Fabric used their connections and managed to get to your works before the show officially began. They asked Luna to make a collection based on your works and posted them on the platform. They tampered with the date and time stamp of the post to frame you for plagiarism.” Natalie had already guessed that it was Klein Silk Fabric behind this, but she had no idea how they did it.
“How did you find that out?” The platform was now owned by Klein Silk Fabric. How could they have let Brandon investigate them?
“We have tech guys here. They were the ones who found evidence of them tampering with the platform’s database. Even if they had altered the original date of uploading, our tech guys were able to retrieve it. We also have a video confession of the staff who tampered with the data.” Brandon’s words lifted a weight off of Natalie’s heart.
He sent two videos to Natalie and said, “We’ve done what we could. You should be able to take it from here now, right?”
All of a sudden, Natalie felt a surge of energy. She stood up with a confident smile and said to the HR staff member, “I didn’t do anything wrong and I knew that the company won’t fire me because of some groundless accusation!” As she spoke, she tucked her phone away. The staff member gritted her teeth and glared at her angrily.
“Natalie Quinn, you plagiarized someone else’s work yet you feel no shame?” Natalie ignored her. She turned around and left without looking back.
*******
Tiffany looked up in surprise when Natalie entered her office.
“What’s up, Quinn?”
“Miss Fisher, can I have Ritchie Klein’s number?” Natalie asked politely.
In Tiffany’s eyes, she looked inexplicably relaxed, as though her career wasn’t in danger. Tiffany looked at her warily and then nodded slowly.
“I have his number, but may I ask why you need it?”
“I want to call him and apologize,” Natalie answered simply.
“Quinn, are you crazy? Go back to work. You didn’t plagiarize anything, so keep a low profile for now. There are enough discussions about you already,” Tiffany scolded.
After saying that, she lowered her head and continued to work. But Natalie stayed glued to the spot, staring at her with fierce determination. After hesitating for a few seconds, Tiffany relented and held up Ritchie’s business card.
She said in a resigned tone, “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Natalie reached for the card with a bright smile. Of course she knew what she was doing. That evening, Ritchie received a call from an unknown number.
“Mr.Klein, this is Natalie Quinn from the Larson Group. After giving it some thought, I want to apologize in public,” Natalie said, her voice as sweet as honey.
When Ritchie heard this, he was surprised. Then, he sneered. He was under the impression that
Sebastian’s wife was a stubborn woman, but it turned out he was wrong about her. Natalie had given up so soon.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?” With a smug smile on his face, Ritchie smirked.
“Come to Klein Silk Fabric tomorrow. You can apologize there in person.”
Ritchie had a devious grin on his face when he hung up the phone.
“Call all the designers under Klein Silk Fabric and the people in charge of the fashion week,” he barked at his secretary.
“I want them here tomorrow.Call some famous personalities in the fashion industry as well. We need people in authority for the event.” The secretary nodded respectfully.
He was about to leave when Ritchie stopped him in his tracks.
“Where the hell are you going? I’m not finished yet.Get your ass back here.”
The poor man scurred back, cursing his boss in his mind.
“Invite every media outlet in Seacisco, especially the ones that prioritize viewership over anything.And make sure to tell them to hype up the event as much as they can!”
Ritchie sat back on his chair as his plan began to take shape.
“Get the biggest function hall for the press conference.I want hundreds of people to be there.Oh, and don’t forget to arrange for a live stream, too.Contact our usual sponsors and tell them their products will be displayed throughout the feed.We might as well make some money while we’re at it.And remember-our main goal is to discredit Natalie and end her fashion career for good.”
Another evil grin spread on Ritchie’s face.He wanted to screw that woman over so badly that she could never get back on her feet again.
The secretary pursed his lips and jotted every detail down.
This time, he made sure that his boss was finished before leaving the office.
The sun shone bright and early the next day.
Just as planned, the press conference was held at the largest meeting hall in Klein Silk Fabric.
Cameras littered all around the room, squeezed in among the throng of people who came to watch the spectacle.
Even as she swept a glance over the crowd, Natalie didn’t feel panicked in the slightest.
“It looks like the Klein Silk Fabric really wants to do you in,”
Tiffany remarked from beside her.She turned to look Natalie in the eye.
“You’re not just going to stand there and let yourself be bullied in public, are you? What’s your plan?” A faint smile appeared on
Natalie’s lips.
“You’ll find out soon enough.Don’t worry.I’m not particularly inclined to suffer any misplaced grievances, either.”
With that, she walked onto the stage, all calm and grace.
The room finally settled down as Natalie took her place.
Without wasting her time, she whipped out a flash drive and held it up for all to see.
“Sorry for taking up your time, everyone.In order to convey my sincerity more properly, I have prepared a couple of videos for today’s press conference.”
From a distance, Ritchie frowned and narrowed his eyes.He could sense that something wasn’t right.
Why was Natalie so composed in such a situation? If anything, she should be mortified and humiliated right now, especially in front of all these people.
What was she up to? He leaned over fo his secretary and asked in a hushed voice, “Did she find something?”
“She can’t have,” the other man replied confidently.
“We’ve taken care to sweep everything.All the evidence has been locked away.I think she’s just bluffing.”