Chapter 7 Plan B

"We're so dead! If we can't publish a new design on time, the supervisor will kill us. But if we publish it as scheduled, we'll be accused of plagiarism. There's just no winning!"

"Katherine, you were the one who was in charge of this design. Were you in contact with Cilice Design?"

"Yeah! Did you leak our design to them? Are they trying to poach you?"

Katherine's expression darkened. "I didn't do anything wrong, nor do I plan on jumping ship. I don't even know anyone at Cilice Design. Trust me, everyone; I'll come up with a solution for this."

Seeing that the office was in chaos, Darrell swaggered in and said loftily, "What're you doing, standing around here idly? We have a crisis at hand!"

After scolding everyone, Darrell fixed his eyes on Katherine and put on airs. "Katherine, you'd better have a good explanation for this. Tell me, why did you plagiarize Cilice Design's design?"

Katherine felt disgusted just looking at Darrell, let alone speaking to him, but they were still colleagues. This wasn't the right time or place to snap at him.

"I didn't plagiarize anything. On the contrary, I suspect there's a traitor here who leaked our design."

As she spoke, Katherine took out her design drafts and showed them to everyone to prove her innocence.

Everyone fell into eerie silence. Nobody dared to make a sound, lest they draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

"You're a plagiarist! How dare you make false accusations against anyone else? And what makes you think there's a traitor in the company? Do you have any proof? You're clearly just making excuses!" Darrell pointed at Katherine and scolded her angrily.

"I don't have any proof, but I know that I'm innocent. I'm sure the police will be able to get to the bottom of this."

Katherine spoke in neither a humble nor pushy tone, reaching for her phone to call the police.

The crowd watched with bated breath. They couldn't believe that Katherine would actually involve law enforcement.

"You're just trying to buy time. And even if you call the police, so what? We have less than four hours before the press conference. Are you seriously going to publish a plagiarized design? Who's going to take responsibility for the losses of the company, huh?"

Darrell didn't expect that Katherine would be so tough, but he couldn't shrink back now. He continued to yell at her in front of everyone, hoping she'd back down.

But Katherine remained completely unfazed. "Don't worry. I have a plan B. I'll be able to release a completely different design draft by the deadline. But..." She deliberately paused for a second, locking eyes firmly with Darrell. "I will never let whoever framed me get away with it."

Darrell sneered, "Well, how can you guarantee that your so-called 'plan B' will work? This matter has already harmed the company. If you can't do anything to remedy it, then get out!"

The people in the office exchanged surprised glances. They didn't expect that Darrell, who had always been a good boyfriend to Katherine, would suddenly yell at her ruthlessly.

Their eyes darted between Darrell and Katherine, and for a moment, the topic shifted to that of the strained relationship between them.

"Hey, what's going on between you two? Why are you two fighting? Are you in the middle of a love quarrel?" Olivia whispered to Katherine in confusion.

Katherine didn't want to have anything to do with Darrell anymore. Besides, she was married, so it was necessary that she made things clear right now. "I broke up with Darrell. We're just colleagues now."

The colleagues then realized why the atmosphere between the two of them was so bad today.

But at the same time, they couldn't help but feel a little worried. Katherine was a senior designer, while Darrell was the manager of their department. If the two had become enemies, the rest of them would definitely suffer.

Olivia wanted to comfort Katherine, but before she could say anything, Darrell spoke up first. "Yes, I dumped her. She had me fooled. I had no idea she was such a cruel person. I was blinded by love, so I'd been covering for her. I tried to persuade Katherine to become a better person, but she refused to change and went even further. Now, she even dared to plagiarize someone else's design. If this matter causes severe consequences, I won't spare her. I'll fire her on the spot."

Seeing that Darrell slandered her in front of so many people, Katherine felt sick to her stomach.

However, she wasn't in the mood to argue with someone as unreasonable as him. She only said coldly, "We'll eventually find out who is in the wrong. There's no need to argue here in front of everyone. But Darrell, I'm sure you know that God is watching us."

Darrell was a little flustered. Averting his gaze for a second, he raised his voice with a guilty conscience. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I mean," Katherine replied icily. "The police will arrive soon. They'll be the ones to deal with this matter. Why are you still standing there? Get out of my way. I have to prepare for plan B."

"Do you think you can change the original design however you like? Do you think you're the boss of this company? You should know better than anyone how long it took for the company to decide on this design concept. If you change the design now, you'll go against the wishes of the company. I'll report it to my superior. Just wait and see!" Darrell threatened fiercely.

But Katherine didn't buy it at all. Ignoring him, she sat down at her desk and opened a file in a hidden folder on her computer.

It was a design draft showing a turquoise blue fishtail dress with tassels lining the hem. The shape was simple but elegant, without overdoing the details.

Even from this sketch, anyone could see that it was a beautiful dress.

This design was even more gorgeous than the previous one.

"Wow! Katherine, this is amazing!"

"So, she had a trump card after all. Bold move, Katherine!"

"Oh, my God! This dress is so beautiful! I can't wait 'til we start prototyping!"

"I think this draft is even more beautiful than the previous one. Now, Cilice Design might've released a new design today, but if we publish Katherine's design, it'll definitely amaze the whole fashion circle."

"Gorgeous! Simply gorgeous!"

The colleagues gathered around her computer and praised Katherine nonstop.

While everyone else cheered for her, Darrell's objections were drowned out. Everything he did to hinder Katherine fell flat in front of this beautiful design drawing.

Once again, Darrell was ashamed into anger. He shouted at the crowd, "Since you have the time to gawk, you'll all have to stay here and work overtime to go through the preparation for the press conference again."

Then he turned to Katherine and hissed through gritted teeth, "Didn't you call the police? Then stay here for the police. No one can leave until we get to the bottom of this."