Chapter 254: Evidence

Chapter 254: Evidence

Charlotte's eyes curved into crescents as she reached up and pinched his tense jaw.

"No rush. Let them gloat for a few days."

After settling on their strategy, the two acted as if nothing had happened, completely unfazed by Jennifer's threats.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. At exactly three in the afternoon, Charlotte's phone rang.

"Charlotte, the three days are up. Have you made your decision?"

"Are you going to agree to let George divorce you and marry me, or should I release the plagiarism evidence and make sure you can never hold your head up in the design world again?"

George sat beside Charlotte and took the phone from her, his voice cold.

"Jennifer, give it up. There's no way I'm marrying you! Whatever tricks you've got, bring them on! Charlotte and I will face you to the end!"

Jennifer on the other end paused, clearly not expecting them to still have the nerve to talk back at this point.

She let out a cold laugh.

"Fine. Just fine. This is your choice. When the whole internet is tearing you apart, don't come crawling to me on your knees!"

With that, she hung up.

The next second, the lengthy post she'd already drafted went live on her social media account.

The post was written with dramatic flair, every sentence accusing Charlotte of plagiarizing her designs and stealing her spot in the international competition.

Several photos of so-called 'original drafts' were attached.

They were the very sketches she'd stolen from under George's bed.

Below that was thousands of words describing her 'emotional journey.'

She wrote about how she'd spent months pouring her heart and soul into her creations, how Charlotte and George had conspired to frame her and send her to prison, the inhumane suffering she'd endured inside.

Meanwhile, Charlotte had used her work to achieve fame and fortune, marrying into wealth. Now that she'd finally gotten out, she was ready to burn it all down and get justice.

The paid trolls she'd hired immediately started steering the narrative in the comments. Some claimed to be Jennifer's former college classmates who could confirm these designs were concepts Jennifer had started developing in her sophomore year.

Others said they were internal staff at the competition who'd personally witnessed Charlotte bribing judges to switch the submitted work.

Still others dug up old photos of George and Jennifer at a business gala years ago, claiming Jennifer was George's longtime girlfriend and Charlotte was the mistress who'd stolen both her work and her man.

In less than an hour.

#CharlottePlagiarism, #GeorgeAndJennifer, #CharlotteMistress—these hashtags shot straight to the top of the trending list, with over a hundred million views.

"I knew it! How could some woman with no connections become Regional President of Elysian Designs at such a young age? Turns out she's a thief. Disgusting."

"I actually bought her Fabric Flowers jewelry before. I'm sick. Support original creators—kick this thief out of the design world!"

"Jennifer's story is heartbreaking. Her boyfriend and his mistress worked together to send her to prison. I'd want to go down fighting too."

"Is George blind? He threw away the girlfriend who stuck by him through everything for some thieving homewrecker. Birds of a feather."

Wave after wave of vicious comments flooded in. The Summers Group's official account and Elysian Designs' page were both bombarded with abuse until they crashed.

People even dug up the studio's address, threatening to show up and throw trash at the door, demanding Charlotte leave the design industry.

George sat in his office scrolling through the hateful comments online, his heart pounding.

The scene of Charlotte leaving without a word three years ago was still vivid in his mind.

He couldn't sit still, glancing up at Charlotte every two minutes. She was seated at her desk, and not only did she seem unbothered, she was leisurely working on Fabric Flowers with delicate thread.

"Charlotte," George couldn't help but speak up. "Maybe we should release our statement now? These people are saying such awful things. I'm worried you..."

Charlotte looked up and smiled at him, her fingertips smoothing over a finished petal, her tone relaxed.

"Worried about what? That I'll run?"

George felt exposed, awkwardly nodding without saying anything.

"Don't worry. I'm not running this time." Charlotte set the finished petal aside.

She glanced at the trending topics on the computer screen, noting that the discussion had reached its peak.

Even several mainstream media accounts had started sharing posts about protecting original creators' rights.

She smiled.

"The buzz is about right. It's time."

With that, she opened a livestreaming platform and started a broadcast on her account.

Within two minutes of going live, hundreds of thousands of viewers flooded the stream. The comment section flew by at lightning speed, all hurling abuse at her.

"A thief has the nerve to livestream? Get lost!"

"Apologize!"

"Why aren't you saying anything? Guilty conscience? Where's that nerve you had when you stole someone's work?"

Charlotte completely ignored the comments, simply focusing on the Fabric Flowers in her hands.

The abuse in the stream gradually quieted down. Some viewers were struck by her skilled craftsmanship, and the comments paused momentarily.

Then they started up again: stop acting calm, plagiarism is plagiarism.

When the viewer count broke three million and the stream hit number one on the platform, Charlotte finally stopped what she was doing. She looked up at the camera and picked up a thick stack of drafts from the edge of the desk, spreading them out one by one in front of the lens.

The paper edges were slightly yellowed, covered in dense revision marks. Each page had a creation date stamped in the bottom right corner. The earliest date was from nine years ago—two years before Jennifer claimed to have created the designs.

"These are all my design drafts from my college years onward." Charlotte's fingertip tapped the dates on the paper. "Three years ago when I left in a hurry, I left behind a whole box of drafts at George's villa. We only had someone dig them out of storage a few days ago."

"Every single page's creation date and revision marks can be verified through handwriting analysis. The design drafts Jennifer has—she stole them."

She then pulled out two marriage registration documents from a drawer, opening them to face the camera. The photos showed her and George.

Most importantly, the registration date was clearly visible: six years ago.

"Also, George and I registered our marriage six years ago. Jennifer was never his girlfriend. When she tried to extort George back then and ended up in prison instead, the evidence was ironclad. There was no frame-up."

The moment those words left her mouth, the livestream exploded. Comments flew past at lightning speed.

"What? They got married six years ago? So Jennifer was the one trying to be the mistress?"

"Those drafts look real. You can't fake revision marks like that, right? And the dates are all from nine years ago—earlier than what Jennifer claimed."

"The marriage certificate has to be real, right? Forging official documents would mean prison time. That'd be insane."