Chapter 73 Return the design to Erica
As Victoria entered, President Gray walked over with an unpleasant expression. "Victoria, I knew it. How could a newcomer like you, who has nothing, come up with such a decent design? It turns out you plagiarized it."
He pointed sternly at Victoria. "Now they've come knocking on our door. You see for yourself, how are you going to explain this?"
Victoria looked straight at Erica inside. Erica seemed calm and unconcerned, even showing a face of pity as Victoria came in. Holly was also there, snorting coldly and glaring at Victoria before turning to Dylan behind her. "President Clark, this is not our doing. If we had known that she was plagiarizing Miss Griffin's work, we would have fired her long ago. Who does she think she is, a nobody, yet able to come up with such a brilliant design right off the bat?"
Dylan snorted. "This is not something you can just brush off by saying it has nothing to do with you. Victoria, you can either confess to stealing trade secrets or tell the world that this design belongs to Griffin Family Group and let them continue the bidding."
He looked down on Victoria contemptuously, like an emperor who ruled over life and death.
Victoria bit her lip. "Erica, you took my design and falsely accused me. You're really something."
She had never thought that Erica could be so shameless. She used to think that Erica was just a little scheming, but now she realized that she had underestimated her.
Erica looked surprised. "Victoria...I didn't want to bring it up, but now that you've been caught, don't you know you're wrong? Why do you still want to blame me?"
Darian also looked disappointed, looking at his daughter. He used to love her and thought he would love her forever. Even after finding out that she was not his biological daughter, he didn't think he would stop liking her. But slowly, his mindset became biased. Especially with Erica being so gentle, considerate, and kind-hearted, it made Victoria more and more arrogant, causing him to sigh that she was not his biological daughter after all.
"Victoria, I can't believe you're still blaming others at this point. Erica noticed it when she saw the bidding, but she chose not to say anything. It was me who found out that she had the same design and was planning to submit it to the design school for an award. She was going to destroy it, but I insisted on bringing her here."
Victoria couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Seeing her laugh, everyone was even more surprised. How could she still laugh at a time like this? "Well, that's quite a coincidence," Victoria said. "Destroying a roll of paper is not difficult at all. She could have quietly shredded it, but she chose to do it when you saw her, didn't she? And she hesitated for so long before telling the truth, saying it was for my own good, hoping that I wouldn't go down the wrong path again. That's why she wanted to reveal the truth, right?"
Darian was stunned and couldn't help but look at Erica beside him. Erica did have a momentary reaction,but immediately showed a distressed look. She stood up and was about to run outside. "Victoria, why did you become like this? You weren't like this before. Since you insist on saying this, I will destroy my design now."
Dylan quickly came over and hugged Erica. "Erica, you can't destroy it," he said angrily, looking at Victoria with resentment. "She just wants to provoke you to destroy it so there will be no evidence. Don't fall for it."
Tears welled up in Erica's eyes. "It's impossible. Victoria is not that kind of person."
Victoria sneered. Darian also reacted, "Enough, Victoria. You're not making any sense. We have evidence now. We don't want to break ties with you. Go tell Huan Yu that you plagiarized Erica's work and let them award the bid to Griffin Family. Then the matter will be settled. Otherwise, we will expose you. Qing Yu will be blacklisted for using plagiarized work. Who would dare to use your company for future projects?"
President Gray panicked when he heard this. "Wait,President Griffin, let's talk about this."
Lu Xiji also sat in the back, "We've said enough good words. Let's use diplomacy first. I hope President Gray can understand."
Of course, they understood. If it was just Griffin Family, it would be fine, but Dylan was also here watching. It would be one thing to offend one Griffin Family, but it would be another to offend the Clark Family. This project was important, but now it was suspected of plagiarism and could not be used. He looked coldly at Victoria behind him, "You go and explain to Cosmos Group yourself."
Victoria looked surprised, "What did you say? That's impossible! There's no way I'll admit to something I didn't do."
Holly snorted, "You have no choice but to admit it. If you don't go, then get out of the company." Victoria stood firm, "Fine, I'll leave. But Erica, you think you can get away with using my design? No way. If you dare to use it, I'll expose you. You may think it's seamless, but it's my work and I know what's wrong with it. If you're not afraid of problems, then go ahead and use it."
She then turned to Darian, "If that design really belongs to her, why didn't she use it during the bidding process? If she had, our designs would have clashed on the spot. Why wait until now? President Griffin, you should think about it yourself."
Darian listened and couldn't help but feel doubtful.
Could it really be Erica's fault?
He looked deeply at his daughter but ultimately didn't say anything.
For the sake of the Griffin Family winning this bid, it couldn't be Erica's fault. Victoria didn't say anything else and walked out.
President Gray and Holly were surprised by her decisive action and were left stunned. Finally, President Gray said to Darian, "President Griffin, President Clark, don't worry. If she doesn't talk, we'll go to Cosmos Group and voluntarily withdraw from the project, giving it to Griffin Family."
Dylan stood up, "Then I'll wait for your reply. Don't worry, you're also victims in this. If Cosmos Group can't get the project, then Clark Family won't treat you unfairly."
Although it was far inferior to Cosmos Group's bid, President Gray still sighed and thought, "It's better than nothing."
Cosmos Group soon received Qingyu Architecture's request.
This situation had happened before, where the bidders agreed to jointly complete a project. As long as the project met their expectations, they wouldn't mind.
However, Elijah suddenly appeared at the project department.