Chapter 116 She Is Mine
The Starlight Design Awards were held at the newly built art center downtown.
Above the dome, countless lights intertwined, dazzling and brilliant.
Cecilia wore a white suit dress that Stefan had prepared for her. Pure white with sharp tailoring, it made her look lean and edgy.
She didn't touch the wine on the waiters' trays, nor did she acknowledge the socialites trying to approach her for conversation. She just stood quietly beside Stefan, radiating an unapproachable distance.
Until suddenly there was quite a commotion at the venue entrance, and the crowd automatically parted to both sides.
Cecilia followed everyone's gaze, and her breathing stopped for a moment.
Rufus had arrived.
He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, standing tall with a face so handsome it was flawless.
The moment Rufus appeared, he instantly stole all the light in the room.
Following beside him was a small design team, led by a woman with refined makeup and a gentle demeanor.
It was Isadora.
"That's the Chapman Group's newly hired chief designer, Ms. Penrose." Stefan's voice sounded low near Cecilia's ear, carrying a hint of pure amusement at the spectacle.
"She's a genius who studied abroad and just returned. I heard Rufus paid a fortune to bring her back."
The moment Isadora saw Cecilia, the polite smile on her face briefly froze.
Then, a heavy sense of vigilance and hostility flashed from deep in Isadora's eyes.
At that dinner party, Rufus's loss of control and breakdown still haunted her.
Isadora could tell it wasn't just because of Stefan's provocation!
So she used all her connections to investigate, and finally pieced together from fragments of aristocratic gossip a story that terrified her—about Rufus's deceased wife, Cecilia.
Then, Isadora paid a high price to get an old photo of Cecilia.
The Cecilia in the photo had an eerily similar outline and spirit to this woman before her named "Amelia."
Amelia was a substitute.
A living substitute who could make Rufus emotionally collapse at any moment!
An intense sense of crisis gripped Isadora's heart.
She wanted to be the only woman by Rufus's side, not live in a dead woman's shadow, competing with a ghost for Rufus's love.
This Amelia had to completely disappear from Rufus's world.
Isadora quickly adjusted her expression and, holding a wine glass, walked straight over with her design team.
The group surrounded her in the center, creating an impressive presence.
"Mr. Hensley." She first raised her glass to Stefan as a greeting.
Then her gaze fixed on Cecilia.
"Ms. Martinez, we've met before, but unfortunately didn't get to say hello. So you're Mr. Hensley's new studio's chief designer? You look so young."
Isadora's smile was impeccably standard, but her words carried hidden barbs.
"I'm curious, did Ms. Martinez graduate from Cascade College or Luminary College?"
She directly named two of the world's top design schools, clearly trying to embarrass Cecilia.
"After all, before returning to the country, I never heard Ms. Martinez's name at any international awards or well-known studios."
"Perhaps Ms. Martinez developed her career domestically before? May I ask, which design master was your teacher?"
This string of questions made the surrounding atmosphere interesting.
Everyone perked up their ears, waiting to see how this suddenly appearing Amelia would answer.
Cecilia raised an eyebrow slightly, lifted her eyes, and met Isadora's gaze directly.
"Ms. Penrose."
"Do you think the value of a good design is determined by the designer's alma mater and past resume?"
She answered with a question, lightly tossing the problem back.
Isadora choked. Of course she couldn't publicly admit this—it would make her seem narrow-minded and limited in vision.
"I, I certainly don't mean that, I'm just simply curious..."
"Then there's nothing to be curious about." Cecilia directly cut off her explanation.
"I don't have an impressive resume, and I'm not from a prestigious school."
She watched Isadora's eyes instantly light up and the surrounding people's expressions of anticipation, her lips curving into a cold arc.
"I'm just a newcomer."
"A newcomer who will make all of you remember my name."
Cecilia's understated words carried an extremely confident arrogance, completely blocking all of Isadora's follow-up remarks.
Standing not far away, Rufus had kept his gaze locked on this small focal point the entire time.
He remembered clearly that Cecilia, his deceased wife, had minored in jewelry design in college. She was very talented and had once secretly entered a competition and won a small award, hiding the design sketches in her books.
Rufus had accidentally seen her design sketches—they were lively, full of vitality.
But this Amelia before him.
Her profile contained no design-related experience whatsoever. Why would Stefan make a completely inexperienced newcomer the chief designer?
He had even invested huge amounts of money to establish a new company for her, openly declaring war on the Chapman Group's design business?
It made no sense.
An uncontrollable irritation and suspicion grew wildly in Rufus's heart, almost breaking through his rationality.
Rufus finally pushed aside the people in front of him and strode over.
He stopped in front of her, his dark eyes filled with undisguised scrutiny and doubt, as if trying to find traces on her face that overlapped with his memories of Cecilia.
"Since you're a designer." Rufus spoke, his voice terribly hoarse. "You must have design sketches."
He paused, adding word by word.
"Take them out."
"Let me see them."
Isadora's eyes completely lit up.
She was just worrying about how to make Amelia embarrass herself publicly, and Rufus had proposed a perfect suggestion.
What could Amelia, a newcomer with no background, possibly produce that was decent?
Just as Cecilia was about to speak, the smile on Stefan's face deepened.
"Mr. Chapman, you're overstepping."
He didn't make any unnecessary physical contact, just shifted half a step forward, subtly blocking Rufus's gaze.
This small movement from Stefan was a clear protective gesture.
"The design proposal for Whimsy Gallery is Amelia Design Studio's first work, and our first shot at entering the high-end design market. I think Mr. Chapman understands its commercial value better than I do."
"Showing it to our biggest competitor before it's even released—that's not how things are done."
Stefan's voice remained gentle, but carried the sharpness typical of the business world.
"Or is it that the Chapman Group has so little confidence in the genius designer they hired at great expense?"
"That you need to spy on the drafts of our newly established little studio to find inspiration?"
These words were extremely humiliating. Isadora's expression stiffened, her nails nearly digging into her palms.
Rufus's breathing also became heavy, his chest heaving violently, clearly enraged to the extreme.
But Stefan gave him no chance to catch his breath.
"Is Mr. Chapman so eager to see the design sketches because you really care about design?" Stefan leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice.
"Or is it that,"
"You see in my person some shadow of something you can't have?"
Rufus's pupils suddenly contracted.
"What a shame." Stefan didn't wait for him to speak, continuing his deliberate announcement.
"She's my person."
"Not your obsession, and certainly not some departed soul you can touch at will."