Chapter 143 Isadora Escapes
Pay for damages?
Cecilia looked at Isadora's twisted face as she clutched her nose, a hint of obvious absurdity showing in her eyes.
"What are you looking at! I said pay up, didn't you hear me?" Isadora's voice was muffled from covering her nose, but the shrillness hadn't diminished one bit.
She pointed at her facial features that she'd spent a fortune on plastic surgery to create, screaming incoherently.
"Amelia! This face of mine was done by the best plastic surgeon abroad! Just the nose implant and surgery fees alone were six figures!"
"And the maintenance costs afterward are astronomical! Do you know that!"
"You just slapped it crooked with one hit! You've ruined me! You've ruined my career!"
Isadora suddenly looked around at everyone, her voice rising, full of inflammatory emotion.
"You all saw it! She, Amelia, was the one who hit me! She ruined my face! You all have to testify for me!"
Isadora was trying to claim all the sympathy from the onlookers as leverage for her extortion.
However, the angry support she'd expected didn't materialize.
The contestants around them exchanged glances, their expressions complicated.
One designer whispered to their companion: "Is she... publicly admitting she got plastic surgery? And even giving the price?"
"A nose that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars got knocked crooked by one slap? That's terrible quality."
"I thought she was naturally beautiful, turns out it's all surgery."
Another person's voice carried undisguised schadenfreude: "This is getting interesting. The chief designer's face is fake—this news is way more explosive than the competition results."
Though their discussions were quiet, they clearly reached Isadora's ears, making her already embarrassing situation even worse.
"How much you spent on plastic surgery has nothing to do with me."
Cecilia finally spoke, her voice cold and without a trace of warmth.
"Ms. Penrose, you know perfectly well who's at fault here. Since you're playing dumb, then you and I have nothing more to say."
This statement made Isadora's breathing catch.
Stefan beside them let out an extremely light laugh, which sounded particularly clear in the deathly quiet hallway.
He leisurely picked up the conversation, his tone lazy but his content extremely malicious.
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars?"
Stefan's gaze lingered for a moment on Isadora's crooked face. "Sounds like a lot. But..."
He changed direction, "Looking at these results, I think your doctor's skills aren't that great."
Isadora's face instantly flushed red.
"Want me to recommend someone?" Stefan's lips curved into a playful arc. "An expert in Astoria who specializes in repairs. I can get him to give you a discount."
"After all, seeing Rufus's future woman walking around with a crooked nose would damage the Chapman Group's reputation, wouldn't it?"
This statement was even harsher than that slap earlier.
It not only exposed Isadora's plastic surgery but also laid bare her calculated ambition to attach herself to Rufus, tearing it open and throwing it on the ground for everyone to see.
"You, you're talking nonsense!" Isadora's voice trembled with panic. "I don't understand what you're saying!"
"It's okay if you don't understand." Stefan smiled even more cheerfully. "As long as Rufus understands."
"You, you're ganging up to bully me!"
Isadora completely broke down. She abandoned logic and began the most primitive crying and fussing, tears flowing again.
"I don't care! She hit me anyway!"
"If there are any aftereffects to my face, she'll be the culprit who ruined my whole life! I demand the organizers give me justice!"
Cecilia found it utterly ironic.
"Isadora, do you really want justice?"
"Or are you just trying to use your 'victim' status to cover up all the facts—your professional failure, your failed attempt to hit me, and your exposed lies?"
Cecilia stepped forward, her presence commanding.
"You swung at my face first. I defended myself. What's wrong with that?"
"I didn't!" Isadora immediately screamed in rebuttal, sticking to her story. "It was you! You got arrogant after winning, you shoved me first, then hit me! You made the first move!"
She began frantically twisting the truth, trying to throw all the blame onto Cecilia.
"Everyone saw it! I was just a weak woman trying to get an explanation, but she attacked me so viciously!"
"Don't you all know how important this face is to a designer? If she can ruin my face today over a small argument, tomorrow she can ruin your futures!"
Isadora's tearful accusations made several contestants who had been wavering fall back into hesitation.
After all, the word "disfigurement" was too heavy for anyone.
"She kind of has a point. No matter what, hitting someone in the face is going too far," one female contestant said quietly.
"But I remember Isadora was the one who tried to hit first? She didn't look like any weak woman." Her companion immediately countered.
"But the consequences of disfigurement are too serious. What if Amelia really is using Mr. Hensley's backing to throw her weight around in the industry from now on?"
"Exactly. We all make our living with our skills and appearances. If this doesn't get resolved, it just doesn't sit right."
After a few comments, the atmosphere that had just calmed down started becoming delicate again.
Watching the crowd stir again, Cecilia finally felt somewhat bored.
She didn't want to waste any more words on this crazy woman Isadora.
Her gaze moved past Isadora's shoulder to a corner not far behind her.
Cecilia suddenly raised her finger, pointing in that direction.
"Isadora, did you forget something?"
Cecilia's gesture instantly drew everyone's attention. People looked in the direction she was pointing, their expressions varied.
"We're still at the program recording site right now." Cecilia's speech was slow, each sentence clearly delivered to Isadora's ears.
"How you rushed over in a rage to block my way and provoke me just now."
"And how you raised your hand, trying to slap my face."
"And finally, how I caught your hand and you got slapped back."
Cecilia's gaze returned to Isadora's pale face, the corner of her mouth curving into a cold arc.
"I think the camera over there should have recorded everything for you, exactly as it happened."
The camera!
These words hit Isadora's nerves like a physical blow.
A chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head, freezing all the blood in her body instantly.
Isadora stiffly, inch by inch, turned her neck to look in the direction Cecilia was pointing.
That inconspicuous black hemisphere hanging in the corner, with a tiny red dot in the center, was blinking on and off.
It's over.
Isadora had been too angry and nearly forgot that there were cameras everywhere here. The hallway where the conflict just happened must have them installed too.
If she kept making a scene and it blew up, once the officials released the surveillance footage...
She, Isadora, would not only be a professional failure and a physical failure, but also a clown who twisted the truth, lied through her teeth, and threw a public tantrum.
Extreme panic and shame overwhelmed her.
Isadora could no longer care about the pain in her face or demanding compensation from Cecilia. Isadora's only thought now was to escape this place that made her utterly humiliated.
She suddenly shoved aside the people next to her and rushed toward the exit desperately.
As she passed by Cecilia, due to extreme panic and fear, Isadora stumbled, her body tilted, and she nearly fell to the ground completely.
Isadora awkwardly steadied herself against the wall, then turned back and glared viciously at Cecilia and Stefan.
That look was filled with hatred and unwillingness.
"Amelia, you just wait!"
Isadora squeezed out this threat through clenched teeth, but her voice had no force due to the trembling she couldn't hide.
After speaking, Isadora covered her crooked face and fled from everyone's sight without looking back, in complete disarray.