Chapter 161

Chapter 161

"Even when both team leaders had to leave temporarily, we could still keep things moving. But ever since Ms. Baker announced she was leaving the project, the other team has been giving us a hard time, and we just can't seem to make any real progress."

"Now whether it's online communication or in-person meetings, no one from the other side shows up. We have no idea what the White Group thinks of our designs, and we don't know what changes to make."

"All we know is that every time we submit a design, it gets rejected."

Sophia frowned after hearing all this. "Why didn't anyone tell me something this important?"

As soon as she said it, she realized that ever since she got involved in the government project, she had been completely shielded from the outside world — no one except the project team members could reach her.

With that in mind, Sophia said, "It's okay. I'm back now, and I'll make sure this project gets back on track. Send me all the recent design submissions, and I'll take a look to see if there are any issues."

Her words instantly lifted everyone's spirits, and the team's motivation came rushing back.

Under Sophia's guidance, everyone gradually found their rhythm again.

For the next three days straight, Sophia was fully focused on sorting out the collaboration with the White Group. With her stepping in, the designers on the White Group's side didn't dare cause any more trouble, and the partnership quickly moved forward smoothly.

Three days later, Nicholas posted a meeting notice in the work group chat.

At that moment, everyone knew — the design they had submitted to the government had gotten a response.

Sophia arrived at the conference room right on time. Nearly all the team members were already there, faces lit up with excitement. Everyone felt confident about the designs they had submitted.

Soon, Nicholas walked in holding a sealed manila envelope. Unlike his usual cool and serious expression, he had a smile on his face.

Seeing this, everyone started urging him on. "Mr. Jackson, we're all here — go ahead and open it! Let's see the results!"

With everyone pushing him, Nicholas slowly tore open the sealed envelope and pulled out the official notice.

Instead of reading it alone first, he laid it flat on the conference table so everyone could read it together.

The moment they saw that the designs had been approved, the entire room erupted.

Some people hugged each other and cheered, while others immediately called their family and friends to start planning a celebration.

Only Sophia and Nicholas read all the way to the end. When they got to the signature, both of their expressions froze.

As if afraid he had misread it, Nicholas picked up the document and went over it several more times. When he confirmed that Alice's name was really there, he looked over at Sophia with pain in his eyes.

Sophia stumbled back a few steps, clearly in shock — but she quickly pulled herself together.

"I'm going to go talk to Gregory."

With that, she walked straight out of the conference room and called Gregory.

Nicholas watched her dazed figure disappear through the door. His grip on the document tightened, and he didn't even notice when the paper crumpled in his hand.

Sophia was clearly the one in charge of this collaboration. The government officials had even promised that once the project was officially launched, they would publicly recognize her as the project lead.

So why, now that the project had landed, was Alice's name listed alongside hers as a project lead?

Nicholas had been with Sophia every step of the way, from the very beginning to the end. He knew better than anyone how much she had poured into this project.

Countless nights, he had seen her staying late in the studio, working alone.

And what had Alice been doing all that time? Either traveling with Benjamin or staying home, taking pretty photos and soaking up praise from her social media followers.

Alice had been brought in through connections after the fact. Just having her name added to the project team was already more than she deserved — and now she wanted to share the title of project lead?

That was absolutely ridiculous.

Sophia found a quiet corner and answered Gregory's call.

Gregory assumed she was calling with good news. His voice was full of excitement. "So? Did the results come in? You're calling me at a time like this — it must be good news! I knew there wouldn't be any problem with the designs you submitted."

"The project was approved. But there's something else."

Sophia's voice was flat and cold. Gregory immediately sensed something was off. "What's wrong?"

"Besides my name, Alice's name has also been added as a project lead."

"What did you just say?"

Gregory's voice shot up several notches. Even over the phone, his anger was impossible to miss.

"What gives Alice the right? She jumped in right at the finish line. I didn't want to burn bridges with the government people, so I agreed to let her be listed as a team member. That was already a concession."

"She only handled the wrap-up work on this project. Every single person on the team put in more than she did. What gives her the right? How does she have the nerve to put her name down as a project lead?"

"Does she really think that just because she has Benjamin backing her up, she can do whatever she wants?"

"Please don't get too worked up," Sophia said, pressing her lips together. "I'm telling you because I want to know if there's still any way to fix this. If this is really how it ends up, honestly — I'm deeply disappointed."

"Sophia, don't worry. Leave this to me. I'll make sure you get a proper explanation."

The call ended, and Sophia's grip on her phone slowly relaxed.

No one knew how furious she had been when she saw Alice's name clinging to her like a shadow.

When it came to personal matters, she could let things with Alice go.

But this project was something she had given everything to. There was no way she was going to hand over what she had worked so hard for — not to Alice.

Not even half of it.

Just as Sophia was about to take a moment to calm down and go back to talk things over with Nicholas, her phone buzzed again.

It was a call from one of the White Group's project team members.

"Ms. Brown, this is bad! Ms. Baker just showed up and called an emergency meeting. I have a feeling something's really wrong — can you come back?"

"Got it. I'm on my way right now."

She hung up and headed straight to the White Group's side, without even stopping to let Nicholas know.

She was already angry about Alice — and now hearing that Alice was stirring up more trouble only made it worse.

Bring it on. She wanted to see exactly what Alice was up to this time.