Chapter 162

Chapter 162

When Sophia rushed into the White Group's conference room, everyone was already there.

Alice was sitting at the head of the table in an off-white work outfit and nude-colored four-inch heels.

She was seated while everyone else stood. Even though she was a head shorter than the others, her presence was still intimidating.

"What is this garbage you people designed? I don't think anyone would argue with me on that."

Sophia had just pushed open the conference room door when she heard Alice say this. Anger surged through her and she walked straight over.

"Ms. Baker, if you don't mind me asking, when you said garbage, were you referring to these designs that we poured our hearts into?"

"Ah, Ms. Brown, you're here." Alice tilted her chin up and gestured for her to sit down. "Don't be upset, Ms. Brown. Let's sit down and talk this through."

"From the look on your face, the government must have made an announcement. I know I wasn't that involved in that collaboration, but I really had no choice. Mr. Loomis felt it would be a waste of my talent to just be a regular project member."

"He thought only the title of project lead would do justice to my contributions. I couldn't really turn him down, so I agreed to let him put my name down as project lead."

"Ms. Brown, you didn't rush over here all worked up just because of that, did you?"

Alice said it so casually, but it was exactly the kind of thing that could set off Sophia's deepest anger.

Even so, Sophia gritted her teeth and held it together.

Seeing this, Alice continued, "To be honest, Mr. Loomis originally wanted to remove your name entirely and just have me as the sole project lead."

"I felt bad about everything you'd put into this project, so I talked him into keeping your name on it. If anything, Ms. Brown, you shouldn't be angry with me. You should actually be thanking me."

"Shut your mouth!" Sophia's voice turned cold. "Let's stick to the point. I'll deal with the government project with you another time. Right now I'm here to talk about the White Group project."

Sophia picked up the design drawings from the table. These were the ones she had selected the day before.

They weren't perfect, but they were about as close to perfect as you could get.

They were more than good enough to fulfill the collaboration with the White Group. They were even strong enough to be submitted to an international competition and place well.

And now Alice was trashing these designs in front of all the designers. Sophia knew exactly who she was really going after.

"Honestly, I've looked through these designs. They're pretty mediocre."

Alice curled her lip and spoke casually. "I'm guessing Ms. Brown was caught up with other work and let things slip here. Now that you're back, maybe you should take the reins yourself."

"Since Benjamin put me in charge, I'm going to review everything with the highest standards. I can't just let garbage slide through."

Sophia let out a cold laugh and gathered the designs from the table. "Since Ms. Baker thinks so little of our work, I think we can call off the collaboration with the White Group right here."

"You want to terminate the contract?" Alice sounded surprised, but then something seemed to cross her mind and a hint of amusement flickered in her eyes. "Do you have any idea how much you'd owe in penalties?"

"No. You're the one who'd owe penalties."

Sophia spoke with certainty. "I'll submit these designs to the review committee and let them decide whether they meet the standard for a White Group collaboration."

"Once they review them, if the committee finds nothing wrong with these designs, and yet Ms. Baker called them garbage, that means your side insulted the other party first."

"You would owe every one of our designers compensation for damages, and you would owe our studio compensation as well."

"That's ridiculous!"

Alice pushed back instinctively, then caught herself getting too worked up. She cleared her throat and tried to look composed, turning to Sophia with a dismissive look.

"Don't forget, I can speak for the White Group, but you can't speak for your own company. If I remember correctly, your boss left Mr. Jackson in charge of everything before he stepped away."

"No matter how much Mr. Jackson values you, at the end of the day he's a businessman. Businessmen care about profit. Do you really think he'd walk away from a collaboration with the White Group just because of a few words from you?"

"Ms. Brown, you're being naive. You're overestimating your own importance."

"Is that so." Sophia raised an eyebrow, her tone unbothered. "Then go ahead and have someone draft a termination letter right now. See if I'll sign it."

"And if you do sign it, does that make it legally binding?"

Alice spread her hands with an air of superiority. "Ms. Brown, you're oversimplifying how business contracts work. No company would ever terminate a contract over a few words."

"There's no point in going back and forth with you. If you don't believe my signature would hold up legally, have someone print the contract right now. Once I sign it, you're welcome to take it to a notary and find out."

Hearing this, Alice's confidence started to waver.

She couldn't deny it. She had been carrying a grudge ever since she witnessed what happened between Sophia and Benjamin. She couldn't take it out on Benjamin, so she had been looking for a reason to take it out on Sophia instead.

She had figured a few harsh words would let her blow off some steam, and that would be the end of it. She never expected Sophia to hold her ground like this and push things all the way to terminating the contract.

She didn't really believe Sophia had the authority to make that call, but now that things had escalated this far, she found herself stuck with no easy way forward.

Just then, Nicholas walked in and looked over at Sophia with concern. "What's going on?"

"I saw you leave in a hurry and figured something was up. Did she do something to you?"

Nicholas was clearly taking Sophia's side. Sophia smiled at him and shook her head.

"No, it's fine. Ms. Baker just said our designs weren't up to standard. I think she's deliberately trying to undermine us, so I want to terminate the contract."

"I asked Ms. Baker to have the termination letter printed so I could sign it, but then she said my signature wouldn't be legally binding. So that's where things stand."