Chapter 54

Chapter 54

After leaving GE, Isabella went to William's company. When she arrived, William probably already knew the whole story - a flash of guilt crossed his eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't expect this would cause you trouble again."

He lowered his head, hands clenched tight, his tone somewhat self-reproachful.

"I thought if this worked out well, it would boost your career. I even got Daphne to handle your designs, thinking since I knew her, she'd work harder for you than others. I never expected she'd cause you such big trouble instead."

Isabella smiled and walked over, gently patting William's shoulder, her tone comforting.

"Don't think that way, and don't feel guilty. I trusted Daphne at first, too, but at least nothing bad happened to me, right?"

To show their sincerity, GE had already released a statement before she even arrived at William's company. They didn't hide any of Daphne's tricks - laid it all out clearly. The online criticism was under control now, and everyone was impressed by Isabella's careful thinking.

When Isabella sensed the hostility from Daphne, she had a guess - Daphne probably liked William.

Plus, she and William had been getting closer these past few days. Daphne was probably jealous. With the final draft deadline approaching, she panicked and took the risk of logging into Isabella's account to leak the designs.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have risked using her own computer to log in.

Isabella kept this thought to herself. After comforting William a bit more, she brought up not working with GE anymore.

William naturally agreed with Isabella. "This time I saw GE's true colors, too. If you hadn't been alert enough to notice something was wrong and gathered evidence, they would've pressured you to take the blame. Better not to work with companies like that."

He gently held Isabella's somewhat cold hand, completely unaware that his gesture made the atmosphere between them seem a bit intimate.

"With your design talent, you can find another good design company."

Isabella shook her head slightly. They'd been in contact quite a bit these past two days, and she hadn't even noticed she and William were holding hands. She went ahead and shared her own idea.

"I think instead of going to another company to design for them, why don't we start our own design brand together?"

Talking about this, Isabella's eyes lit up, her lashes fluttering like ripples on a sparkling lake, silently drawing William in.

"If we had our own design brand, we wouldn't have all these messy problems, wouldn't get caught up in plagiarism controversies out of nowhere, and my designs wouldn't suddenly get leaked."

At this point, Isabella's mood dropped a bit. She gave a self-mocking laugh. A flash of pain crossed William's eyes, and he gently patted the back of Isabella's hand with his other hand.

"I think your idea is great. Let's do what you said - start a design brand that belongs to both of us. With your design talent, it'll definitely be good."

Their eyes met. Isabella paused, then realized the position they were in. Her gaze fell on their clasped hands, her ears burning as she instinctively pulled her hand away.

William paused slightly. The soft touch seemed to linger in his palm. He looked down to see a blush spreading across Isabella's face.

"Then I'll have to trouble Ms. Taylor to come up with a nice name for our design brand."

Isabella returned to the Taylor Group in a daze. The brand leak incident had been resolved cleanly before it could spread widely. Hayden, busy with the Taylor Group's messy affairs, hadn't even noticed it happened.

He had people watching Isabella. When he heard she was back, he thought for a moment, then stood up with an unpleasant expression.

"Let's go. Take me to see my daughter."

During this time, due to several controversies, the Taylor Group's cash flow had hit a crisis. Several projects under the Taylor Group weren't doing well, and some were about to shut down.

In this situation, several senior executives had withdrawn their investments. The remaining ones, though they hadn't left, had reduced their investments. The Taylor Group was nothing like it used to be.

Hayden had no other options. With a dark expression, he went to Isabella's office.

When he arrived, Isabella was buried in work. Seeing it was Hayden, surprise flashed in her eyes.

"Mr. Taylor."

She called out to Hayden flatly. Though Hayden didn't smile, his eyes softened a bit. He pulled over a nearby chair and sat down. His secretary stood behind him, holding a document.

Isabella glanced at the document in his secretary's hands - just a few pages, probably a contract.

Was Hayden here to have her sign some contract? A hint of curiosity flashed in Isabella's eyes as she looked calmly at Hayden sitting across from her.

Whatever Hayden was planning, she wouldn't care anymore.

"I've seen Cloudscape Mall's performance lately. It's really good."

Isabella raised an eyebrow but didn't respond. Hayden wouldn't come to her office just to praise her. What he really wanted to say was probably coming next.

When she didn't respond, Hayden's smile froze. He cursed inwardly but had to force a smile on his face.

"The Taylor Group's performance has been really bad lately, as you've seen. I had no choice but to come to you."

He reached out, and his secretary handed over the document. Hayden opened the first page and pushed it in front of Isabella.

"This is my friend's company. He really values your design and management abilities. How about this - you help my friend complete these projects."

Isabella looked down at the contract, her eyes darkening.

The contract was very clear - she needed to provide services to all of the other company's projects at the lowest price, including design and operations. The specific projects she'd be responsible for were already listed, neatly written in the contract.

Hayden was planning to sell her work abilities to the other party in exchange for resources, while the compensation she'd get was pitiful. None of these projects was easy to do.

"How much did they offer you in resources for you to be willing to sell me out to work for them for free?"

Isabella had no interest in playing along with Hayden. She narrowed her eyes slightly, having seen through Hayden's plan.

Hayden's smile froze on his face. Suppressing his impatience, he said, "It's not as complicated as you think. I'm doing this for your own good. If you complete these projects, won't it help your career too?"