Chapter 91
The plagiarism incident kept fermenting on the company intranet, and soon a buzzword emerged: "Wrong File." Everyone used these words to hint at the plagiarism, and someone even posted anonymously to joke about it:
"Maybe I'll send a Wrong File someday too, see if I can come out on top in the design department."
Ava had to admire how thick Sarah's skin was. She acted as if nothing had happened, and after just one night, she'd already returned to her usual arrogant attitude, looking down her nose at people as if everyone was beneath her.
She completely treated herself like the boss's wife, ordering colleagues around.
Most people in the design department had no connections. Knowing about her unusual relationship with William, no one dared to provoke her. Though they resented her inside, they remained very respectful on the surface, calling her "Ms. Brown" at every turn.
If it weren't for William not publicly acknowledging their relationship, they'd probably be calling her Mrs. Morgan directly.
As for that statement email she sent, whether others believed it or not, as long as she believed it herself. After all, if she refused to admit it, no one could do anything to her, and people still had to respectfully call her Ms. Brown.
This made her lackey, Ella, extremely proud.
In the break room, Ava ran into Ella sitting on a high stool, drinking coffee, when she went to get water.
Seeing Ava, Ella lifted her chin with a smug attitude.
"Ava, aren't you going to give in yet? Let me tell you, Mr. Morgan is coming back soon. If you don't apologize now, you won't get another chance."
Her expression seemed to say, "Dare to bully Mr. Morgan's woman? Just wait for your death."
"You'd better think about how to quickly make up the department budget. Be careful, Mr. Morgan may come after you first when he gets back."
"That's ridiculous. Sarah and I are good friends. You think Mr. Morgan would come after me?"
Ava turned on the water dispenser and couldn't help but laugh coldly. This idiot really treated Sarah as a ladder to climb up, completely unaware she was being used as a pawn.
In the afternoon, William sent an email with just a few words:
"Agree to re-score the evaluation."
Since everyone's work had already been submitted with their names this time, whereas previously scores were anonymous for fairness, this time they adopted an open evaluation method.
The Morgan Group soon issued an official announcement inviting people from all walks of life to participate in scoring. The public's eye is the most accurate, after all, these jewelry pieces would be produced and sold, so they needed to cater to public taste.
Everyone would vote based on their preferences, and the most popular design would be the first-place winner in this competition. This way, it could truly be fair enough.
Ava downloaded and looked at the new work Sarah had uploaded with her email. It wasn't particularly outstanding, but it was decent enough. After all, Sarah had been carefully cultivated by Steven since childhood, and Steven had spent a lot of money on her, so she couldn't be completely incompetent.
Once the announcement was made, it quickly sparked enthusiasm among netizens.
Everyone would take a look during their leisure time and give a thumbs up to the designs they liked as they passed by.
For most people, luxury brands like this were something they could only look up to. This was the closest contact they'd ever had with The Morgan Group.
In just half a day, the vote counts for the dozens of works from the design department had already been pulled apart.
The ring Sarah rushed out overnight ranked second, while the design with the highest votes actually came from Ava, an unknown little assistant in the design department. This shocked everyone.
What made Sarah even angrier was that netizens unanimously agreed that the bracelet Ava designed had the style of design genius Lolly.
The last time she heard such high praise was when the company's senior leadership commented on the necklace pendant design she submitted when she first joined The Morgan Group. Sarah nearly ground her teeth to dust. Why should Ava, that housewife who could only wash clothes and cook and couldn't get on the stage, receive such high praise?
The key point was that now the votes for Ava's bracelet far exceeded her ring design, completely crushing the second place.
Just thinking about it made Sarah's insides burn with anger. Originally, this first place belonged to her. One post had destroyed her reputation at The Morgan Group. She finally rushed out a replacement work overnight, only to be overwhelmingly crushed by that woman. It was like she'd completely lost face as The Morgan Group's chief designer.
She stared at Ava's workstation, hatred fermenting wildly in her heart.
That evening, Ava left work as usual. When she passed William's parking spot in the underground garage, she saw Sarah's car parked there, while Sarah's usual parking spot was empty.
That woman really wished she could paste the words "Mrs. Morgan" on her forehead, afraid people wouldn't associate her with William.
The shamelessness of it made her click her tongue.
Ava slowly drove her car out of the underground garage. While waiting at a red light, she called Lily at home, asking her to cook some porridge and prepare some light dishes. Now that the weather was getting hot, her appetite had worsened, and she only wanted to eat light things.
Just as she hung up the phone, she heard a commotion behind her car. She rolled down the window and looked back. Her bodyguards, Sam and Johnny, had dragged the driver out of the car behind her, thrown him on the roadside, and were viciously punching and kicking him.
Her heart jumped in alarm. Her first thought was that this person was coming for her, and it must be Sarah causing trouble again.
It was rush hour, and the road was jammed like a long dragon. Soon traffic police came to disperse the onlookers. The people fighting were taken away by the police. Cars behind honked a few times, and only then did Ava snap back to realize the car in front of her had already driven away, and she was blocking the road.
She lightly pressed the gas pedal and merged into traffic, her mind constantly replaying the scene from just now. She seemed to have seen Sarah through that car window, but couldn't be sure.
Sam and Johnny, along with the beaten driver, were all taken away by the police. Now wasn't the time for questioning.
She could only quietly wait for the police station to call her.
She had originally planned to go to a yoga class before going home for dinner, but now she was in no mood and was also afraid of encountering danger without Sam and Johnny around.
Ava turned the steering wheel and headed back to SilkGrove Estates. After getting home, she first went to the bathroom to freshen up briefly. Seeing the shampoo on the shelf, she remembered she had promised William yesterday to mail it for him, and now it was almost dark, and she still hadn't sent it.
If that picky guy found out she hadn't taken his matter to heart, he'd come back with a dark face again.
She opened her phone to call William. Yesterday, during the video call, he had teased her for a while but hadn't given her the most important information - she still didn't know the mailing address.
The phone rang a few times, then she heard a busy signal.
It wouldn't go through. It was turned off.
Ava figured he might be in a meeting or signing some important contract, so he'd turned off his phone. Thinking of this, she found James's number and called him, but surprisingly, his phone was also turned off.
She couldn't reach either of them. What were these two busy with that required both phones to be off?
Ava ate a few bites of food, feeling restless about what happened on the road.
Sam and Johnny were bodyguards she had hired. If they got into a conflict with someone on the road, they must have discovered the other party meant her harm. Thinking of this, she felt chills all over.
Sarah finally couldn't sit still anymore and showed her claws again.
She held her phone all evening waiting for a call, but only silence came.
William liked the quiet. When they moved in, Howard had sent over several servants from home, but William sent them all back, keeping only Lily, who was skilled at cooking.
This huge villa was so quiet at night that it was like a frozen space.
Ava lay in bed with the lights on until midnight. Feeling restless, she casually opened Facebook, and the first thing she saw was a post from Sarah.
"Finally waiting for you, boo hoo."
The accompanying image showed two hands clasped together.
Ava saw that hand with its clear knuckles, wearing a watch handcrafted by a famous Swiss craftsman, and her breath caught.