Chapter 197: Despicable Tactics

Sophia's POV

Lisa jumped up on the spot, both hands pressed tightly over her mouth to hold back a scream.

"Perfect scores... perfect scores across the board! We did it!" Lisa was trembling all over, feeling like she was living in a dream.

In the shadows of a dark corner, Vivian's face had gone cold and stormy. She stared at me on the big screen, where I stood bathed in light, her perfectly manicured nails digging so deep into her palms that they drew blood — and she didn't even feel it.

She had just been blacklisted by FL worldwide, made a laughingstock across the entire socialite circle, and the Smith family was staring down bankruptcy. And me — the street girl they'd always looked down on, the one dragged back into the family halfway through — was up there stealing the show, even winning Joseph's public favor.

Joseph, of all people. The kind of man that even the oldest, most established families looked up to.

The jealousy was eating Vivian alive. Her face twisted, her eyes burning with a hatred so intense it felt almost physical. She refused to accept it. She would never accept being trampled under my feet like this.

Judy was just as close to losing her mind with envy. She had come here to watch Lisa embarrass herself, and instead she'd had to stand there and watch Lisa walk away with perfect scores under my lead, soaking up all the glory.

Judy's face had gone pale with rage, her chest heaving. She turned to the small, timid designer standing beside her clutching a portfolio board, and her anger found somewhere to go.

"What are you staring at! Are you brain-dead?!" Judy's hand shot up and cracked hard across the designer's face.

The sharp slap cut clean through the noise backstage. The designer stumbled back, her portfolio scattering across the floor. She pressed a hand to her swelling cheek, tears welling up, but she shrank into herself and didn't dare make a sound.

"Useless piece of garbage! You can't even draw a simple sketch right. If you had half of Lisa's talent, I would've been the one up there getting perfect scores today!" Judy wasn't done. She grabbed the designer's arm and wrenched it hard, her voice sharp and vicious. "Stop crying! You're nothing but bad luck. You can't even keep up with an assistant. Get back in there and redo everything!"

With that, Judy shot one last glare at me on the screen, then spun around and stormed off, her heels hammering the floor with every step.

The noise out front was still roaring. I paid none of the frantic eyes around me any attention.

I held my gaze on Joseph at the judging panel for a moment, then turned and walked back through to the backstage with easy, unhurried steps.

The second I stepped into the back corridor, Lisa rushed over to meet me. Her eyes were red, her whole face lit up with excitement she couldn't contain. She reached out and straightened the collar of my jacket with clumsy, eager hands.

"Sophia!" Lisa's voice was shaking. She looked at me like I hung the moon. "You were incredible! Perfect scores from every single judge! And... Mr. Spencer actually said in front of everyone that he came to be a judge because of you! He said all those things about you!"

Lisa clasped her hands to her chest, eyes sparkling. "That's Joseph, the CEO of Spencer Group! He always looks so cold and intimidating in business magazines, and I never would have guessed he'd think so highly of you! Sophia, you're just on another level entirely. You even managed to win over someone like Mr. Spencer with your talent!"

Facing Lisa's completely starstruck, almost incoherent adoration, I simply reached up and straightened my jacket where it had slipped, my expression as calm and unreadable as ever.

"Sophia, aren't you even a little excited?" Lisa swallowed hard, clearly thrown off by how unbothered I looked. "That was Joseph! Half the socialites in New York would kill just for a chance to meet him, and he just told the whole world he showed up specifically for you!"

I glanced over at Lisa's flushed face and let the faintest curve touch the corner of my lips.

"Of course he came for me," I said, my voice cool and unhurried, and then I dropped it like it was nothing. "He's my brother."

"Wha... what?" The excitement on Lisa's face froze solid. Her mouth fell open wide enough to fit a whole egg.

She stared at me blankly, her brain visibly stalling for a full ten seconds before she could begin to process what I'd just said.

Joseph was her brother? That meant Sophia was... the legendary Spencer daughter they'd just brought home, the rightful heiress of the Spencer family?

Lisa felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. Her knees nearly gave out.

She had always assumed I was just a VP parachuted in from a branch office, someone who'd earned people's respect through sheer force and results. It had never once crossed her mind that this composed, sharp-edged woman — the one who pulled all-nighters with them and never thought twice about sitting on a curb eating burgers and hot dogs — was actually the heir sitting at the very top of this city's social pyramid.

No wonder I didn't even blink when a multi-million contract crisis landed in front of me. No wonder I'd given off that bone-chilling presence when I faced down more than twenty attackers. No wonder Joseph himself, a man who might as well have been a godfather figure, showed up in person to stand in my corner.

"Sophia Spencer..." Lisa started, stumbling over the words, not knowing what to do with her hands. "You're... you're actually the Spencer family's daughter..."

"Surprised?" I glanced at her and turned toward the dressing room. "A title is just a label. It doesn't change the fact that I'm still your boss. Wipe that look off your face and get ready for the next round."

Lisa watched my straight, composed back as I walked away, and the awe and reverence welling up inside her hit a new peak.

Not far from where we stood, just behind a thick support column, a pair of eyes filled with cold, festering hatred were locked unblinkingly in my direction.

---

Betty's POV

"What?! You're telling me Sophia got perfect scores? And Joseph went there in person to back her up?!"

I was sitting on the chaise in my bedroom when Evelyn's sharp voice shrieked through the phone. I shot to my feet like I'd been struck by lightning. The sudden movement split my custom sheet mask clean down the middle, which might have looked ridiculous under any other circumstances.

Evelyn was lurking in the shadows backstage, the bruises Sophia had left around her neck still throbbing with a dull, persistent ache. She hadn't caught what Sophia and Lisa were saying, but she had seen clearly enough how Joseph had favored Sophia from the judging panel.

Perfect scores? Showed up just for her?

Evelyn was grinding her teeth with jealousy. She was the Wells family's eldest daughter. Just moments ago, Sophia had grabbed her by the throat in front of people, then thrown Joshua's name in her face to humiliate her. And now that same woman was up on stage collecting all the glory, with even Joseph looking at her like she was something special. Why did every single good thing have to go to her?

The more Evelyn thought about it, the more she couldn't let it go. She pulled out her phone and called me without a second thought.

"Spectacular my ass!" Evelyn kept her voice low on the other end, her tone seething. "Betty, what exactly has your so-called sister done to twist everyone around her finger? She didn't just walk away with perfect scores and all the attention — she's got your own brother Joseph completely wrapped up too! Joseph took a microphone and told tens of thousands of people, to their faces, that he sat on that judging panel specifically for Sophia. He gave her the first perfect score of the entire competition."

Evelyn's voice had gone sharp and twisted with jealousy, like a rusty saw dragging across my nerves.

The color drained from my face instantly.

Joseph became a judge specifically for Sophia? And he said it publicly?

How was that possible? Joseph could barely be bothered to look in my direction on a normal day. He was cold and mechanical, the kind of person who ran on logic alone. How could he possibly be this warm toward Sophia — this girl they'd just pulled in off the streets?

"Evelyn, are you sure you didn't misread the situation?" My voice was trembling. My long nails pressed deep into my palm. "My brother... he always hated it when people mixed personal ties into business. Why would he publicly give Sophia special treatment?"

"I saw it with my own eyes, so don't tell me I'm wrong!" Evelyn cut me off, her frustration making her blunt. "That bright red ten is still sitting on the big screen right now! Betty, I'll be honest with you — you're the one the Spencer family raised for over twenty years. The moment this nobody shows back up out of nowhere, she's already stolen your brother's attention. Keep going like this, and you won't have a footing left in the Spencer family. You might not end up with a single cent from Spencer Group."

Every word Evelyn said landed precisely on the deepest, most terrified part of me.

She was right. I was only an adopted daughter. Every luxury I had, every bit of the life I lived, rested entirely on the Spencer family's power and name. If Sophia truly won over my brother and the rest of the family, I would become nothing — a stand-in who'd served her purpose, waiting to be thrown out like trash.

A wave of dread and panic hit me like a wall of water, threatening to pull me completely under.

"No... I can't let this happen..." I bit down hard on my lower lip, something dark and vicious rising behind my eyes.

Sophia. You want to make your name in the fashion world? Fine. I'll make sure you crash and burn in front of every media outlet in the country.