“Hello, Miss Quinn.My team and I have been to Klein Silk Fabric and looked into the matter.All the designers and other chief officers confirmed that the designs in question were made by Luna Mccoy the previous year.”
“What are you trying to say?” Natalie countered, her eyes burning with anger.
She simply couldn’t hold back anymore, “Klein Silk Fabric failed to get into the first walk because of me.Don’t you see? They’re doing this for revenge.They already framed me, so of course their employees would support their false accusations.”
The man stood up and raised his hands helplessly, looking nervous.
“Please calm down, Miss Quinn.You have no evidence that you didn’t plagiarize Miss Mccoy’s work.Until you prove your innocence, I’m afraid we will have to remove your designs from the selection.I apologize for that but we have to do this.Itis a necessary measure on our part.”
Natalie pulled back and said, “You’re my most valuable friend, Laney. Thank you for always helping me in any way you can.”
Laney’s smile dimmed.
The sincerity in Natalie’s eyes made her chest tighten in guilt.
Everything she had done, everything Natalie was grateful for, it was all because of Sebastian was paying her to be Natalie’s bodyguard.
However, Natalie had no idea and even regarded her as an important person in her life.
“Please don’t mention it,” Laney said, shaking her head and casting her eyes downward.
“I like helping other people.”
These minor injuries were nothing to her, really.She had survived worse battles when she was younger.
And if she were to be perfectly honest, she liked Natalie, too.
Natalie personified beauty and kindness.
Laney didn’t want to cause any unnecessary worry.
How would Natalie react if she somehow found out that Laney had been hired to approach her?
“I know, Laney” Natalie said with a small chuckle.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re the nicest friend I’ve ever had.” Laney sighed helplessly.
She took a good look at Natalie and noticed the dark circles under the latter’s eyes.
“Did you stay here all night? I’m fine by myself, you know.The nurses will check up on me regularly. You should go home.”
“Don’t worry about it. used to work all night all the time. This is no big deal.” Laney pursed her lips.
“But today is a weekday.Don’t you have to go to work?”
“Well, —Yes…” Natalie stammered.
The matter had completely slipped her mind.
“Yes, you’re right.And I haven’t even filed for a leave of absence! Oh, I have to go.Do you need me to file yours, too?”
“Please, and thank you.”
Laney breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Sebastian, who had been standing by the door of the ward.
Natalie was finally leaving the hospital.
A few moments later.
Natalie jumped out of the taxi and dashed through the lobby of the Larson Group building.
As she was going through the entrance, she ran into Garrett.
“Aha! I just caught you getting to work late, Quinn,” he teased, peering at Natalie through his glasses.
“Why is she in such a hurry, anyway?” Garrett asked himself.
“Her husband owns the entire company.Does she think her salary is going to get docked or something for being late? Natalie stopped in her tracks.She turned to him with a pleading expression.
“I apologize, Mr.Harding.I’ve had to deal with some personal business. Laney is in the hospital, you see, and I’ve just been to see her.” Of course, Garrett had already known about Laney’s condition.
Still, he blinked innocently and asked, “Then, how is Laney? Is she doing all right?”
Natalie naturally thought he was only making small talk, but she did recognize an opportunity to smoothen the procedure for
Laney’s leave of absence.
And so, she said, “As a matter of fact, Laney was badly injured and couldn’t even get out of bed.”
Garrett froze, his eyes wide with shock, his heart clenching.He made a decision there and then to see Laney as soon as he could.
Later, after work.
Garrett bought a basket of fruits and a bouquet of flowers.He also swung by a pastry shop and got his favorite cake before heading to the hospital.
Laney was sitting on the hospital bed at that moment, her arms and legs wrapped in gauze.
She stared woefully at the dumbbell in the far corner of the room.
There was a part of her that desperately wanted to pounce on the damn thing and do some strength exercises.
Of course, she knew she wasn’t in the right state to do that.She still needed a lot of rest.
But old habits die hard, as the saying went.
Besides, she wasn’t comfortable just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling all day.
Garrett arrived just then, but instead of going inside the ward, he hung back and leaned against the door frame.
He followed the direction of her gaze and noticed the dumbbell.
Then his eyes wandered to her toned arms, thinking how they complimented the rest of her body.
It was an odd thought, but there it was.
“I heard you were hurt so badly, you can barely get up.I see that isn’t the case at all. You must be a superhuman or something.”
Garrett strode into the room, his arms laden with his offerings.
Laney had turned at the sound of his voice.She looked startled at first, but her expression soon tumed wary.
“Why are you here?” Garrett set everything down on the table before grinning cheekily at her.
“You’re my secretary.Do I need any better reason to be here?”
Later, she discovered that Tiffany was waiting for her at the door.
Seeing her coming out, she rushed over and asked, “How did it go? Did they say anything?”
“He said that they will be removing all my works from the show.” Natalie looked worn out as if she had been dealt a heavy blow.
All her efforts were useless in the end.
Tiffany tried giving her words of comfort.
“It’ll be fine, Natalie. You’re young. You will have a lot more opportunities up ahead.”
With a dry smile on her face, Natalie asked in a tired voice, “Will I really have another chance after this? Ms.Fisher, the organizers have decided to remove my designs from the show.Doesn’t this mean that every one of them thinks that I’m a plagiarist? Now everyone believes that I was plagiarizing.I know you used to be a designer, so you should know better than me that the label of plagiarism will follow me everywhere I go now.Every single item of clothes I design from now on will be under suspicion of plagiarism.”
Tiffany fell silent.She was fully aware of that.
After something like this, Natalie was fated to never be respected again in the industry
The only mode of escape would be for her to leave the industry entirely and change her occupation.
But Tiffany could clearly see that Natalie loved designing deeply.
She happened to treasure each piece of her designs.
How could she let go of this, something she clearly loved?
“Someone must be orchestrating things behind the scenes.”
Suddenly, Natalie grabbed Tiffany’s hand and said, “Ritchie Klein must be behind this! Sebastian and I have offended him once and now he wants to do everything in his power to destroy my career!”
Tiffany had no clue what Natalie was talking about.How could the Klein family actually have anything to do with this matter? “Be careful with what you say, Natalie.We can’t afford to offend a family like the Kleins,” Tiffany thought to remind her in a hushed voice.
She checked around her surroundings vigilantly and hailed a cab.
“There just so happens to be many designers from the Klein Silk Fabric.It’s best if you’re careful. Well, don’t overthink things. You go home and rest.I’ll head back to the company first and talk to our superiors.” Tiffany helped Natalie into the car.
