Chapter 657
Tammie had thought they might trend, but based on CL’s current influence, a good design alone wasn’t enough. They’d need a marketing push to truly go viral. He had already planned a campaign with the marketing team for the day of the competition, but it seemed the public had beaten them to it.
This was a fantastic surprise. It would save them time, effort, and a huge chunk of their marketing budget. The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. The last traces of sleep vanished as he sat up in bed. “Benedict, what did I tell you? I knew our design would be a huge hit!” And now, they were trending.
A huge hit? Benedict’s voice on the other end was strained. He sighed heavily. “Tammie! Just just get on social media. Now p>
Tammie grabbed his laptop from the nightstand, flipped it open, and logged on. The first thing he saw was ‘CL Jewels’ at the top of the trending topics. A wide grin spread across his face.
But his smile quickly faded.
Because right below ‘CL Jewels’ was another trending topic.
‘CL Plagiarism p>
Plagiarism? Who had plagiarized them?
Even then, Tammie didn’t grasp the severity of the situation. “Which brand copied us? We need to sue them immediately!” Respect for original work was the only way the industry could thrive. He despised plagiarism. He had expected someone to copy his design eventually, but he was shocked at how fast it had happened. It had only been a few hours! If these people put half as much effort into their own creations, they wouldn’t be stuck in mediocrity.
Benedict’s voice crackled through the speaker again. “Tammie! It’s not about who copied us! It’s that *we’re* being accused of copying someone else p>
“What are you talking about?” Tammie laughed. “Benedict, are you still half- asleep?” Him, a design genius, accused of plagiarism? It was absurd.
“Just click on the trending topic and you’ll see,” Benedict said, his voice tight. Tammie clicked.
The moment he saw the posts, his mind went blank. A buzzing filled his ears. *Oh, god. What is happening p>
Why? Why did The Banks Group’s new design look exactly like theirs? But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that The Banks Group had posted their images a full ten minutes before they had.
Which meant… they were the ones being called the copycats.
“How could this happen?” Tammie suddenly recalled Torin’s smug expression at the conference yesterday. “It was Torin!” he seethed. “It had to be him! That shapeless bastard. He stole our design draft!” He then turned on his partner. “Was it you, Benedict? Did something go wrong on your end? Did you let someone leak the design to Torin p>
Other than a leak from Benedict’s side, Tammie couldn’t think of any other explanation. He was spiraling. A plagiarism accusation would destroy their chances in the competition and torpedo the company’s public offering. The damage to their reputation would be catastrophic, a blow they might never recover from.
Hearing the accusation, Benedict was so furious he almost laughed. “Are you kidding me, man? I’ve been living like a hermit to get this design finished! I haven’t even left my e house But your Benedicts head throbbed. Didn’t I warn you not to let your cousin into the study? Did you listen? No! And now you have the nerve to blame me p>
His voice rose with frustration. “I’m telling you, the person who stole the design and gave it to The Banks Group wasn’t me. It was very likely your precious cousin p>
In
For this competition, for the IPO, Benedict hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in three months. He had finally caught up on some rest, only to wake up to this nightmare. Three months of hard work, gone. More than that, the reputation they had painstakingly built would be destroyed. Benedict had never _imagined this could happen. He was beyond furious, on the verge of a breakdown. If he hadn’t warned Tammie, it would be one thing. But he had explicitly told him to be careful around Ann. And Tammie hadn’t listened.
Ann stole the design?
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Tammie shot back instantly. “Ann is my family. She would never do something like this!” In his mind, Ann was pure and flawless. She was above such deceit.
“Who else could it be?” Benedict took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “Before Ann showed up, we never had a single problem with our designs. The moment she arrives, three months of our work ends up in someone else’s hands!” You didn’t have to be a genius to connect the dots.
“It wasn’t her! It couldn’t be! She has no reason to do this to me,” Tammie insisted, his face pale with anxiety.
“No reason? What about sixty million reasons?” Benedict retorted. “Don’t forget, Ann was kicked out of the Gonzales family. She has nothing. For sixty million, she’d sell you out in a heartbeat. Hell, she’d probably do it for six p>
Sixty million? That was the reason? The idea struck Tammie as utterly ridiculous. Could sixty million really be more important to Ann than him, her family?