Chapter 59
Effie gave a faint, confident smile. “Alright, but you’d better be prepared.”
With that, she took out her phone and tapped on the post she’d published earlier.
Seeing it trending at number one, Effie paused for a second. She immediately thought of Lyman-he must have helped boost it. Otherwise, there was no way her post would rocket to the very top in a split second.
Her eyes flashed with amusement before she turned to address everyone. “Why don’t you all take a look at the top trending post right now? I think you’ll find your answer there.”
The reporters, seeing Effie’s utter composure, exchanged startled glances. If she were really guilty of plagiarism, she’d be terrified, desperate not to be exposed. But Effie faced them with poise and calm, showing no sign of fear.
Meanwhile, her post had already set the internet ablaze. Tens of thousands of comments were pouring in beneath it. But the journalists, focused entirely on Effie, hadn’t checked their phones yet-otherwise, that ridiculous question from earlier wouldn’t have been asked at all.
Now, prompted by Effie, everyone scrambled to pull out their phones, eager to see the video attached to her post.
The footage was clear: Suzan, sneaking into Effie’s office, using a USB drive to copy her design files. The video then showed Effie’s original design drafts, detailed records of her creative process, and a timeline that exposed the inconsistencies in Suzan’s forged sketches.
The evidence was undeniable. In an instant, public opinion flipped.
Shock and outrage filled the room-so it had been Suzan who plagiarized Effie’s work all along. The audacity was staggering.
Suzan, a newcomer to the design world with only a handful of works to her name, had resorted to such shameless tactics to get ahead. No one had expected a reversal this dramatic.
Reporters who’d been pressing their microphones forward, aggressive and unyielding moments before, now looked at one another in embarrassment and disbelief. No one could have predicted the truth would turn out like this.
Suzan, the rising star everyone had been talking about, had tried to frame Effie with such despicable tricks. Anyone who watched the video could see the truth now-there was no longer any doubt about who had copied whom.
And as if the scandal wasn’t enough, someone online had already dug up more dirt: Suzan had been the other woman in Effie’s previous relationship, the reason Effie and her boyfriend had broken up.
One bombshell after another-the revelations just kept coming, leaving everyone reeling.
With evidence this concrete, there was simply no room left for Suzan to defend herself.
When Suzan saw Effie’s post, rage and panic nearly made her faint. She’d been so sure of her victory, certain that her theft had gone unnoticed. She’d been so smug, believing she’d outsmarted everyone when she copied those files. Little did she know that Effie had set a trap and was waiting for her to walk straight into it. Suzan had watched the press conference, convinced she’d get the last laugh and humiliate Effie. Now, it was her own reputation being ground into the dirt.
At the same time, Suzan’s social media accounts were overrun by furious commenters. Her feed was flooded with accusations and insults.
“A disgrace to all designers! How dare you plagiarize and then try to pin it on someone else!”
“Get out of the industry, Suzan! You don’t deserve to be a designer!”
“Support for Effie! Original creators will always have our respect!”
Suzan sat alone in her apartment, her face as pale as a ghost. Her hands
trembled as she scrolled through the endless barrage of hateful messages, each one a fresh stab of despair.
She’d thought this competition would make her a star. Instead, it had ruined her, leaving her in utter ruin.