Chapter 254 I Will Find Out Who Did It
Adeline's hands clenched into fists at her sides.
In front of Helen and Daniel, Stella mocked her for her parents' lack of affection towards her. Meanwhile, Helen and Daniel continued to echo, saying she deserved it.
Adeline couldn't help but find the scene before her utterly ridiculous.
Taking a deep breath, she bypassed the three individuals at the doorway and headed straight to her office.
As Adeline's hand touched the doorknob, Stella, behind her, chuckled lightly, "Ms. Wilson, won't you join me? My mother made so many delicious dishes for me, all the ones I used to love. I can't finish them all!"
Her words pierced Adeline's heart like a knife.
Back when she was Adeline Collins, Helen and Daniel always favored Molly, letting her choose everything in the house, including meals.
Except when Adeline was ill, Helen rarely cooked what she liked.
Now, with Molly unable to return from overseas, this couple finally remembered they had another daughter.
However, the one now enjoying their affection was an impostor.
Taking a deep breath, Adeline turned away from Stella and coldly smiled, "Since your parents carefully prepared it for you, then enjoy it. Don't waste their thoughtful gesture."
With that, Adeline entered her office.
Watching her retreating figure, Stella narrowed her eyes slightly, a smug smile playing on her lips.
Although Adeline appeared calm and elegant, the stiffness of her spine when she spoke betrayed her true feelings.
Stella, eating as she turned to smile at Helen, said, "Mom, could you come to the company more often to bring me food?"
Her words brought a hint of surprise to Helen's eyes, "Of course!"
"I used to focus on Molly, neglecting your feelings, and now I truly regret it. I'm so happy you're willing to eat what I make for you!" Helen said as she walked over and tightly embraced Stella.
Stella, being hugged, revealed a barely visible hint of disgust in her eyes.
After a moment, she raised her head and smiled at Helen, "Let's get along well in the future."
With that, Stella glanced at the office where Adeline was, "There will be more things that can make you happy."
Work became busy.
For the next half month, Adeline was swamped. She worked tirelessly every day, focusing on designing.
Jasper demanded that she should design an entire series of jewelry within a month, then spend three months turning the designs into physical products and coordinating with the factory.
He wanted to see the jewelry released in Denver four months later.
The deadline was tight, and the task was weighty.
After half a month, her design sketches took shape, and they required careful attention to detail in the next half a month.
However, Adeline didn't expect that when she shared her half-month's work with the staff, someone would speak up.
"Adeline." The speaker was Scarlett, Jasper's former secretary.
Initially assigned to be Jasper's secretary due to her resemblance to Adeline Collins, Scarlett voluntarily transferred to the design department to assist Lucia upon Stella's return.
Now, Scarlett pulled out her phone and displayed a sketch. "This was trending online last night, an initial design from a young genius designer, Brian Robinson, seventeen years old, who has designed several popular jewelry pieces."
"This initial sketch was posted by Brian on his private account last night, stating he wanted to get feedback and planned to refine it into a final draft over the next week, hoping to attract investors," Scarlett added.
Scarlett furrowed her brow at Adeline, who was sitting at the head of the meeting. "These initial sketches Brian shared are identical to your designs, Adeline."
The entire meeting room fell silent.
Scarlett sneered, "I've been in the design department for a while now, and I've seen how hard Adeline works day in and day out over the past half month. But did you spend half a month producing a sketch identical to one someone else publicly shared last night? Copying the whole design would take half a day. Wouldn't it?"
"Nonsense!" Lucia glared at Scarlett and snatched her phone away.
After comparing Adeline's draft projected on the big screen with the draft on Scarlett's phone, Lucia fell into silence.
It was almost identical.
Meanwhile, others in the meeting room began Googleing for this genius designer named Brian Robinson.
As they saw the initial sketches, everyone fell silent.
Adeline took the phone handed by her assistant.
Her brows furrowed deeply.
This initial sketch was indeed an exact match to her design. Even some minor details were identical.
Having been a designer for so many years, Adeline had encountered numerous instances of plagiarism.
But this was the first time someone had publicly released copied work a day before hers. And in such a bold manner.
Adeline narrowed her eyes.
The intentions of this designer, Brian, were clear. He aimed to steal the entire copyright of her design at the initial sketch stage.
"Adeline, what's going on?" As whispers filled the room, Stella, at a distance, blinked innocently. "You were working so hard on those designs; we all saw it. Why would your sketch be identical to a seventeen-year-old genius designer's?"
Adeline's brow twitched slightly.
Her intuition told her that this matter was related to Stella.
Initially surprised, she wondered why Stella, who couldn't go a day without causing her trouble, had been trouble-free for half a month, apart from having Helen and Daniel bring her food.
Now she understood.
Plagiarism.
It was indeed a designer's worst nightmare.
Adeline narrowed her eyes, gazing steadily at Stella, "Mrs. Foster, what do you think about this?"
Stella paused, smiling, "Such a huge coincidence is unlikely in this world, right?"
"Between Adeline and Brian, one of them must have copied the other's work." She winked at Adeline, "Do you agree, Adeline?"
Adeline narrowed her eyes slightly, remaining silent.
"But..." Scarlett furrowed her brow and continued, "Brian grew up in Europe and is currently there. Not to mention himself, none of his relatives and friends are in Denver. How could he copy Adeline's sketches?"
"Instead, he posted these sketches online, making copying easy." As Scarlett's voice trailed off, the meeting room grew quiet.
Each person cautiously watched Adeline from the corners of their eyes.
In the deathly silence, Adeline gracefully set down her phone and stood up, smiling, "I understand what you all think. All the evidence is here, so you believe that I copied Brian's initial draft, don't you?"
No one spoke, but the silence indicated agreement.
Adeline smiled, "Since you all think so, I will have Jasper come and set things straight."
In a calm tone, Adeline continued, "This designer just released the draft last night. So, I will investigate everyone who visited my office before last night and touched my design sketches."
"Perhaps you don't know, but to prevent tampering with my designs, I installed several cameras where I keep my sketches." Adeline turned to Stella, "Disabling the company's public surveillance won't work. I will find out who did this."
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