Chapter 284 The Impulsive Devil
Seeing Elodie looking like she was about to collapse, Lauren couldn't help but freak out a bit. She grabbed Elodie's hand, trying to pump her up, saying, "Elodie, Richard, just hang in there a bit longer. Mr. White and I are busting our butts for you. Don't lose hope."
Elodie shook her head slightly, telling Lauren, "Lauren, I get it, this is a mess. If we can't fix it, I'll deal. Worst case, I'll just bail on the architecture scene."
Elodie forced a bitter smile, trying to play it cool and not add to Lauren's stress.
"Elodie, what are you even saying? You're crazy talented and work so hard; you can't just throw in the towel," Lauren said, feeling like her heart was breaking.
"Lauren." Elodie looked at her, tears finally spilling over.
She felt so wronged by the plagiarism accusation. All those design drawings were the result of their team's hard work and dedication. Why were they getting slammed for plagiarism?
Ethan frowned and jumped in, "Cut the waterworks. We're all in deep here. Lauren even drank with some sleazebag for you, almost puking her guts out."
"Ethan!" Lauren quickly shut Ethan up.
Elodie and Richard felt a mix of guilt and heartbreak hearing Ethan's words. They hadn't realized Lauren was going through so much for them. Her unwavering trust hit them right in the feels.
Richard, with dry lips, said, "Lauren, thank you for being through the wringer for us."
Lauren shook her head. She couldn't just stand by, knowing they were innocent.
She said, "It's nothing. I believe the truth will come out. By the way, I need to ask about your design. On my way here, I took a hard look at it. Dylan's saying you plagiarized, and yeah, your design does overlap with Robinson Conglomerate's."
Richard was floored. "What? Our design overlaps with Robinson Conglomerate's? No way. We came up with and finished our design right in the office."
Lauren fell into deep thought. It wasn't the time to figure out how the plagiarism happened since it was already out there, and Dylan's side had confirmed it. She needed to think about the next move.
"There are three specific points of plagiarism: the garden design, the rooftop decoration, and the balcony. These three designs are super similar to Robinson Conglomerate's. Since we can't get their design plans, think hard about who handled these areas and where the ideas came from," Lauren said, looking seriously at Elodie and Richard.
If the design ideas were from their designers, they might have a shot at clearing their names.
Lauren and Ethan waited for Richard to respond, but his face just got darker.
Ethan asked, all fired up, "Richard, did you think of something? If you did, spill it. What are you hiding from us?"
Richard sighed, "Those three areas were proposed by designers Miles Young and Desmond Green. They both used to work at Robinson Conglomerate. Mr. White, do you think..."
Richard didn't finish his sentence, but everyone got the drift. Lauren couldn't believe it. "No way they'd pull something like that. It's like playing Russian roulette with their careers."
Ethan, on the other hand, was fuming. "Why wouldn't they? If Robinson Conglomerate's got their backs, even if they tank their rep, Robinson will still scoop them up! Quentin's a snake; this has gotta be his trap for me!"
Lauren felt a wave of disgust. It was Ethan who had poached the designers from Quentin, and now he was pinning the blame on Quentin for the mess.
She couldn't wrap her head around why Ethan had turned into someone who dodged responsibility and threw false accusations around.
Lauren shot Ethan a distant look but didn't call him out in front of everyone.
The more Ethan stewed, the angrier he got. "It's gotta be Quentin's doing. He probably had Miles and Desmond fake-switch to my team just to spy and set me up. I was too naive."
Ethan's theory sounded convincing, and even Elodie and Richard bought it.
"We can't mess with Quentin. He's got serious clout. If he wants to run us out of City A, he could do it in a heartbeat," Elodie said, feeling hopeless.
Richard chimed in, "I always thought Quentin was a stand-up guy. Didn't expect him to play dirty like this."
Lauren wanted to stick up for Quentin, but she couldn't. Given her current situation, anyone else was better suited to defend him. She was clear-headed; no one saw things as clearly as she did for now. "We still need to talk to Miles and Desmond about this," she suggeated.
"Do we really need to? It's obviously them. Dylan's not an idiot; why else would he be so dead set on excluding us?" Ethan snapped.
Lauren didn't want to argue but had to face his anger.
She said, a bit ticked off, "Ethan, getting all riled up won't fix anything. If it did, everyone would just lose their cool and forget the truth!"
Ethan turned to look at Lauren, a weird look in his eyes. Then he deflated like a balloon, slumping onto the couch.
Seeing the tension between Lauren and Ethan, Elodie quickly tried to smooth things over. "Lauren, Mr. White's just stressed. This is a big deal. Plus, we should listen to what Miles and Desmond have to say. If we wrongly accuse them, we'd be in the wrong."
Ethan was quiet for a bit, then finally nodded. He knew Lauren was right, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was defending Quentin, which made him feel more and more let down by her and himself.
Elodie hurried out to call Miles and Desmond, and Lauren took a deep breath.
"Ethan, please don't lose your cool later, okay? Let's talk things through calmly. We can't let our emotions mess with our judgment. We need to act based on facts," Lauren said as gently as she could.
Even though Ethan felt uneasy, he didn't show it. He agreed with a hearty laugh, burying all his doubts deep inside.
