After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 188: Paying the Price for Youthful Recklessness
Two minutes passed quickly. Claire Mercer turned to Joel Jennings. "Have you made up your mind? The audience is waiting."
Joel Jennings remained silent, his heart pounding with anxiety.
He felt like he was being roasted over an open flame, completely on edge.
"Joel Jennings, you should be grateful I’m still willing to give you a chance."
"I’m doing this for the sake of us both being contestants, and because you once had such high hopes for the world of design."
"I’ve always followed your work. You’re very talented, creative, and full of ideas."
"Even if you don’t end up winning the championship, your talent alone guarantees you a brilliant future."
"It’s a shame you chose the wrong path. And even now, you seem determined to stay on it."
Hearing Claire Mercer’s words, Joel Jennings’s expression wavered.
’She actually respected his designs and recognized his talent.’
But he still chose to remain silent, his gaze fixed on the entrance.
"You’re waiting for Benny, aren’t you?"
Claire Mercer scoffed.
"He ditched you here at the most critical moment and ran off. You really think you can rely on him?"
"For a supposed big shot in the industry, his actions are utterly shameless."
"Besides, he’s caught in his own vortex of public opinion right now. Do you really think he has the time to worry about you?"
"Forget it. It seems talking to you is just a waste of my time."
"Since you’re going to be stubborn, you can get ready for prison."
With that, Claire Mercer couldn’t be bothered with Joel Jennings any longer.
’As for Scarlett Jewel... she plagiarized my work.’
’Even if Joel Jennings doesn’t expose her now, I’ll deal with her later.’
Seeing her best friend wronged and slandered by someone who still refused to produce this so-called evidence, Stella Thorne’s face flushed with anger.
"Claire, why are you wasting your breath on him? Just call the police."
"People like him need to spend a few years in prison to learn their place."
"And that Benny! He conspired with Joel Jennings to frame you. We can’t let him get away with it either."
Claire Mercer said, "I actually want him to confess who the mastermind is himself."
"Who could the mastermind be besides Scarlett Jewel?" Stella Thorne shot a glare at Scarlett as she spoke.
Scarlett Jewel watched as events spiraled far beyond her control, her heart in her throat.
’She was terrified she’d be dragged into this by the end of it all.’
That’s why she hadn’t said a single word since Joel Jennings first accused Claire Mercer of plagiarism, just standing on the sidelines and playing dead.
’All she could do was pray that Claire Mercer’s suspicions wouldn’t fall on her.’
But just then, Stella Thorne glared right at her.
And Claire Mercer’s eyes followed.
Claire’s gaze sent a cold sweat breaking out across her back.
Her heart began to beat erratically.
Then she saw Claire Mercer give her a knowing smile.
The smile itself seemed normal, but the chilling look in Claire’s eyes made her blood run cold.
Scarlett Jewel swallowed hard and quickly averted her gaze from Claire Mercer’s.
Seeing her guilty reaction, the corner of Claire Mercer’s mouth lifted into a slight smirk.
’Mentally tormenting Scarlett Jewel like this is actually kind of fun.’
’But I’ll deal with Scarlett later. First, I need to take care of Joel Jennings.’
’Since he’s so ’loyal’—willing to go to prison rather than name his boss—I’ll be happy to oblige.’
With that thought, she pulled out her phone and keyed in the number for the police.
Just as she was about to hit dial, Joel Jennings spoke up.
"Wait."
Claire Mercer paused, her finger hovering over the screen.
She looked up at Joel Jennings. "Made up your mind?"
Joel Jennings gave her a slight nod. "It was Scarlett Jewel."
’There was no way he was going to name the real mastermind.’
’That was someone he couldn’t afford to cross.’
’Compared to the person in Caspian, he would absolutely choose to throw Scarlett Jewel under the bus.’
’Besides, Scarlett Jewel had conspired with him. He had carefully saved all their call logs and chat histories.’
’He’d even secretly recorded every single one of their conversations about how to take down Claire Mercer.’
’He’d done it all to give himself an escape route.’
Claire Mercer wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear him name Scarlett Jewel.
"So you’re saying Scarlett Jewel was the one who put you up to this?"
"Yes," Joel Jennings said. "She came to me and told me to slander and frame you."
"Just as I thought." Claire Mercer glanced toward Scarlett Jewel again.
Scarlett Jewel was gripping the hem of her clothes so tightly her sweaty palms were starting to show.
"And what about that so-called evidence you mentioned?" Claire Mercer asked, pulling her gaze back to Joel Jennings.
"I’ve named the mastermind. Are you sure you won’t report me for slander?"
"Of course," Claire Mercer said. "I always keep my word."
"Fine. I’ll give it to you." With that, Joel Jennings handed the carefully prepared file to Claire Mercer.
She took the file of so-called evidence from Joel Jennings and began to look through it carefully.
’In this world, no one understood Instructor CC better than she did.’
’The more she read, the more ridiculous it seemed.’
’To make this supposed evidence of plagiarism seem more convincing,’
’he had actually altered CC’s original work to make it look even more similar to her design as Claire Mercer.’
’Without a careful comparison, it would be genuinely difficult to spot the discrepancies.’
Although CC had once shot to fame in the design world, she hadn’t produced many pieces, nor had she been active for very long.
For anyone who didn’t follow CC’s career closely, finding the ’trick’ would be quite difficult.
’But as CC herself, she knew every single one of her designs by heart.’
’To cement the plagiarism accusation, they had altered her designs from her time as CC.’
"I’ve looked over this so-called evidence."
"Someone has altered Instructor CC’s original work."
"The altered version does look remarkably similar to my current design."
"Unfortunately for them, no one here knows CC better than I do."
Finished, Claire Mercer turned to Joel Jennings.
"Are you going to explain, or should I?"
Joel Jennings was completely on the back foot; he had no choice.
"I’ll do it."
He then took the microphone from Claire Mercer.
Just as he was about to speak, he caught sight of Benny, who had finally returned.
Benny wore a faint, relieved smile, and his gaze toward Claire Mercer was filled with utter contempt.
’Trying to fight me? Daring to confront me in public and show me no respect...’
’She’ll soon pay a heavy price for her youthful arrogance.’
