Chapter 122: Chapter 122: The Plagiarism Incident
Before she could finish her water, the door creaked open. Summer Lancaster froze, every nerve on edge. She cautiously glanced back, and upon seeing it wasn’t Kenneth Yates, she let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, Wayne! It’s just you." Summer had just been on an emotional roller coaster, and the sudden wave of relief left her slumping into her seat. Wayne smiled and sat down across from her.
"The CEO sent me to tell you there’s a meeting shortly." Wayne got up, poured herself a glass of water, then sat back down across from Summer, smiling mysteriously at her.
"What meeting? How come I wasn’t told?" Summer set down her glass, a hint of surprise on her face. Meetings were usually announced days in advance. This one was being called with no prior notice. She couldn’t help but wonder if Kenneth Yates was playing some kind of trick.
"It’s a last-minute meeting. Apparently, there’s some kind of problem with the new product on the market."
"Oh, I see... What are you smiling at?" Summer had noticed it ever since Wayne sat down; she kept smiling at her, on and off.
"It’s nothing. I’m just so envious of you, Director Lancaster. You became the Planning Director at such a young age, and you have a rich, handsome husband. You’re everything every woman wishes she could be." Wayne was still smiling. Feeling embarrassed, Summer excused herself to prepare the materials for the meeting.
Five minutes passed, but Kenneth Yates still hadn’t arrived at the conference room. The directors and managers began to murmur amongst themselves. Summer Lancaster frowned and glanced at her watch. Kenneth was never late. Something was very wrong; a sense of foreboding washed over her.
Ten minutes later, Kenneth Yates finally arrived, followed by Eleanor Grant and Zane Fletcher. All of them had grim expressions on their faces.
Kenneth Yates slammed the file he was carrying onto the conference table. Everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
"Can any of you explain this to me?" Kenneth Yates remained standing, his gaze sweeping over everyone as if he could see right through them.
As the file he had slammed onto the table was cautiously passed around, everyone began to understand what had happened. The Yates Group’s flagship product for the season, "My Queen," was being accused of plagiarism. A company overseas had launched an identical product at the exact same time. But this jewelry was a collaboration project between the Yates Group and the designer Papilio. The emergence of a plagiarism scandal could only mean one thing: there was a mole inside the company who had leaked the designs to a competitor.
"This incident has already had a huge impact. I can only keep a lid on it for a short time. I will personally handle the negotiations in one hour. The rest of you are to investigate for a mole within the company." With that, Kenneth Yates left the conference room. As he passed Summer Lancaster, he leaned in close and whispered, "We fly to Ameris in one hour. Get ready."
Summer Lancaster’s immediate instinct was to refuse, but just as she opened her mouth to speak, Kenneth Yates cut her off. "You’re coming as the Planning Director."
Zane Fletcher and Eleanor Grant followed them out of the conference room. ’If it’s for work, then I guess it’s okay,’ she thought. ’He can’t possibly be using company business as a pretext to drag me to Ameris, can he?’
Back in her office, Summer Lancaster quickly gathered the project proposal and the physical copies of the design drafts, then headed to the CEO’s office.
"Director Lancaster!" Zane Fletcher greeted Summer Lancaster with a respectful bow. Eleanor Grant, however, just gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.
"Alright, let’s go."
As the CEO, Kenneth Yates led the way, with Zane Fletcher and Eleanor Grant following closely behind him. Walking to the side, Summer Lancaster felt like a complete outsider.
