After hanging up the phone, Litzy saw that she remained indifferent. He held her hand and kept kissing it. “Callie, you are amazing. At just 23 years old, you won the Golden Bund Award’s Gold Award! Do you know how prestigious that is?”
“Oh my God, why hasn’t Regan come yet? I need to mock her properly and show her she underestimated you!”
Such an achievement was indeed remarkable for a 23-year-old woman. The youngest previous winner of the Golden Award was 28; Callie had shattered that record.
For the next year, she would be the pinnacle of the design industry.
“Say something? Are you too happy to speak?” Litzy shook her hand.
Callie returned to her senses amidst the expectant gazes and spoke calmly, “Let’s continue the meeting.”
“Ah…”
“Tch, pretending to be so aloof.”
Ignoring the murmurs below, her mind was filled with what the committee had just said. They had thoughtfully added: “Skye, who accused you of plagiarism, has been permanently banned from all competitions. We will soon warn the entire industry about her. Rest assured.”
Such meticulous care could only come from one person.
Callie had wanted to shout that the real culprit wasn’t Skye but Regan, who won the silver award!
But she couldn’t say it.
After the meeting, Callie pulled Litzy aside and asked, “Has Regan not been around lately?”
“I haven’t seen her once. I thought you two had agreed to come late and leave early together. The design department is missing two key members.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she replied, “Some things happened recently. It won’t happen again.”
She had managed to stay strong for three years during her father’s illness because she knew one fundamental truth: relying on oneself is better than relying on a man.
Men can be dispensable; work cannot.
But now the problem was that Nelson was her direct superior. If he turned against her, he could fire her in an instant!
No wonder Oconnor Group forbade office romances…
The harsh words from last time had made Callie wary. For her father’s sake, she didn’t dare send Nelson divorce papers.
Leaving the company, she took a cab straight to a place Nelson had taken her to apologize to Regan last time. If she guessed correctly, this was the Padilla family residence.
Callie got out of the car, not expecting to come here alone.
This time there were no servants to greet her, only waves of people moving items out, making quite a scene.
She frowned and stepped forward to ask, “Sir, what’s going on here?”
The man looked at her warily. “Who are you to this family?”
Callie carefully answered, “A superior.”
“Who are you kidding? The Padilla family is bankrupt. What superior?” The man sneered and continued directing people to move things.
Bankrupt? Callie was shocked.
She began to understand; these were debt collectors.
Unable to collect debts, they were taking items as collateral.
Sensing something was wrong, Callie strode into the mansion. A weary and desolate woman sat in the living room, letting people come and go around her as if she had lost her soul.
Callie was slightly stunned. She walked forward and recognized Regan.
“Are you here for money too? I have none.”
She didn’t even look up.
“What exactly happened?” Callie asked coldly.
Hearing her voice, Regan looked up at Callie with a bewildered expression.
“Why are you here? Are you here to mock me too?”
It seemed she had endured quite a bit of ridicule lately.
“Mock you? I don’t have time for that. Where is your father?”