Chapter 42
Anastasia had seriously been eyeing Rhodes Corp too—it was literally everyone's dream job. The only thing making her hesitate was being married to Cassian now, which complicated everything. But hearing him encourage her like this made her pulse quicken with excitement. Rhodes Corp was a total powerhouse, and their jewelry design division was the absolute gold standard in the industry. Landing a spot there would be a game changer.
Anastasia took a deep breath, her eyes lighting up with determination. Cassian was absolutely right—if she had the skills, why hold herself back? Especially since Rhodes Corp's jewelry division had always been her ultimate career goal. She had to at least try.
“You know what? You’re totally right. I should go for it,” Anastasia met Cassian’s gaze with newfound confidence. “I’ll apply through all the normal channels and let my work speak for itself.”
Cassian’s face broke into a proud smile. He knew exactly how brilliant she was and had zero doubt she’d absolutely dominate at Rhodes Corp. He squeezed her shoulder gently, his voice warm but confident. “Do it. I’m behind you one hundred percent.”
Anastasia nodded, her heart racing with a mix of excitement and nerves. But before Anastasia could even upload her resume anywhere, Twitter absolutely exploded with a massive bombshell.
BREAKING: Major jewelry competition scandal—TWO IDENTICAL DESIGNS SUBMITTED?
That’s right—completely different designers had turned in the exact same piece. The judges were livid, calling it a disgrace to the art form and promising a full investigation. They declared that any designer caught plagiarizing should be permanently blacklisted from the jewelry world.
The tweet blew up instantly, getting retweeted thousands of times and shooting straight to the top of trending topics. People were absolutely losing their minds in the replies.
“Plagiarizing scumbags need to get out of design!” “These fake-ass artists don’t deserve to call themselves designers!” “Imagine being so desperate for an award that you literally steal someone’s work?”
The story kept exploding across social media with no signs of stopping. Within hours, Twitter detectives had doxxed both designers involved: J&A company’s Anastasia Kingsley and Valeria Kingsley!
The internet completely lost its shit. Same company, so who ripped off who?
Since Anastasia stayed off social media and rarely entered public competitions, most people had never heard of her. Valeria, meanwhile, was constantly posting jewelry content and showing off her “expertise” online, so everyone assumed she was the culprit.
Public opinion quickly turned into a mob mentality. Twitter was dragging Anastasia as a fraud and a thief. Anastasia had been monitoring the situation from the moment the first tweet went viral. Now she was just sitting back and watching it all unfold.
Tamia saw the drama brewing and immediately FaceTimed her. She knew damn well Anastasia would never steal anyone’s work. It had to be that conniving bitch Valeria ripping off Anastasia’s designs. What a shameless move. But Valeria was such a manipulative snake that Tamia was worried Anastasia might get played.
“Ana, are you seeing this Twitter shitstorm? It’s trending number one right now.”
“Yeah, I’m watching it all go down. Don’t stress—I’ve got this completely under control. Everything was playing out exactly like Anastasia had planned.”