The CEO's Empathy Pregnancy Pains

Chapter 31 Ruined Reputation

The crowd realized Ella was actually Sophia, and reactions were all over the place-some folks were shocked, others bummed out, and a few just plain skeptical. Sophia kept her cool and smiled on stage, while Emily just sneered, watching the whole thing go down.

"Let's see how she gets out of this one," Abigail said with a grin, clearly enjoying the drama.

Michael was caught off guard for a second but quickly went back to his usual poker face. The host kept the show rolling, asking, "So, why did Ella decide to join this event?" Sophia gave a shy smile, grabbed the mic, and said, "I wanted to surprise someone." The crowd started booing and buzzing about who this mystery person could be.

Emily shot a glance at Michael, and the media picked up on it, swinging their cameras his way.

Michael's face went stiff, but he kept his cool, sitting there like a statue.

Sophia looked bummed when Michael didn't react.

"Think she'll surprise you or just shock you?" Emily whispered to him.

Michael turned to her, cold as ice, "What are you getting at?"

Emily just shrugged, not giving anything away, while Sophia kept rambling about her jewelry design and inspiration.

Out of nowhere, the big screen behind her went dark, then lit up with a sketch of the jewelry Sophia had just shown off, dated way earlier than she claimed.

been lying, and the place went nuts. Sophia spun around, her face going

Did you design this jewelry, or did you

a frenzy, with cameras and mics

did you

whose work

why'd

audience. It hit her-this was all Emily's doing. She looked

media

unfold, ready to drop

stepping onto the stage with a

who looked like a wilted flower under

was ready to deliver the knockout punch, staring Sophia down and asking,

press conference was the best thing ever. Not only did the daughter of the Brown family plagiarize, but she also pretended

watched the media swarm Sophia and chuckled to herself, thinking she had it coming. But

attended any events. She thought using Ella's name would win Michael over

it looks like. I can

plagiarizing and pretending to be Ella was a huge blow to the company,

away. With Andrew and the bodyguards clearing a path, he dodged the reporters. Seeing they couldn't

her makeup

exposed? Oh wait, it's not false; it's the truth. But being ruined isn't fun, is it?" Emily shot back,