“Bullsh*t!” Felipe defended himself. “It’s clear that you were the ones who stole our product and modified it. And now, you’re attacking us, the original creators?”
Marcelo added, “Ms. Garland, you said you would provide us with an explanation. Is twisting the truth in front of the reporters supposed to be it? You accused our perfumer of stealing the perfume, but how did he do it?”
“Mr. Saunders knows very well where he got it.” Rayna flashed a slight smile before flipping the document on the table open.
It showed the record of Felipe accepting a delivery last month, which was sent from an old residential area in Norwal City. The delivery man had also noted down that the package contained perfume.
The sight of the document contents caused Felipe to panic as he explained nervously, “It was just a delivery of perfume I bought on the internet. How could you accuse me of plagiarism based on something like that?”
“What about this?” Rayna retrieved a recording pen from her pocket.
Once Rayna played it, Felipe’s drunken voice rang out. He was telling someone that he had struck gold in a delivery that he had received.
The sound of his own words drained the color from Felipe’s face. “Ms. Garland, you’re really despicable to—”
“Take a listen. That’s your own voice. I didn’t force you to do anything.” Wearing a faint smile, Rayna said to the media, “Glory has never stolen any of Egret Scents’ products.”
One of the reporters asked curiously, “If you didn’t plagiarize them, why were they the first ones to bring the product to the market? Mind explaining it to us, Ms. Garland?”
“I’ll do so in a while.”
Ella brought forward another document, and Rayna opened it to show everyone. It contained the formula for the perfume Felipe was holding, Glory’s purchase contract for it, and a non-disclosure agreement.
With the evidence laid bare to all, Rayna took a deep breath before elaborating calmly, “The fault is mine to have allowed all this confusion to happen in the first place. When I went to Summerbank for work last month, I gave a newly-made friend of mine a sample of the perfume. Unfortunately, that friend sent the sample to Mr. Saunders of Egret Scents in an attempt to sabotage me.” Rayna proceeded to bow sincerely in front of the cameras. “I’m sorry that my mistake has damaged the company’s reputation. I would also like to thank everyone for coming and giving me this opportunity to clarify.”
Shocked by the turn of events, Marcelo berated Felipe, “Didn’t you claim that you formulated it yourself? Why does Glory have evidence to show that you stole it?”
“I-I have no idea.” Cold sweat began to break out on Felipe’s forehead. “Hurry up and think of a way to fix this. Otherwise, the company will suffer and my reputation will take a hit.”
“You fool! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Felipe put on a bitter look. “Management was piling pressure on me to come up with a new product. I was left with no choice, so I—”
“Shut up!”
Despite Marcelo’s anger, the company’s reputation took priority at that moment. In less than a minute, he came up with a countermeasure.
After Rayna spoke to the reporters, he walked up to her.
“Ms. Garland, our staff has unknowingly used a perfume sample sent to him by someone. Furthermore, he had no idea that the product belonged to your company.”
Marcelo lowered his voice, hoping to resolve the matter amicably with Rayna.
Rayna had already given Felipe two chances. Unfortunately, instead of being grateful, he spurned her olive branches by hurling malicious accusations at her.
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