If Nicole was deemed culpable for plagiarizing, she would not be able to continue her designer career, let alone stay in F&M Apparel.
At this thought, Queenie’s sulkiness was dismissed at once. She lifted her head and sneered haughtily, “Mind you, your good days are coming to an end. By the time Colton discovered the affair between you and Joseph five years ago, I bet he’ll want nothing to do with you!”
Nevertheless, Nicole was not stirred up when she heard Queenie bring up this matter. Instead, she was rather calm.
“Do you know why I was safe and sound even after being poisoned by your mother?”
Queenie hurriedly denied it when Nicole mentioned the incident. “Stop your nonsense! Since when did my mother poison you?!”
Perceiving Queenie’s stubborn denial, Nicole did not mind it at all and continued, “The drug indeed took effect on me that night and I was suffering. But fortunately, President Gardner brought me home toward the end and took care of me throughout the night.”
After spitting the sentence word by word, Nicole smiled even brighter when she saw the rage that appeared again on Queenie’s face.
“In the end, it’s you who have done us the favor. Thank you, my dear sister.”
Queenie’s face turned as dark as coal when she heard Nicole’s words. She was so infuriated that she was at a loss for words.
If Nicole really had sex with Colton…
At this thought, Queenie couldn’t help scowling, “You debaucherous slut!”
With that, she slammed the door shut and left.
Watching Queenie walk out of the office, Nicole lifted her brows and thought the former was insane.
Did she come all the way here just to pick a fight with me?
Nicole finally finished making the gown in a hurry on Saturday, so she informed Wendy about it over a call. At the same time, Wendy told Nicole that Anna wanted to see her as well, so it would be the perfect time for her to bring the gown over too.
Nicole agreed and immediately drove to the Gardner Residence.
Wendy was very satisfied upon seeing the gown, and her bright smile was the best proof.
As Anna was a designer when she was younger, she too was impressed to see the gown which Nicole designed.
“You really deserved the title of F&M Apparel’s chief designer. This design is eye-catching and suits Wendy’s age too.”
Wearing a humble expression, Nicole nodded and responded, “You’re flattering me, Mrs. Gardner. The style of my design is actually much more mature as youthful designs are not my forte. If Miss Gardner has any comments for improvement, I’ll make the necessary amendments.”
Wendy shook her head while holding the gown. “Not at all. I like it very much. Thank you, Ms. Lisa!”
After saying that, she lowered her head to look at the gown in her hands. Even if the name ‘Lisa’ had been removed from the gown, it would not discount how dazzling the gown was, so Wendy was confident that she would definitely outshine the others at the evening party.
“By the way…” Wendy trotted to Nicole with the dress in her hand as if she recalled something all of a sudden. “I’m turning 18 in a month, Ms. Lisa. Can you design a coming-of-age gown for me? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to ask Colton to pay you a price that is higher than the market rate.”
It was the first time that Anna saw her beloved daughter being close to a person. She reached out with her hand to pull Wendy over and explained with a smile, “Lisa is having a collaboration with Gardner Corporation this time round, so I’m afraid she won’t have so much time to make another gown for you. We’ve already troubled her this time. I’ll ask Joanna to make you a dress next time.”
Wendy lowered her head to look at the dress in her hands as disappointment appeared on her originally smiling face.
Although Joanna’s design was good too, it was not as striking as Lisa’s.
On the other hand, Nicole was envious after seeing the mother and daughter’s intimate interaction. She gave a gentle smile and replied, “Don’t worry, I’m working in Gardner Corporation anyway. Designing a dress won’t take too much of my time. Just let me know what your requirements are, Miss Gardner.”
Hearing that Nicole was willing to design a dress for her, Wendy immediately approached her to give a hug, after which she squealed with a smile. “Thank you, dear Ms. Lisa!”
“Just call me Nicole.” Nicole nodded with a smile. In fact, she was also fond of this young lady who was more than 10 years younger than her.
Maybe it was because Wendy was loved by her family since young that there was no trace of schemes that the adults had in her eyes, which made it a pleasure to see her clear and bright eyes.
“Sure, Nicole,” Wendy replied with a beam.
With that, she went upstairs with the dress. Thereafter, Anna continued chatting with Nicole for a while longer due to Nicole’s job as a designer.
Since both of them were fashion designers, they found many common topics in their chats.
Despite the fact that Anna was no longer working as a designer, there were still many things about the career that they could talk about.
As such, Nicole continued to stay at the Garner Residence for almost two hours before she left.
Tomorrow was the weekend, and an appointment had been made for her to go for the DNA paternity test with Joseph. A flustered Nicole stood at the entrance and covered her forehead with her hand as she recalled the incident from five years ago…
Suddenly, the scene of darkness and passion combined with the man’s sharp, fierce eyes flashed through her mind. With her arms resting by her side, she tightly clenched her fists as she just couldn’t recall who the man was.
Is it really Joseph? If it isn’t him, how would he dare to ask to do the DNA paternity test upfront? And he was not intimidated at all when I proposed to do it on the spot.
Nicole shook her head as she decided to stop thinking about it. Regardless of whether Joseph was Hayden’s biological father or not, she would not allow Joseph to get his way.
After leaving the Gardner Residence in the evening, Nicole rushed to Colton’s place.
While Anna and Wendy stayed at the old Gardner Residence, Colton had his own mansion.
The DNA paternity test between Hayden and Joseph was scheduled for tomorrow, so Nicole had to make all the necessary preparations tonight.
By the time she arrived at Colton’s residence, it was already past 8 in the evening. She had been to the place before, so she was rather familiar with the layout.
After parking her car, she walked through the yard and directly entered the house via the main entrance.
The light from the enormous chandelier in the mansion was blinding as it radiated on Colton seated on the couch with a laptop. His slender, bony fingers were typing swiftly on the keyboard as it made a crisp, clattering sound.
Seeing Nicole’s arrival, Colton kept his laptop away and asked Annie to serve coffee. Only then did he turn to greet, “Hi, Miss Anderson, just tell me what you need me to do tomorrow.”
Nicole nodded and answered, “It’s nothing much, actually. President Gardner, you have taken a DNA paternity test with my son and are aware that there’s no blood relation between the two of you, but I won’t dare to make a bet for Joseph’s case, so I’m hoping you can help to change the hair sample during the test.”
Colton nodded with a half-smile and had no objection. “Sure.”
Although the act of switching the specimen sounded despicable, he decided to break the rules for once since it was Nicole who had requested it.
Perceiving Colton’s response as his consent, Nicole smiled subtly and expressed her gratitude. “Thanks a lot for your help, President Gardner.”
“No worries. I still need to trouble you for my sister’s matter, though,” he replied with a smile.
Both of them had some small talk before she left Colton’s place on the pretext that it was getting late.
Zachary was nowhere to be seen when Nicole arrived home. Meanwhile, Hayden was sitting on the couch and shaking his legs while elaborating, “Mr. Yates went out in a hurry after answering a call. He told me that he might not be coming back tonight and asked me not to worry.”
Nicole nodded in comprehension as she reckoned the incident which happened abroad the last time was not completely settled yet. She lowered her head to gaze at Hayden since she had yet to inform him about the DNA paternity test tomorrow.
Feeling that her throat was dry, she had no idea how to bring this topic up to the child.
Nevertheless, Hayden was a sharp boy and he could guess that something was going on by his mother’s hesitant look.
Staring fixedly at Nicole with his clear, bright eyes, he asked with a pout, “Mom, is there something you want to tell me?”
As Hayden hit the bullseye, Nicole rubbed her nose awkwardly and looked at her son with a sense of guilt.
“Shall we go out tomorrow?” she asked softly.
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