Chapter 3

"Eve, this is the proposal framework I organized for you. As long as you follow it, you'll definitely wow the client!"

Daniel placed the compiled materials in front of me, full of confidence.

My husband Mark chimed in teasingly, "Eve, you have to win this project. If you do, you'll get promoted. I'm bringing you soup every day — if you fail, how can you face my soup?"

It was clearly a joke, but I couldn't laugh.

Daniel is my biological brother; he would never harm me.

My husband Mark, though sometimes blunt, had always supported me.

Once, when a colleague tried to steal my credit, he almost got into a fight with them.

So it couldn't be them.

Then where did the problem lie?

I had been a technical prodigy since childhood, and every project I'd handled since joining the company had outstanding results.

Even in a top-tier company, I was a priority talent.

My department supervisor said I was the strongest competitor for the promotion this time.

So when the plagiarism scandal broke, the supervisor and most of my colleagues initially believed me.

Besides, my previous project accomplishments were indisputable — there was no need for me to plagiarize.

But then, Katherine suddenly released surveillance footage from the preparation period.

The footage showed that she had completed the overall proposal earlier than I had.

And she had "shared" her thoughts on the project on the internal forum a week before the presentation.

The proposal she presented was exactly a deepened version of those thoughts.

In an instant, the internal gossip and accusations nearly drowned me.

"This clearly proves that Evelyn copied Katherine. The timestamps are crystal clear!"

"I heard her previous projects might not be real either — they just weren't discovered!"

"It's a good thing her brother and husband kept their heads and didn't commit perjury for her, or the real victim would've been wronged to death!"

Because of the terrible impact, senior management took it very seriously and immediately verified Katherine's evidence.

After verification, the surveillance timestamps and forum post records were authentic and untampered with.

They ruled that I had indeed plagiarized Katherine.

I was stunned.

That proposal was obviously my original work — how could it be plagiarism?

But I had no evidence to prove it.

I couldn't understand how Katherine's proposal ended up identical to my core content.

Could Daniel have shared the "framework" he gave me with Katherine as well?

One mystery after another loomed over me.

But for now, Daniel and my husband Mark were acting completely normal.

I could only start by investigating Katherine's internal forum account.

By my calculations, her "forward-thinking" post should already be up.

But Daniel and my husband Mark, using the excuse of discussing the proposal, barely left my side. I had to quickly scribble a few irrelevant draft pages to placate them.

Then I pretended to have a headache and needed fresh air in the break room.

A flicker of impatience crossed my husband Mark's eyes. "You're so high-maintenance. Daniel already gave you the core ideas, and you still want to slack off!"

Daniel hurriedly smoothed things over. "It's not that urgent. Don't rush her."

"As long as she follows my framework, she'll definitely win!"

But I didn't have much time left to find the truth.

After locking the break room door, I immediately checked Katherine's internal forum on my phone.

She was the daughter of a board member, and with her stunning looks and social skills, she had quite a following.

But I had almost no interaction with her.

However, Daniel, as the CEO, had more contact with Katherine.

Once, I overheard him telling my husband Mark that Katherine clearly had the potential of a future leader, unlike me, who only buried myself in technical details.

He also said that in the workplace, you had to build good relationships with people like Katherine who had both background and ability.

At the time, I thought it was just a casual remark.

Now, I realized it might have been his true feelings.

But I truly couldn't understand why a golden girl like Katherine would target me specifically.

Then, I saw her latest post.

Under the guise of "throwing out a brick to attract jade," she shared her "preliminary thoughts" on several key challenges of the project.

When I saw those "thoughts," I froze.

Weren't these the "core logic" that Daniel had helped me organize?

What's more, Katherine even listed several key data projection directions.

They were exactly the same as what I had written in my private notes last night.

Below the post, colleagues were showering her with praise.

"Katherine is so beautiful and talented, even willing to share unpublished project ideas like this. She's a goddess!"

"Exactly. I was completely stuck on these challenges before. Her analysis made everything clear."

Idea collisions could be coincidence.

But then why was the complete proposal she was about to present also highly similar to my core content?

My private workstation and computer could only be accessed by Daniel and my husband Mark, who knew the passwords.

It had to be them!

A chill ran down my spine.

I couldn't understand why they would do this.

Was blood and marriage really worth less than Katherine's professional connection to them?