Chapter 12
Of course, Bryan would not actually lay a hand on his wife.
Narrowing his eyes at her slightly, he then lowered his head to write a number on her score sheet.
Harry’s eyes widened in horror at the glaring number that appeared.
“Sir… Aren’t you afraid that Mrs. Turner will be angry…” Harry trailed off when he realized that Boss. was
on the verge of becoming angry with him.
“She asked for it.” Bryan spared Finley a glance. This woman need to pay the price.
“Sorry, Sir.” Harry quickly stepped back.
Out of sight, out of mind….
Anyway, the highest and lowest scores would be removed. Miss Finley will not be badly affected by the
Boss’s childish actions.
Maybe Boss just took it as a warning to Miss Finley.
Meanwhile, the judges were put in a difficult position.
On one hand was a brilliant new perfumer with her future in front of her, on the other hand, was a slightly
less talented young woman who was rumored to become the wife of a very powerful man. In the end,
one brave judge decided to speak up and toss the hot potato to Bryan. “Mr. Turner, we think that
Lemon’s perfume would help the whole country to make a shot in the international stage this year. It’s
just that Miss Tricia-”
“Has nothing to do with me.” Bryan interrupted the man.
Harry then cleared his throat and said, “Dear judges, please judge according to your professional
opinions and not rumors.”
Nodding their understanding, the group lowered their head and wrote down their scores with a clear
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtheart.
Five minutes later, Finley’s score was displayed on the screen and immediately caused a stir.
“10! 10! 9.8! What perfume did that young lady come up with to score so high?”
Soon all the judges’ scores were displayed, with one notable exception.
Finley saw a staff member run to Bryan and back to the host with a confused expression on her face.
She could vaguely guess what her silly husband had done.
She ignored the man, paying attention instead to the whispers around her.
“Can you believe it? They didn’t make Miss Tricia the winner.”
“Do
you think the rumors are false? After all, I don’t think Mr. Turner would let his fiancée be embarrassed
like this.”
“You may be right…”
Tricia fisted her hands, her nails digging into her palm, at the speculatively looks the crowds were giving
her.
She barely registered it when a big fat zero appeared on the screen.
While the audience was confused, Finley scoffed, unperturbed at the man’s retaliation.
This man was…way too childish.
On the other hand, Tricia was elated.
Did that mean that Bryan did not like that vixen? It must be! Otherwise, he wouldn’t give her a zero. Too
bad the lowest score was removed…
After so many preparations, Tricia could only grit her teeth and accept second place. The only
consolation she had was that Mr. Turner did not seem to like the champion. So, she still had a chance.
The host quickly diverted the crowds’ attention from her zero to Finley, announcing her as the winner of
the championship.
As she walked to the host to accept the trophy, Finley held her head high.
“Mom, this is for you.”
She vowed that every speck of mud that was flung onto them would be repaid, bit by painful bit. Bryan
looked at the dazzling young woman standing on stage with an indescribable feeling in his chest. After
that smirk she flashed him when her score was announced, the woman had not once looked at him.
Being ignored was… uncomfortable.
The figure on stage was like a fairy on the moon, cold and unreachable.
A tender smile grazed his lips before it was gone.
Tricia saw the oddly curious look in Bryan’s eyes as he was focused on that woman and she trembled in
renewed anger.
She screamed inside, “No! Bryan Turner is mine! Which hole did this b*tch crawl out of?!”
She clenched her jaw as the host handed the microphone to her and asked, “Would you like to say a few
words?”
The woman smiled, accepted the microphone, and proceeded to drop a bucket of cold water on Tricia’s
head.
“Of course. I would like to report that someone in this competition plagiarized their recipe.”
A huge uproar broke out among the audience. Even the judge frowned when they heard her words. The
host scrambled to think of a reply, “Miss Lemon, that is a very serious accusation. If you don’t have any
evid-”
“It’s easy enough to prove,” Finley interjected, her sharp gaze on Bryan, “I would just like to know if the
organizers will take this seriously.”
Bryan snorted quietly but kept his face impassive. Instead, it was Harry who replied on his behalf. “Of
course, Miss Lemon. Turner Group values integrity. We will not treat this lightly.”
On the other hand, there were some in the audience who found fault with Finley’s actions. “She already
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmwon the competition, why is she kicking up such a big fuss?”
“I think she’s just trying to get Mr. Turner’s attention. Did you notice how she’s been staring at him
the whole time?”
Nobody noticed that Tricia had paled and subconsciously taken a step back when the accusation was
hurled out.
Only the fact that her father had repeatedly assured her that the recipe she used was never made public
kept her standing upright.
“There’s no evidence…” Tricia convinced herself.
Without evidence, it was mere hearsay.
Tricia swallowed and forced the thundering heart to calm down.
A sweet voice spoke up, “Is that so, Mr. Turner?”
At the moment, with so many cameras trained on them, Bryan resisted the urge to crack open his silly
wife’s head and find out what thought she had in that head of hers.
Wasn’t standing in the limelight enough?
Why did she need to drag him into the circus?
However, after being directly named, Bryan had no choice but to answer. “We will definitely punish any
wrongdoings and will not tolerate plagiarism.”
“Thank you, Mr. Turner.”
Finley smiled sweetly at the man and he felt it like a physical punch to the gut.
Fortunately, no one witnessed his slight jolt as Finley was not done speaking.
“I’m sure all of us here who worked so hard to stand on this stage will not tolerate a thief among us. What
do you think, Miss Tricia?”
The moment she named the culprit, the media quickly directed their cameras at Tricia.
The cameras accurately captured how her face paled and she took a tiny step back. The
microphones picked up the slight tremble in her lips as she opened her mouth to deny the accusations.