Chapter 487: Chapter 487

Before Felipe could say more, Rayna interrupted him, “Mr. Saunders, as a perfumer, you should know that a perfume has to be popular before it can be called a success. However, everyone prefers the perfume from my company and dislikes yours. The reason is that you have stolen it from us but failed to discover the exact ingredients to recreate the scent. Therefore, you resorted to replacing it with a different ingredient.”

“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.

At that moment, Rayna was in no mood to show any mercy as a ruthless glint flashed across her eyes. “You know the law better than I do. You should have known the consequences of using something that doesn’t belong to you. If he had only reverse-

engineered the product, we would be willing to let the matter slide if you would give up the profits. Unfortunately, he added his name to the product and sold it through the Egret Scents brand.”

Marcelo offered, “I’ll have the products pulled from the shelf at once and release a statement.”

Rayna smiled. “Is that all you’re going to do? Do you know how much damage you have caused to our company’s market value when you insisted we plagiarized your product?”

“Ms. Garland, you’d better not go too far!” Marcelo’s face turned grim. “It was your mistake to give your new product away. Even my staff is a victim of the circumstances!”

“I admit that the error is mine, but that doesn’t give your company the right to profit from someone else’s product!”

Marcelo was dumbfounded by Rayna’s retort.

Tapping her finger on the document, Rayna demanded, “Pull your products from the shelf, recall those that have been sold to consumers, and get Felipe to apologize to my company publicly. Otherwise, if this matter ends up in court, I’m sure you know better than I do who’s going to suffer a greater loss.”

Marcelo balled his fists in response.

Given the comprehensive evidence in Rayna’s hands, settling with her right now was a small price to pay in contrast to going to court, where the reputational damage would be huge. With the speed of present-day media, news of it would spread across the country like wildfire.

After weighing the pros and cons of the matter, Marcelo had no choice but to accept Rayna’s conditions.

“I’ll order the products to be removed from sale and issue a letter of apology. I hope you’ll help us minimize our losses.”

Rayna responded with a cordial smile. “Don’t worry. I, too, thank you for agreeing with my proposal.”

Marcelo was speechless. It’s not like you left me a choice at all!

Meanwhile, the reporters grew restless when they saw Rayna and Marcelo whispering softly to each other, out of earshot.

“Ms. Garland, what are you discussing? Please speak up!”

“Exactly. If we can’t hear anything, how are we going to write anything on Glory’s behalf?”

Hearing that, Rayna flashed a small smile. “Marcelo has just informed me that Mr. Saunders had used the sample his friend gave him without going through due process. Now that they have learned of the truth, Egret Scents will pull the perfume from the shelves, buy back those which have been sold, and publish a letter of apology. For that, I thank him for the kind consideration he has offered me and my company.”

Shocked by the news, Felipe went up to Marcelo and asked, “What’s the meaning of this? Have you resolved the matter?”

“What other choice do we have? Go to court and have our company’s name splashed across the headlines?” Marcelo shot him a glare. “If you still intend on keeping your job, you better apologize to Glory in front of the press. Do you understand?”

Seeing that Felipe had nothing to say, Marcelo reiterated, “Say that you didn’t know and apologize sincerely to Glory. Do you hear me?”

“I do.” Felipe clenched his fists discreetly.

Subsequently, he offered his apology and admitted his mistake in front of all the cameras.

Only then did Rayna break into a smile over the settlement both sides had agreed upon.

When the press conference was finally over, Rayna personally escorted Marcelo and Felipe out.

Ella, on the other hand, distributed the gift packs that had been prepared ahead of time to the members of the press.