Chapter 45

Timothy looked up. “A special prize for her?”

“Yeah. My brother called me earlier and called for a re–judging. I’m guessing it’s because of Liam, but

there’s really no need for the judges to go through the judging again. It’s not like there’ll be a change in

the results. That’s why I’ve decided to set up a special prize for Mia. I don’t really have a choice.”

After saying that, Maya sneaked a glance at Timothy’s expression. Deep inside, she felt angry. She

didn’t understand why Dominic wanted her to do this, but she felt it had something to do with Liam.

Then again, at least it would ensure Timothy wouldn’t get back together with Mia.

Timothy frowned and put the designs he held on the table. “Which ones are Mia’s designs?”

“The judging’s supposed to be done anonymously, Tim. I’m guessing that her designs were pretty bad

for her to be eliminated.” Maya calmly collected the designs on the table. “Thanks for your hard work,

everyone. Let’s leave things at this. I’ll announce the results later.”

She held the designs as she went to the office that had been set up backstage. After going through the

designs and checking the names, she found that Mia’s designs were the ones that had scored the

highest.

Maya coldly ripped the designs to shreds when she saw Mia’s name. She’d originally thought that Mia

would place among the lower contestants, so it was a surprise that she’d scored the highest.

For a second, she couldn’t help feeling glad that she’d decided to have the judges judge the designs

without knowing who the designer was so that she could humiliate Mia. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have

been able to pull this off!

Still, it didn’t matter. No one knew these designs belonged to Mia. Everyone would think the first–place

winner had designed them.

As Maya walked out of the office, she ran into the chief coordinator for the competition. They said, “Ms.

Lane, Mr. Lane has instructed me to handle the rest of the competition.”

“Sure, but I have to announce the final results.”

“No, you don’t need to do anything. I’ll handle it, so you can take a break.”

Seeing that the chief coordinator was so insistent, Maya nodded with a smile. She

AA

this incident?

She left the backstage feeling confused. Then, she made a beeline for the judges‘ seats. “Tim, let’s sit

over there.”

Timothy stood up but couldn’t stop his gaze from traveling to Mia. Had she asked the man with her to

allow her to win the competition because of what he’d said to her outside the restroom? a

This thought only exacerbated Timothy’s bad mood.

Maya stood where she was as one of the judges said, “Ms. Lane, I heard Zoe’s one of the contestants,

too. Could I know which designs are hers?”

Maya’s expression shifted at that. Then, she relaxed at the thought of her flawless plan. No one would

know the truth. She smiled faintly and said, “I don’t think it’s hard to guess.”

She would die before saying that the designs belonged to Mia!

“I don’t even need to guess–it must be our first–place winner, Wilhelmina Jones. Her designs are the

ones Mr. Barrett was holding earlier. It matches up with Zoe’s style, and it scored the highest. It has to

be her.”

Timothy looked at the designs again. Indeed, the judge was right. Yet Zoe had rejected his olive branch

twice. He pulled out his phone to message Heath. “Go talk to the first–place winner again.”

Since she was here in person, he could try to talk to her and poach her.

Wilhelmina was surrounded by people. Many of the representatives from different companies had given

her their business cards; they were busy singing her praises now.

Mia glanced at them before retracting her gaze. She watched as Maya and Timothy came in her

direction before taking their seats in the first row. Shelly quickly asked, “Why aren’t you doing the

honors, Maya?”

Maya looked a little awkward. “My brother didn’t want me to push myself, so he had someone else take

over for me.”