THE DIVORCE GAMBIT From Dumped Wife to CEO's Forever novel Chapter 659

Tammie had thought they might trend, but based on CL's current influence, a good design alone wasn't enough. They'd need a marketing push to truly go viral. He had already planned a campaign with the marketing team for the day of the competition, but it seemed the public had beaten them to it.

This was a fantastic surprise. It would save them time, effort, and a huge chunk of their marketing budget. The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. The last traces of sleep vanished as he sat up in bed. "Benedict, what did I tell you? I knew our design would be a huge hit!" And now, they were trending.

A huge hit? Benedict's voice on the other end was strained. He sighed heavily. "Tammie! Just… just get on social media. Now."

Tammie grabbed his laptop from the nightstand, flipped it open, and logged on. The first thing he saw was ‘CL Jewels' at the top of the trending topics. A wide grin spread across his face.

But his smile quickly faded.

Because right below ‘CL Jewels' was another trending topic.

‘CL Plagiarism!'

Plagiarism? Who had plagiarized them?

Even then, Tammie didn't grasp the severity of the situation. "Which brand copied us? We need to sue them immediately!" Respect for original work was the only way the industry could thrive. He despised plagiarism. He had expected someone to copy his design eventually, but he was shocked at how fast it had happened. It had only been a few hours! If these people put half as much effort into their own creations, they wouldn't be stuck in mediocrity.

Benedict's voice crackled through the speaker again. "Tammie! It's not about who copied us! It's that *we're* being accused of copying someone else!"

"What are you talking about?" Tammie laughed. "Benedict, are you still half-asleep?" Him, a design genius, accused of plagiarism? It was absurd.

"Just click on the trending topic and you'll see," Benedict said, his voice tight.

Tammie clicked.

The moment he saw the posts, his mind went blank. A buzzing filled his ears.

Ann stole the design?

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Tammie shot back instantly. "Ann is my family. She would never do something like this!" In his mind, Ann was pure and flawless. She was above such deceit.

"Who else could it be?" Benedict took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Before Ann showed up, we never had a single problem with our designs. The moment she arrives, three months of our work ends up in someone else's hands!" You didn't have to be a genius to connect the dots.

"It wasn't her! It couldn't be! She has no reason to do this to me," Tammie insisted, his face pale with anxiety.

"No reason? What about sixty million reasons?" Benedict retorted. "Don't forget, Ann was kicked out of the Gonzales family. She has nothing. For sixty million, she'd sell you out in a heartbeat. Hell, she'd probably do it for six."

Sixty million? That was the reason? The idea struck Tammie as utterly ridiculous. Could sixty million really be more important to Ann than him, her family?