Chapter 54

Just days after the photo scandal died down, HR at Shaw Corporation suddenly rolled out a batch of announcements-one of them being that Michelle had quit. That set off a wave of gossip in the design department. "Wait, what? Wasn't she about to be promoted to assistant design director? Why'd she leave?" "You think there's been some twist to the plagiarism mess?" "Doubt it. Symedica already paid us royalties, didn't they?" "Eh, don't overthink it. I heard she switched jobs. That plagiarism thing gave her unexpected publicity, and now other companies are lining up to hire her. Probably got better pay too." Celeste sat at her desk, quietly catching every bit of the chatter flying around. For most in the design team, Michelle leaving was a win-less competition meant one less hurdle. But for Celeste, the whole thing felt too rehearsed, too deliberate. And if she had to guess, Ethan had something to do with it. After work, she got home to find the whole Shaw family unusually gathered in the l