Chapter 728
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Scrambling for a response, the staff member stammered, “Ms. Davidson, I truly had no idea this happened. Someone must’ve acted without clearance.”
Grabbing his walkie-talkie, he quickly radioed a colleague to get clarification.
It wasn’t long before Dolores distinctly heard a voice crackle through the walkie-talkie. “The founder of the CR Corporation gave the order himself. How could we possibly go against that? CR Corporation funded most of this year’s competition. And to be honest, he wasn’t even favoring his own designer, so we didn’t have much room to object.”
Dolores blinked, visibly stunned by what she had just heard. Of all people, she hadn’t expected Collin to be the one behind the delivery of fresh gloves to Linsey.
A flurry of questions raced through her mind. Had he somehow already guessed that Linsey was Contestant No. 3?
The idea seemed unlikely—completely implausible, even. The competition was built on strict anonymity. Only the assigned staffer knew which designer occupied which booth.
Still, the longer she mulled it over, the more uneasy she became. At that moment, the urge to march into the venue and pull Linsey out surged within her.
Without wasting time, she turned to the staff member and asked, “Does the founder of the CR Corporation know that Aurora is the designer representing my firm?”
Upon hearing that, the staff member quickly responded with confident certainty, “Ms. Davidson, I can promise you we’ve followed the anonymous competition guidelines to the letter. Each company’s representative is only aware of their own designer’s booth. There’s absolutely no way for them to identify the designers from other companies!”
After a short breath, the staffer added, “It’s likely he just saw a designer struggling and felt compelled to help. That’s probably all it was.”
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Dolores gave a dry, skeptical laugh. There was no way Collin, of all people, would go out of his way for a stranger simply out of goodwill.
Elsewhere, inside a private lounge, Dustin had just walked an event organizer out the door after yet another round of flattering small talk aimed at Collin.
As the door clicked shut, he turned and studied his friend on the sofa, curiosity etched across his face.
Collin hadn’t moved. His eyes stayed locked on the screen showing Linsey’s booth.
With a confused frown, Dustin scratched his head.
What was Collin doing helping a designer affiliated with a rival company?
Sure, it was just a pair of gloves—but the fact that Collin had intervened personally made the act anything but meaningless.
Instead of confronting him about it, Dustin kept his questions to himself and quietly returned to his seat, choosing—for now—to watch in silence.
Turning his attention away from Arthur’s meticulous progress, Dustin shifted his gaze to Linsey’s screen, drawn in by Collin’s unwavering focus.
A small part of him began to wonder if there was something special—something distinct—about this designer that had captured Collin’s interest, especially given how selective the man usually was.
For a fleeting moment, Dustin even entertained the idea that Collin believed this designer could potentially outshine Arthur, the seasoned expert they had flown in for this very competition. That thought struck him as ridiculous almost immediately.
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