Why was the investigation inconclusive again?…Mia relaxed a little after finding out she'd made it to the finals. Then, she threw herself into preparing her designs for the final round. This time, she had to win first place.When she was almost done, she received a call from the hospital. "Am I speaking to Ms. Mia Bowen? It's time for you to come to the hospital for a prenatal checkup."Mia placed a hand on her belly. She'd almost forgotten that she was pregnant. She hadn't even told Patricia about this—she knew Patricia wouldn't agree to her keeping the baby. She decided to go for the prenatal checkup alone.When Mia stepped out of her room, she saw Liam standing on the balcony. He was on the phone with someone. He hurriedly hung up when he saw her. "Where are you going, Mia? I'll go with you.""Do you have something to attend to on set, Liam?""Nah, it's nothing important. One of the shows I was in is gonna start promoting soon, so they want me to make an appearance. I'm jus

Liam said seriously, "I agree. There won't be any pressure on Mia if she doesn't know anything about our actual identities."Ultimately, Dominic gave in. Shortly after, Mia found that the competition's results had been announced on the official website. There was no mention of the placing, though.Mia received an invitation from the organizers to attend the awards ceremony next week. She sent a screenshot of the announcement on the website to Gina. "I made it through, but there aren't any rankings."Gina replied excitedly, "You have to be in the first place! It's weird that they've suddenly changed the rules this year, though."Mia found it weird as well. But it didn't really matter. This competition was only held once every three years, and many designers couldn't wait to win an award from it. After all, all the big names in the industry recognized this competition. It was a hefty accomplishment to place in such a competition."Mia, the people from Barrett Group have contacted me

Shelly looked a little diffident. "What nonsense are you spouting?"How did Eva know about that?Mia didn't expect to hear about something like that. She pulled out her phone to show Shelly her invitation. "Take a good look at this—I'm attending the awards ceremony because my capabilities got me to where I am."I'm not like some people who only know how to pull strings and buy their way in because they don't have any skills to back themselves up."Shelly's blood boiled. She hadn't expected Mia to make it to the finals. She looked at the evening gowns the salesperson held. "Hey, you. Wrap all three of those dresses up for me."The salesperson looked conflicted. Shelly's expression darkened. "Did you not hear me? Wrap those dresses up for me. Don't you know who I am?""Yes, Ms. Barrett.""Hold it!" Eva stopped the salesperson. "We came first."Shelly laughed derisively. "So what? It's not like you can afford them. Why are you trying to make yourself seem better than you are?""W

"How is she considered a customer?" Shelly shrieked. Forcing her to apologize to Mia made her feel worse than getting killed.Timothy said coldly, "As a member of the Barrett family, your actions have severely impacted our image. If you don't apologize, you won't be allowed to set foot in any of the Barrett family's malls in the future. Security, get her out of here!"He was a ruthless, decisive leader. He didn't give Shelly any leeway.When Shelly saw the security guards approaching, she knew Timothy was being serious. If she were to get kicked out today and be barred from entering any of the Barrett Group's malls, she would be the laughingstock of the city.In the end, Shelly shuffled over to Mia reluctantly. Her eyes were red as she glared at Mia and snarled, "I'm sorry!"Mia raised an eyebrow and gave Timothy a surprised look. She hadn't expected him to actually force Shelly to apologize to her. Or was he only doing this for the Barrett Group's sake?Eva asked calmly, "Is tha

"Timothy, how could you stand up for Mia? I was so humiliated," Shelly complained.Timothy retracted his gaze and said coldly, "If I catch you doing this again, don't even think of setting foot in any of the Barrett Group's malls in the future. I'm a man of my word.""How can you do this to me, Timothy? I have shares in the company, too.""Because I'm the one calling the shots now. It's bad enough that you don't contribute to the company at all. There's no way I'll allow you to drag the company down." With that, Timothy turned and left.Shelly was left behind. She stomped her foot angrily but didn't dare to rebuke Timothy. After storming out of the store, she called Maya. "I need to tell you something, Maya. Mia actually got into the finals of the competition.""Really?" Maya had been too busy with her work to pay attention. She only checked the list of finalists that had been sent to her through WhatsApp. Sure enough, she saw Mia's name on the list.Her expression turned cold. "