NINA'S POV

“Miss Nina! Did you really steal N.C Jewelry’s designs?”

Reporters started shouting over each other, their microphones nearly hitting my face as I stumbled backward in disbelief.

“How long have you been deceiving the company?”

“Were you planning to sell the designs to competitors?”

“Did you think nobody would find out?”

I blinked in confusion. What was going on here?

Then suddenly, A giant projector displayed different jewelry sketches across the screen. They were my sketches, my designs but another name was boldly written beneath them. PROPERTY OF N.C JEWELRY COMPANY.

A cold shiver ran through my body as my knees nearly gave way. My heartbeat turned violent. “No…” I muttered, shaking my head while staring at the screen. “This can’t be possible…"

The crowd erupted instantly. Cameras continued flashing toward my face while everything around me started spinning.

Just a few minutes ago, I walked into this hall believing today would finally change my life. I thought today would be the day the truth came out. The day I stopped hiding behind shadows. The day the world finally knew I was the real designer behind every masterpiece that made N.C Jewelry famous.

But now…Everything was collapsing right in front of me.

Then I saw Magga standing elegantly beside her husband with a disappointed expression on her face. She slowly walked toward me before sighing softly. “Oh, Nina…” she said sadly. “I trusted you.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re a liar!” I snapped, my voice cracking. “Those are my designs! Why are you doing this to me?”

My eyes blurred with tears. “All I did was help your company grow! I created beautiful designs for you, and now you’re manipulating everything?” Gasps spread across the hall again.

Magga’s expression trembled like I had deeply hurt her. Such a talented actress. Beside her, Mr. Norman remained silent and cold, his sharp gaze fixed on me like I was dirt staining his expensive floor.

The same man who privately praised my creativity now looked at me with disgust publicly. Something inside me slowly started breaking. “You both know the truth,” I whispered painfully. “You know I designed everything.”

Magga lowered her eyes dramatically before speaking into the microphone again. “Nina worked under our company for a while,” she said softly. “We treated her kindly despite… her condition.”

Before I could react, she suddenly pulled the veil away from my face. The cameras flashed aggressively toward me as I quickly raised my hands to cover the scar on my face.

Whispers immediately spread around the hall.

“Oh my God… she’s so ugly.”

“The Normans were nice enough to help someone like her.”

“She’s so ungrateful.”

My body trembled violently. No matter where I went, the scar was always the first thing people noticed. The scar I got the night my mother burned alive trying to save me from the fire.

The scar people stared at before looking away in disgust. The scar that made me hide myself from the world for years.

“We gave her shelter,” Magga continued emotionally. “We even allowed her to learn from our company designers because we pitied her situation.”

I froze instantly. Learn?.. Learn from them?

My entire body shook with rage. “You stole from me!” I screamed. “Every design, every collection, every single idea came from me!”

“Then why,” Norman finally spoke for the first time, his deep voice calm and dangerous, “do all legal documents say otherwise?” My blood ran cold. The large screen changed again. Contracts. Signatures. Company ownership files.

My vision blurred.

I recognized my signature at the bottom of one document, but I had never signed ownership away. I only signed employment papers when I first joined the company.

Then realization hit me slowly. They tricked me. Somewhere hidden inside all those papers… My designs had legally become theirs. My knees weakened. “No…”

The room spun around me. Magga walked closer, pretending to care as she gently touched my shoulder. “You’re young, Nina,” she whispered softly enough for only me to hear. “You should’ve stayed grateful.”

I stared at her in horror. Those words brought back the reason I had come to the city in the first place.

My only mission was to find my Dad after I lost my mother in a fire outbreak. But before i could adjust to the city lifestyle, I received a call from the hospital that my grandmother had cancer and needed urgent treatment.

What was I supposed to do? I needed to save her she was the only family I had left. That was how I met the Norman's. I stupidly believed they were Angels sent by God to help me. So I signed a deal with them to become their ghost designer while they promised to pay me.

But they never kept their own side of the deal. I decided to use the jewelry launch day to expose their secret to the world but instead it backfired towards me and now, I finally understood the truth. This had been planned from the beginning. They never intended to help me. They only saw a desperate poor girl with talent… and used her.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed behind me. “Miss Nina Reyes, you are under arrest for theft, fraud, and attempted extortion against N.C Jewelry Company.”

The trial lasted three months. I had nothing. No money to get a lawyer, and every evidence I showed to the court were twisted against me. The Norman's had connections so they bribe the judges and when i saw I couldn't do anything but accept my fate.

That was when the judge looked up at me, and said the word that made my heart stop beating. “You are sentenced to nine years imprisonment.”

The word echoed in my ear for a thousand times, making my vision blur. So this was my fate as my eyes slowly landed on Magga, the woman who promised me a future and the tears I was holding back finally fell.

My eyes remained fixed on Magga and Norman as the officer handcuffed me and dragged me away.

The hatred inside me burned deeply. That i promised myself they would pay for this.