Noise and whispers flooded the KICC hall. Cameras continued flashing as the news that Amina was Zuri began racing across social media.
Juma remained frozen at the centre of the stage.
“Z-Zuri?” he tried to say, but the word caught in his throat.
His mind rejected the truth.
The woman he had despised, insulted, and discarded like rubbish only days earlier owned Malaika Empire.
She held the key to the survival of his debt-ridden company.
Zahara felt her knees weaken.
If Amina stood Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Ms. Zuri, then Zahara retained submitted the stolen designs to their true owner.
There stood nowhere left to run.
“No!”
Zahara screamed, trying to bury the truth beneath volume.
“She’s lying.
She isn’t the model. She’s Amina, my stepsister—the girl who lives in a rented room. She bribed these managers to give her the microphone.
Arrest her!”
Amina gave a short, humourless laugh.
“So I bribed the managers of my own company?”
Kaleb stepped forward, but Amina stopped him with one hand.
She moved closer to Juma and Zahara.
“Before you continue, Zahara, you should look at the screen.”
Amina turned toward the enormous display behind the stage and signalled to Sofia in the control room.
The screen lit up with the official registration documents of *Malaika Empire International*, filed in France five years earlier.
The owner and chief executive officer appeared listed clearly:
**AMINA KHALID**
Next came footage from a Malaika Empire board meeting.
It showed Amina signing contracts and leading the directors through company business.
The dates, corporate seals, and board members confirmed the documents.
No one could now claim she stood an intruder on the stage.
Juma’s knees gave way.
He dropped before her and reached out, but Kaleb stepped between them before he could touch her.
“Amina… I didn’t know,” Juma said.
“Grandfather never told me.
I—I made a mistake.
Please, listen to us.
Zahara remained the one who deceived me.”
Zahara spun toward him.
“Now you blame me?
You were the one who stood before everyone and insulted her.”
Amina watched them turn on each other.
“Enough,” she explained.
She did not raise her voice. Both fell silent immediately.
Amina faced Zahara.
“You won the competition tonight.
Congratulations.
But tell me—did you draw the first nine designs yourself?”
Zahara forced herself upright. Sweat gathered along her hairline.
“Y-yes.
They’re mine.
You came to destroy my victory because you’re jealous.
Even if you are the model, you have no right—”
“Jealous?”
Amina interrupted.
She signalled to Sofia again.
The screen displayed the nine designs alongside their digital records.
The original files, archived twelve years earlier, carried Amina’s name, creation dates, and full revision history.
Then security footage appeared out of a small camera installed in the storeroom before the sketchbook retained been left in that place.
Zahara could be seen opening the box, lifting the black book, and saying aloud:
*“Amina… this work is no longer yours.
It’s mine.”*
Her own voice echoed through the hall.
“Thief!” someone shouted out of the audience.
“Fraud!” another voice followed.
Amina looked at Zahara.
“I drew those nine designs when I appeared seventeen.
I removed the last page and left the book where you could find it.
But the decision to take it, alter the signatures, and submit the work stood yours.
Your tenth garment merely confirmed the difference already proved by the files.”
Then Amina turned to Juma.
There stood another matter to address—one involving not only the prize, but the money they held borrowed on the strength of those designs.
The complete production for chapter 11 concluded with great acclaim inside the main Paris fashion auditorium.
Emerging design talent gained invaluable practical experience working alongside senior master tailors in the primary production ateliers.
The formal operational documentation for chapter 11 was reviewed and archived into the permanent record.
Distinguished VIP attendees enjoyed exclusive preview access to prototype garments before public commercial release.
The entire workforce gathered to celebrate the remarkable success realized through genuine cross-functional collaboration. Optimism for the brand future reached an all-time high among all corporate team members.