Sabotaged at the Tender: My Bid Turned Into a "Paid Surrogate" Advertisement

Evelyn Brown returns home to represent Brown Group in an IPO bidding process, but halfway through her presentation the room turns puzzled: her slides have been swapped for a humiliating "Paid Surrogate" advertisement. Backstage, the impoverished student her father Eric Brown has sponsored for years, Katherine Cadwell, is laughing uncontrollably, leaning against Evelyn's fiance, Dwayne Woodruff.

When Evelyn demands an explanation, Dwayne shoves her down and hurls a teacup that slices her calf; Katherine then spills scorching coffee over the laptop holding the only backup of the final presentation. The key client, Dennis Newman, prepares to leave, and Dwayne blames Evelyn's "sickness" before handing the stage to Katherine, who presents Evelyn's own concept as her team's work. Locked in a storage room, Evelyn hears the applause outside as Dennis awards the contract to Katherine and Dwayne's team.