Chapter 466 You Should Get Out Now
The day of the bidding arrived as scheduled. Everything seemed to go as nned until Lionel
discovered something awry.
When he inserted his sh drive to upload his presentation, a notification appeared saying that there
were no files that could be found. Confused, he removed and plugged it in again. The same message
window appeared. All his files were gone!
Of course, this was no time to troubleshoot. Anxiously, he walked down the stage, found his secretary,
and asked her to fetch a backup disk. To his surprise, it also failed to read anything.
Several minutes passed and Lionel still could not begin his presentation. The audience began to
murmur and the project director frowned in dismay.
Beads of sweat started to form in Lionel''s forehead. Embarrassed, he mumbled an apology to the
awaiting public. He felt like an ant in a hot pot.
''What happened to my sh drive?'' he wondered. He remembered checking it in theputer
yesterday and not encountering any issue. How could he have anticipated something like this to
happen at such a critical moment? What was more, what was he to do to fix this?
Suddenly, he remembered that the same thing happened to Cassandra at another bidding. Still, she
managed to push through with her presentation. Lionel doubted he could pull off the same stunt.
Left with no other choice, however, he had to make do. Without his notes, he started his presentation.
Stumbling over his words once in a while, he soon finished presenting all the pieces of information he
could remember. Nervously, he scanned his audience and spotted the project director''s face. He did
not seem pleased. Then and there, Lionel knew he was done.
As he was stepping down the stage, he met eyes with Arthur who was now about to present next.Property ? 2024 N0(v)elDrama.Org.
"Thank you, Mr. Tang, for making this easier for me,"
he said in a low voice with a smirk on his face. This made Lionel as enraged as he was embarrassed.
Out of words, he stared at Arthur who then responded with a meaningful smile.
Restraining himself, Lionel continued to proceed to his seat. His secretary could not seem to look at
him, possibly scared of his reprimand. Nervously, she sat, half expecting her boss to scold her anytime.
Arthur delivered his presentation smoothly and confidently. It was a stark contrast to Lionel''s awkward
and seemingly unprepared performance.
It was clear that the Dawn Star Group would win the bid. Realizing this, Lionel decided that he no
longer had business staying. Void of hope, he left even before the bidding finished.
Seeing this, Arthur smirked as he was presenting. Satisfaction filled him when he saw his opponent
epting defeat. He would haveughed out loud if he were not in the middle of a business
presentation.
Arthur beamed as he descended the stage. Victory felt certain. Now, all he had to do was just sit and
wait.
Still, a part of him no longer needed the confirmation. With Lionel''s bad performance, the Tang Group
did not stand a chance. He was certain that hispany would emerge as the winner.
He remembered all the humiliation he felt because of Lionel as he was growing up. Looking at how far
he hade nowpared to Lionel filled him with joy.
He finally had his revenge. Now, Lionel could no longerpete with him.
The Tang Group was doomed to lose this deal.
Lionel, on the other hand, drove aimlessly. He did not really know where he wanted to go. He couldn''t
go to the office as he was not ready to face his colleagues after the mess he made.
He couldn''t really go home either. His parents were counting on him to win the bidding. After what
happened, he did not know how he would even begin to tell them.
Jill, his mother, told him that she went down on her knees just to ask Cassandra for her help.
Thinking about how his proud mother humbled herself and begged for the sake of the Tang Group gave
Lionel mixed feelings.
Suddenly, he realized something... It was Cassandra who gave him the sh drive. Could she have
something to do with the ident? It seemed impossible for the sh drive to suddenly malfunction for
no reason.
He took out the disk and examined it. The thought gave him chills down his spine.
It felt unlikely that Cassandra would have deliberately damaged the disk to make him aughing stock
at the bidding.
But if that were true, then that would make Cassandra a very evil person that deserved to be punished.
Lionel decided that it was best to look into his suspicions. He did not want to jump into conclusions
without due diligence. In the same way, he was not about to let someone who crossed him go on
without taking ountability.
He decided to approach a friend of his who was an expert onputers and give the sh drive to him
for inspection.
To his surprise, his friend reported that it had a virus that deleted all its files automatically at set times.
The source code was there. His friend managed to find it.
"It''s very destructive and irreversible. The person who installed this must really hate you! Do you still
remember where you got this disk? I hope you can find this person," his friend said.
The findings shocked Lionel. He did not know how to feel. After a few minutes of processing his
thoughts, he instructed his friend, "Don''t tell anyone about this. I would like to deal with this myself."
No one was supposed to know that he knew about the sabotage, so he wanted to be clear that his
friend understood this as well.
Furiously, Lionel drove to the Garden Vi. He knocked at the gate forcefully and shouted, "Cassandra!
Get out! Come here, now!"
Cassandra peeked out, unhappy with the scene Lionel was creating. Irritated, she approached.
He shook the gate frantically and was clearly enraged. Yet, Cassandra had no idea what was going on.
She was considered whether she should open the door or not. She no longer feared this upsetting
man. His feelings no longer meant anything to her.
Then again, they were now in Rufus''s house. Surely, Lionel would not do anything to hurt her under his
roof. Realizing that, she decided to open the gate and hear him out.
Lionel rushed in immediately and yelled, "Look, Cassandra, I know you hate me but I did not expect
this kind of behavior from you. ying tricks behind my back? I never expected you to go so low! You
can refuse to help me, sure. That''s your choice. But making sure I was embarrassed at the bidding?
That''s low!"
With that, he tossed the disk at Cassandra. It happened so quickly that Cassandra failed to make any
response. The disk hit her face and a shallow cut appeared because of the sh drive''s metal edge.
Cassandra instinctively covered the painful injury on her cheek and yelled back, "What the hell is wrong
with you, Lionel? If you want to go crazy, get out of my house!"
He was behaving like a madman—so rude and frantic. Still, this did not frighten Cassandra. She stood
her ground and called him out.
"Oh, Cassandra, cut it out. Stop ying innocent. You think I don''t know? You promised my parents
that you''d help me, but in reality, you set me up! Did you know how I felt when I found out that the sh
drive you gave me was broken during the bidding? Do you know how many people attended and how
important this bidding was to ourpany? The Tang Group was aughing stock and this was all your
fault!"
Lionel yelled furiously, pointing a finger at Cassandra''s face.
"I could have at leastpleted the original tender. This would have been enough for me. I would have
epted defeat gracefully if that were the case. How dare you install a virus to ruin all my files. You
even destroyed my backup disk! How could you?"
Lionel went on and on ming everything on Cassandra
who stood listening, looking very confused. Perplexed, she asked, "What are you talking about? I
destroyed your sh drive? Are you kidding? I worked day and night to revise your design. I even
dropped most of my work to help you. I had to leave my business to Rufus in the time being. And this is
how you thank me? By making unfounded usations?"
She looked at Lionel with utter disbelief. Oh, how she wished she could read his mind at that very
moment just so she could understand his train of thought. How could a man be so dumb but so sure of
himself?
The mention of Rufus made Lionel even more furious.
"Oh,e on, stop that! Stop acting. I already know, okay? Instead of helping us, Rufus chose to stand
on the sidelines and watch us crumble and drown. Still, after what my father did to him, I can''t really
me him for feeling like that about the Tang Group. As for you, though, I trusted you! You were my ex-
wife! You used to be part of our family! Then again, you were kicked out. I should not have trusted you!
You probably want to help Rufus destroy our future! How could I not have seen that before? I will never
forget this! I will never forget! You, Cassandra, are an evil woman!"
Cassandra''s face turned pale at Lionel''s words.
"Lionel, I would suggest that you keep your mouth shut if you don''t have proof about the things you are
saying right now. Believe it or not, I did not do anything of the sort. Your parents came to me and
begged for my help and I did what I could. Your family owes me. Now, you totally discredit my work and
my effort. If you have a problem with me, please ask your parents to confront me and present me with
pieces of evidence on why they''re pinning all these on me. As for you, I never want to see your face
again. You should get out now!"
Cassandra said as she pointed a trembling finger towards the gate. As if wiping away the remaining
warmth of the room, the cold wind blew through the open door.
But nothing—not the wind nor the look on Lionel''s face—was colder than Cassandra''s heart.
"You''re asking me to get out? Aha, who do you think you are? Are you the owner of this vi? You''re
just Rufus''s pet and you can be kicked out anytime. Cassandra, let me tell you: you are nothing. I look
down on you and you are not worth anything!"
Lionel said, mustering all the hurtful words he could think of to insult Cassandra, totally forgetting he
had begged sincerely for her help.