A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 431

Rufus frowned and looked at her, confused.

"Who are you waiting for?" he asked.

Cassandra pulled her collar up subconsciously. She didn't seem to be bothered by the wound on her neck. As the collar could not hide it completely, she tucked her neck a bit as she avoided Rufus's touch.

"There's another guy who is interested in the studio. I need to wait for him so I could show him around..." Cassandra replied.

She wanted to make sure that everything was settled for Lyndsy as soon as possible. That way, she could concentrate more on the shoot and her plastic surgery treatment abroad. Suddenly, Rufus interrupted her before she could even finish her words.

"It's me. Let's go. I'll send someone to sign the sale and purchase agreement with you,"

he said, feeling relaxed now. He initially thought that Cassandra just downright rejected him. As it turned out, she only wanted to make sure that the office sale was taken care of as soon as possible.

"What? It's you?!"

Cassandra's eyes widened as she looked at him in surprise.

"I didn't expect Amanda to get here before I did. Otherwise, you would not have been hurt," he replied ignoring her expression.

Her reaction satisfied Rufus very much. A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Why do you buy this place? What are you going to do with it?"

Cassandra asked with furrowed brows.

"You will know it when it's time," he replied simply.

He did not want to tell her his plan just yet. He wanted it to be a surprise.

Cassandra looked at him with suspicion. In the long time that she had known him, she still found it difficult to read him sometimes.

Rufus smiled and held her in his arms. Then, he put his chin on her head and smelled her hair.

"I didn't know that my hesitation would cause you pain until today when I saw what she did to you. I'm sorry," he apologized.

There was guilt in his voice. His heart ached seeing the scratch marks on her fair neck.

Still, Cassandra remained sorrowful despite his words.

'You hurt me a long time ago, Rufus. You just didn't know it.

The wounds on my body are visible. But what about the wound in my heart? You can't see it nor feel it. You know nothing about my pain, ' she thought.

Rufus had expected that she would react positively to his apology. However, she only lowered her head. She didn't even say anything. In her eyes were sadness and loneliness.

His heart stung. She was very strong-willed and did not yield easily. But now, her pained eyes and expression made his heart ache. She looked so vulnerable.

He reached out and pressed her into his chest even more tightly.

"Let's leave this city. Okay? Leave with me, my darling," he whispered.

The longer they stayed in G City, the more uneasy he felt. There was so much danger and he did not want to leave Cassandra in this terrible place.

"I can't leave with you now,"

Cassandra said as she tried to push him away but failed. Rufus was determined to keep her close. He would not let her go that easily.

"Why?" he asked.

Sometimes, he found it difficult to understand Cassandra. No matter how honest he got with her, she still felt so distant. He couldn't feel her heart the way he did before. What had happened between them? How did it get to this?

"You made a mistake. If you leave without making up for it, my heart would never be at peace,"

Cassandra spoke with a low yet determined voice.

"Are you talking about the Tang family? Huh! Even if I didn't come back to the Tang family, Lionel still would have perished in the war with Arthur!" he argued.

Rufus knew that Lionel was a fool when it came to business. He had no contingency plans whenever he deployed business strategies against the Dawn Star Group. Even without him, Rufus was sure that Lionel was going to lead the Tang Group to its fall.

"But if you didn't borrow money from the bank to expand Tang Group, things would be different. At least, Lionel would not be so helpless in dealing with the loan,"

Cassandra answered back. She was not a fool. When Rufus applied for loans from the bank to expand the company, everyone thought he did so to gain a bigger share of the market. It was only now that Cassandra realized his true intention. He did that to bury the company in debt and leave Lionel to deal with it.

Rufus distanced himself from the crisis but what he did was fatal.

Breaking the Tang Group's cash flow would give rise to several other problems. Its state would worsen until it went bankrupt. That was the domino effect that Rufus instigated.

"Why do you always defend them, Cassandra? I don't get it."

"How will I do that? In Rufus's eyes, she's perfect no matter what she does,"

Amanda replied, sobbing spitefully.

"No matter how perfect she is, a woman would be worth nothing if she were to act dubiously,"

Ivy said with suspense.

Immediately, Amanda stopped crying as she processed what Ivy said.

Dubious behaviors? Cassandra was living with Clark right now. Still, she would never associate her with Clark. What else could she do?

"I've got a plan. She and Lionel have met several times. Lionel seems to still have feelings for her,"

Ivy shared her information. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice.

Amanda's eyes immediately lit up.

Indeed, she did not want to offend Clark, but there was another man too: Lionel!

"But...how do we make them meet and stay together?"

Amanda murmured. She could not yet imagine how their plan would be carried out and her brain was not yet functioning very well as she was still occupied with what happened with Rufus.

"The Tang Group is a mess now. Horace came to Rufus asking for help but Rufus refused him. The stress sent Horace to the hospital. Also, news about Horace's affairs in his younger years are all over the media. With all those happening, the Tang Group is in dangerous waters. Even if I were in Lionel's place, I would definitely ask for Cassandra's help to persuade Rufus into helping the company out,"

Ivy deduced confidently to lure Amanda into her plan.

"So are you telling me I could ask Lionel out, pretending to be Cassandra?"

Amanda was a clever woman. It did not take her long, despite her grief, to understand what Ivy was insinuating.

"You are smart, Amanda. I'm sure you'll do better than me,"

Ivy agreed. Right when Amanda finally understood what she was saying, Ivy distanced herself and left Amanda alone with her plan.

Amanda didn't suspect her, though. All she thought about at the moment was how to expose and defeat Cassandra. Ivy's reactions were the last things on her mind right now.

The war of these women would go on until their dying days.