A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 466

The day of the bidding arrived as scheduled. Everything seemed to go as planned until Lionel discovered something awry.

When he inserted his flash 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 flash drive?' he wondered. He remembered checking it in the computer 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.

"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 accepting defeat. He would have laughed 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 his company 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 had come now compared to Lionel filled him with joy.

He finally had his revenge. Now, Lionel could no longer compete 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 flash drive. Could she have something to do with the accident? It seemed impossible for the flash 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 a laughing 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 accountability.