A Graduation Gift

Cassandra was already asleep when Rufus drove her home.

As gently as he could without waking her up, Rufus scooped her into his arms and carried her out of the car. Half-awake, Cassandra got a glimpse of his face as he carried her before letting the drowsiness take over her.

In his arms, she had nothing to fear. Knowing that Rufus was with her as she fell asleep, she felt utterly secure.

As he felt her breathing turn slow and steady, Rufus gazed upon the little woman's sleeping face and smiled.

Even as he helped her out of her coat and tucked her into bed, Cassandra stayed sound asleep.

For a moment before he left, Rufus stayed to make sure she was comfortably fast asleep, a soft look in his eyes. Sure not to make a sound, he cautiously stepped out of the room before heading to his study downstairs and giving Victor a call.

"I found a few bugs in the lobby of the Qin family mansion and cleared them. They must've been from Arthur. Did you find anything?" Rufus's expression and tone were rather grim.

It seemed that his neighbor dared to monitor the Qin family for some ambitious plan.

"Recently the Dawn Star Group and Tang Group are both bidding for an important project. The Tang Group is betting everything this time. If they fail, it'll be the end of the company. No bank will bother loaning them anything because they'll have no means to pay their debts. If they're prosecuted, they'll go bankrupt,"

Victor just reported to Rufus the most recent status of Tang Group. With that, Rufus's dream of the downfall of the Tang Group was finally coming close to reality.

"Plus, Mr. Tang has been looking for you. He said that you haven't been picking up his calls so he found and asked me to arrange a meeting with you."

Upon hearing Horace's request, Rufus sneered, "He's been making phone calls to find me? Doesn't seem like anything urgent."

Of course, he wouldn't pick up Horace's calls. Since the day he left Tang Group, he had decided that he wasn't going to help Horace no matter how hard he pleaded.

Even when Charlie asked Horace to hold the fake engagement ceremony, Rufus didn't even bother to speak with him.

"It must be about the bidding event. Dawn Star is their most powerful rival, after all."

Victor's tone turned unusually strange when he said it. The change was subtle but still detectable to Rufus.

"What exactly…did he say to you?"

Rufus asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

"He…

He was worried that you wouldn't be there if he came," Victor responded.

He remembered how worried and anxious Horace was when he came to him. Seeing such a pitiful look on the old man's face, Victor couldn't help but feel sympathetic.

"Mr. Luo…

them this time?" Victor carefully suggested. Unsurprisingly, it took no time for Rufus to refuse, "No!

as ice after

Tang, he seemed terribly sick. I think… I think it really struck

give Horace the benefit of the doubt, Rufus cut him off

really wish to help him, you're free to go! Go ahead! Go back to the Tang

irritated Rufus to the bone. How could Victor, who had been loyal to him all the while, start sounding

the other end of the line, Victor instantly shut

was angry,

to you?"

with Mrs. Tang," Victor instantly replied,

that point, he was afraid that even a moment's hesitation would fuel Rufus's fury.

to keep an eye on Clark and Arthur. You shouldn't be concerned about

hung up the phone rather aggressively. Unease

out Victor instead of me. At least he knew that he wouldn't get anything out of me. Smart

things up to the last minute? Why didn't you do it right from the start?' Rufus thought to

more, instead of buying totally what Lionel had said, Rufus

phrase, 'blood is thicker than water, ' was merely an empty set of words to him now. Between Rufus and

wanted Horace to taste regret. He wanted him to know, that how disastrous his

was his doing and now, it was time for him to pay the price. He had it coming!

wasn't feeling as contented as he imagined he would be. He had successfully

seem to come to him. It was a long time waiting for the end of the Tang Group. He had been craving for it. Why wasn't he

enough, Rufus felt rather down.

closed his eyes, he pulled out the tiny bugs from his

in his hand, leaving just

Arthur was surely going to be in the Qin family mansion and he would

he would suspect Rufus

certain that Arthur had his motives for approaching Cloris, Rufus still couldn't decipher what

a kind of war

next day, Cassandra was awakened by the ringing of a bell from downstairs. Abruptly, she

shouted out his name but there

noticed a

have something to do. Breakfast is in the

Otherwise, he would've taken care of

her messy hair, changed into decent clothes before heading to the door, only to discover that it was Horace on

would he visit