A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 144

"Amanda Ke…"

It sounded familiar to Horace as he repeated the name, but he found himself at a loss in pinpointing it to an actual face.

"Ah, you might know her? She is a world-famous female pianist. She had a performance in a concert in G City not long ago,"

The man smiled and reminded Horace after sensing his confusion.

The name clicked into place at the man's remark. Horace remembered a concert in G City recently. The performers and singers were all from abroad; and major real estate developers in G City, including the Tang Group, sponsored the event.

Amanda Ke's piano performance was the grand finale. The next day, her name poured out from almost all the headlines of newspapers and social media posts. There was an overwhelmingly unanimous verdict— her performance was praised in words as an 'unprecedented success.'

With the turn of time, living conditions had been steadily improving in the city; and more and more people were gaining new appreciation for the arts. The government of G City was planning to build a new theatre in the newly-constructed tourism industrial area in order to host more performances from different artists in the future.

As for the TY Group, they took advantage of this opportunity by holding a concert for Amanda, and was well-received by the public. The tickets almost sold out only hours after the performance had been announced.

Horace didn't pay a lot of attention to this in the beginning, so it took him some time to recall the name, and all he knew was that she was an excellent pianist.

"I barely know her. How can I let Rufus and her be together?" he hesitated.

It would be strange to set Rufus up with a woman whom he didn't know at all. The very idea was ridiculous.

The man chuckled at his response and said, "I will connect you with Amanda. You can rest assured that she would be agreeable to a marriage with Rufus."

He sounded confident, his laugh was loud and had an odd ring to it.

"Are they old friends? Then… what about our business agreement?"

Horace asked, his mind on the negotiations for the investment.

"When Amanda and Rufus decide to marry, I will put the money into the Tang Group's account. Money isn't a problem. Name your price, and we'll be sure to match it," the man answered nonchalantly.

He didn't seem to care about the money. From the way he spoke, it was as if the marriage between Rufus and Amanda was the only thing he had in mind.

Horace weighed the situation. After some deliberation, he had arrived at a decision.

"Alright. I agree to your terms. I look forward to the success of this cooperation," he declared.

The man hung up. Horace found himself still listening to the busy tone from the other end. The reality of the conversation had not yet completely sunk in, and he was caught off guard from the abruptness of what had just happened.

This investor came from a famous venture capital firm. A colleague had once mentioned to Horace that the company was known for its risk-taking strategies. The riskier an investment was, the more willing they were to invest. It seemed that they had a lot of confidence.

As a family business, the Tang Group had gone through a long line of ups and downs. Since the establishment of the company, they had had to make a lot of changes and sacrifices, climbing their way to be one of the greatest companies in G City today. They had a steady foundation with their long history in the business; but if they wanted to grow, they needed something else, especially funds.

Now this seemed to be their best option as the Tang group needed their backing and investment.

The company held a large amount of free cash flow in their hands, and was willing to invest in the Tang Group on the condition of the marriage between Rufus and Amanda. Horace found himself unable to see a logical explanation for this.

Four years ago, he had done the same thing. He arranged for Lionel to marry Cassandra, but that decision ended tragically. And his grandchild…wasn't even able to make it to this world. Now, he was asked once again to marry a son to a stranger. There was a heavy reluctance tugging at him with this decision.

But the man's words implied that they should let nature take its course between Rufus and Amanda. And so, technically speaking, if things went well, Horace would not be the one who arranged the marriage.

He knew what kind of person Rufus was. He wasn't Lionel. In fact, he seemed to be an opposite of his half-brother. Rufus wouldn't be as submissive as Lionel, if he set him up with Amanda.

With the gears in his head turning, Horace decided to check up on Amanda's background first. As the saying goes, know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. He pored his eyes over the computer as he searched her name.

Meanwhile, in a presidential suite at a five-star hotel in G City, Amanda threw a file on the desk. She was seething with disdain.

"A divorced woman!" she spat.

Amanda honestly thought that Cassandra might come from some family with a big name. She had to be someone with an esteemed background, from the way Rufus behaved around her. It turned out that she was just an ordinary woman with a failed marriage. To top everything off, she was the ex-wife of Rufus's brother!

Amanda looked at Cassandra's resume carefully. In all fairness, she did win many competitions since her university days. However, her achievements were a speck of dust compared to Amanda's tower of successes.

She raised the wine glass to her lips, emptying the contents. It was an excellent wine with a warm, thick taste.

Despite this, the drink did nothing to cool her temper. She gripped the glass as she thought of the other woman on the file. Cassandra was probably some second-class bitch who could only resort to dirty tricks to seduce her brother-in-law. A woman such as her would never deserve Rufus in a million years; and Rufus...he must have been blinded by her wiles. Otherwise, what other explanation would there be for his attachment to her? It made no sense.

Cassandra, majored in design at Sapienza University in Rome. Upon finishing her studies, she was employed directly by the Tang Group and was given the position of manager in the design department. Then, she and Lionel got a divorce due to family disputes. She left the Tang family without taking any money.

The file covered almost every aspect of Cassandra's life down to the minutest detail, as if she had been placed under a magnifying glass. But Amanda wanted to know more. She wanted to dissect her if possible. She decided that Lionel Tang, Cassandra's ex-husband, would be a good start.

Pouring herself another glass of wine, she looked at the photo of Lionel and Ivy. It was dated two years ago.

Amanda traced the timeline in her head. Two years ago, Cassandra would have still been in Rome, and Lionel was already seeing Ivy, which meant that Cassandra was not the person he loved. It was the other woman, Ivy.

There were something strange about the date of Ivy's case history. Three days after Ivy's miscarriage, Lionel and Cassandra filed for a divorce. There must be some connection between the two events.

She downed another glass of wine as a thought struck her. The only possibility that she could think of was that Cassandra was the reason why Ivy had miscarried, and Lionel couldn't put up with it so he and Cassandra got a divorce. Another thing was that the terms in the divorce agreement were not to her advantage at all.

According to one article, Cassandra was banned from working as a designer in the same industry in the coming two years. That would definitely cause a huge blow to her career.

At her age, she did not have enough base to stand on to make it on her own. Such a young designer needed backing and recommendation to gain enough experiences in order to establish a name and build up a career. And the industry was not kind. It had always been a cut-throat competition. While it was true that some designers managed to became famous after slow and constant effort, success came at a later age to them. As for Cassandra, she just won the American architecture competition, which would have been a great stepping stone to infiltrate the international market. However, she let the chance slip by for her divorce.

Amanda's lips curled into a satisfied smile. She felt as if she had already defeated Cassandra when she had just barely begun.

Lionel had been very annoyed since he came to work. He kept pacing back and forth in the office. He felt stifled, and grabbed his tie to pull it down to give himself more space to breathe, however it still didn't help calm his temper.

When he arrived at the company, Lionel saw Cassandra in the elevator, with some of her colleagues.

He found himself pacing to the elevator, but he stopped at the last moment upon realizing that he and Cassandra had nothing to do with each other now after the divorce. He wasn't supposed to have any form of contact with her.

Lionel stepped back and watched the elevator close, his mind drifting with thoughts.

Five years. Cassandra had been his wife for five years. How come she was so far away from him all of a sudden?

He could still remember the way she struggled when he tried to kiss her. Her eyes were blown wide and the color was drained from her face. She seemed to have been very scared back then, and Lionel felt remorse creep in his chest.

He could still see Cassandra in the Tang Group for now, but she would be resigning and leaving the company as soon as she finished the project with the amusement park. What did she plan to do after that?

Horace had decided to let go of Vernon's company. Lionel didn't have any say on the matter even if he owned some shares in the Qin Group. In a short while, those shares would inevitably be sold; and after that, the last of his connection to Cassandra would also disappear. She was no longer his wife, and not even a business partner. It would be as if she never existed in his life.

Lionel felt annoyed at the thought that Cassandra had to support the Qin Group on her own in the future and there was nothing he could do to help her.

This mood lasted for the whole morning, until a woman came to visit him.

"Mr. Tang, the pianist Amanda Ke has called for you. She said that she has an invitation to deliver in person."

Lionel was taken aback by his secretary's words. 'Amanda Ke? The pianist? Why would she want to see me?' he wondered to himself.

Despite his surprise, he asked the secretary to bring her to his office.

Amanda greeted him, invitation in her hand.

"Hello, Mr. Tang. I apologize for the unannounced visit, but I would like to invite you to my concert on Lantern Festival. I look forward to seeing you there."

She held out the invitation to him and smiled sweetly.

Amanda was a beautiful woman. Lionel felt calmer at the sight of her. He had always liked attractive women, and there was one standing in front of him now.

He returned her smile with one of his own and reached for the card. "Thank you, Miss Ke. It would be my pleasure to go and see your performance. The Tang Group had just been thinking about sponsoring the concert, but the TY Group was faster. What a pity!" he said, seeming regretful.

Lying came easily to Lionel. The Tang Group had never talked about any sponsorship for concerts, but what he said just now was the perfect response. Not only did his words compliment Amanda, but his words gave an air of sincerity to his answer.

Still, Amanda was no fool. She knew that Lionel was lying.

'Such a foolish man. No wonder Cassandra chose Rufus.' Amanda mocked him in her head, but her sweet smile never faltered.