A Graduation Gift

Seeing Horace gasping for breath, Jill felt anxiety course through her body. Immediately, she stood up and started to stagger
towards him. She intended to comfort him in the manner she had often done in the past.
Watching her proceed closer, Horace croaked, "Stay there! Don't come close to me. Stay where you are if you do not want to get
kicked out!"
Even in this condition, he wanted to berate her. His face turned livid with anger.
Once she heard his words, Jill started to feel dejected. Her eyes blurred with tears. She couldn't stand to watch such pure hatred
coming from her husband.
"I don't want to talk to you nor do I want to see your face. I am tired of listening to your lame excuses. Feed your nonsense to
someone else because it won't work here anymore. Lastly, I am willing to take you back only if Rufus forgives you. Otherwise,
just sign the divorce statements and get the hell out of my house!"
As he spat out these heart-wrenching words, Horace meant each and every word of it. He was genuinely angry now. He felt like
he was going insane every time he thought about Rufus and the TY Group he had.
Horace had never regretted a decision this much. 'Why did I trust Lionel and Jill? Why did I make Lionel the president of Tang
Group? I must've been crazy when I did that!' Horace cursed himself, internally.
He turned his rage-filled eyes to a different direction and staggered into the study. With quivering hands, he took his pills and
then lay on the chaise lounge. He knew he had to calm himself down.
Thoughts of the man who had promised to invest in Tang Group entered his mind.
The man had assured Horace that as long as Amanda and Rufus were engaged, he would invest a large amount of money in
Tang Group. But now Horace couldn't do anything. This business had no chance of happening.
If it wasn't for Lionel then Rufus would never have left the Tang Group. Now he couldn't even turn to Rufus for help. And he was
certain that nothing he said would bring Rufus back.
Horace got chagrined by the current situation. On the other hand, the mother and the son were drowning in misery.
"Lionel, sooner or later, your father is going to kill us!"

Jill spat out anxiously. Not once had she thought her marriage would come down to this. They had lived together for more than
twenty years. Yet he didn't hesitate before asking for a divorce. She couldn't be more heartbroken.
"Calm down, Mother. Take it easy and don't fret. I'll see what I can do about this. I'll try to talk to Rufus. I am sure he will be of
some help," Lionel reasoned calmly.
At the moment, he had to maintain his composure. He wasn't crying like he had done earlier in his father's presence. In this dire
situation, he knew he had the responsibility to comfort his mother. However, in truth, he felt as clueless as his mother.
"What can he do for us? When he lived here, we weren't on good terms with him. We made no attempts to be nice to him nor did
he make an effort to be nice to us. I'm afraid he won't do anything for us. We can beg all we want, but he is not going to care. We
are doomed. It's too late!"
Jill said and began to sob.
Watching his grieving mother, sadness crept onto Lionel's heart. He knew his father wouldn't hesitate before kicking them out.
Suddenly, his mind went back to Ivy. He held her responsible for all that happened today. With determination, he made up his
mind to go after her. 'She is the root cause of all the trouble, ' he thought furiously.
"Take some rest, Mother. Don't talk to Father and worsen the situation. Just stay away from him until he calms down. Right now, I
am going out to deal with something important!"
With this, he stood up and left the house. His earlier emotions had subsided. Now there was a target in his mind to focus.
Ivy was relaxing and enjoying her time in the villa. She relished the place which Lionel had given to her. In her large living room,
she was swaying to the music while sipping wine from her glass. Suddenly, Lionel stormed into the house, interrupting her
peaceful moment.
"Ivy! You bitch!"
Lionel sprinted towards her with a face that was distorted in anger. Before Ivy could comprehend what was happening, he
extended his hands and seized her by her neck.
The glass in Ivy's hand dropped leaving a shattering noise. The wine spilled on the floor leaving scarlet stains on the expensive
carpet.
Lionel was like a demon. His fierce eyes dug into Ivy's face.

"Bitch! I got your brother out of jail. Is this how you repay me? You broke our agreement. Now my father is mad at me! Why don't
you burn in hell!?"
By now, Lionel had completely lost it. The sight of this woman repelled him. She had been with him for many years. She had
always taken advantage of him. His money was lavished by her. Besides, she smartly extorted a villa and a large amount of
money from him as the so-called break-up fee. And after everything, she had the audacity to ruin his family. His father threatened
to divorce his mother, thanks to what this woman had done. She was the sole reason for his downfall.
Blind with fury, Lionel tightened his grip on her neck. Ivy struggled and stretched her hands forward to push Lionel away. Her
long nails dug into his neck and it nearly bled. But Lionel was numb to all the pain. He wasn't willing to let go of her at any cost.
His eyes had turned red and were brimming with indignation. He continued on squeezing her throat.
By now, Ivy had given up on her fight. Her feeble hands couldn't do much anymore.
Just when this was happening, a man walked in. He screamed at this scene in front of him, "Ivy! Ivy!"
It was Joel, Ivy's brother. Seeing his sister writhing like a dying animal, he immediately ran to her rescue.
Lionel's focus was upon Ivy hence he didn't notice Joel's arrival. When Joel gave him a push, it came as a surprise and he
instantly fell down.
Finally, the air came back into Ivy's body. She began to breathe erratically.
She was consumed by sudden bursts of cough. Due to this, her eyes turned red. Then she glared at Lionel as if he was her
enemy. Indeed, now their earlier relationship had been forgotten.
If it hadn't been for Joel's arrival, he would have killed her.
"Are you a lunatic, Lionel? How dare you come to her house without her permission! It's forbidden according to the law!"
Joel spat out, glaring at Lionel. The red mark present on Ivy's neck scared Joel a great deal.
If he hadn't come in at the right time, his sister would probably be turning into a corpse.
"Her house? Maybe your sister didn't tell you this, but this is my house! It's natural for me to enter my own house. Don't talk to
me like I am a trespasser!"

Lionel stood up from the ground and began to straighten his suit elegantly. Now his manner had changed completely. He held no
resemblance to the man who had attacked Ivy a few minutes ago.
"You gave this house to her. So now this has become her house! Come on, Lionel. Don't think too highly of yourself just because
you have money. There are thousands of people richer than you. You need to stop flattering yourself!"
Joel was more eloquent than Ivy. He had been in the social jungle for many years and was particularly good at disguising
himself. He was always a low-profile employee in the company. No one would consider him to be a talkative person.
"Yes, sure. There are thousands of people richer than me. I am talking about money because that's all your greedy sister cares
about. She's stayed with me all these years for a luxurious life. You have no idea about the expensive lifestyle she led. I am sure
I wouldn't have had to spend this much even if I had a famous star as my mistress! Your sister is a wretched and ungrateful
woman. Do you know how did she repay me for everything I have given her? She betrayed me by leaking my secrets. Because
of your sister, my father is disappointed with me. Let me warn you this, Ivy. Next time you step outside, make sure to look left and
right. I'm just worried that you might be hit by a car. If that happens then this time it won't be your baby who will die!" Lionel said
with an indifferent look.
Hearing his cold threat, Ivy shuddered.
She realized it wasn't good to show him her weakness. With some effort, she gathered her courage and looked him straight into
his eyes.
"I admit that I stayed with you for money. But what are you talking about? Betrayal? How did I betray you? And what about the
secrets? Your words don't make sense!"
Ivy gave Lionel a puzzled look.
"Pretending, huh? Go ahead and continue your drama. You are a really excellent actress. But you can't fool me! I have realized
how wrong I was about you. As soon as I got your brother out of the jail, you went on and leaked the information which you
promised you would never tell anybody. How can you be so vicious? You won't be happy until I suffer, right?"
Once again, the thought of his father's furor entered his mind. Lionel couldn't hold back his displeasure. In the past, he had been
scolded several times by his father. Yet he had never raised his hand. But today, Horace had hit him. Even thinking about this
filled him with shame.
"I didn't do it!"

Ivy denied at once. She staggered to her feet with the help of Joel and stood in front of Lionel, face to face.
"Don't accuse me without a solid proof. I never informed anyone else about Rufus's true identity!"
Ivy coughed while stroking her neck. The red remark had now turned to black. It hurt her to speak.
"Huh! Proof? It spread from mouth to mouth. How can I gather evidence? I don't have any proof but I am certain you have done
it!"
Lionel firmly believed that Ivy was the one to blame. He would not trust her, no matter what she said to defend herself.
"You are being absurd, Lionel! What benefit would I get from leaking this information? Even now when you heard about it, the
first person that came to your mind was me. Under the circumstance, why would I do it? It would bring me nothing but trouble!"
Ivy glared at Lionel with her raging eyes. She realized why Lionel wasn't successful in anything. He was merely an impulsive
man who didn't have the ability to reason. 'Without knowing the culprit, he had the audacity to attack me!' she thought with
repulsion.
Ivy had stayed in a relationship with him only because she thought he was the sole son in the Tang family. Had she known that
there was another son, Rufus, who was difficult to deal with, she would have never picked this stupid man for herself.
Now Lionel contemplated over her words for a few seconds. Slowly, he realized Ivy had a point. She had nothing to gain from
this, hence she wouldn't risk it.
"If not you, then who could have done it?" he asked awkwardly.
At the moment, he was ashamed of acting so impulsively. He felt like an idiot when he understood Ivy had better reasoning skills
than him.