Chapter 330
In an instant, everything clicked. Joseph had taken the photo and deliberately sent it to David, stripping away the last shred of her dignity.
"We need to get Mr. Foster to a hospital now," she urged the driver.
At the hospital, David was quickly tended to by the doctors and put on oxygen.
"You're his girlfriend, aren't you? I must caution you that a patient with one kidney less needs to avoid stress and maintain a healthy diet for longevity," the doctor advised. "We can only provide temporary relief; we can't solve the underlying issue."
"Thank you, doctor," Cassie said, expressing her gratitude until the doctor left.
In the hospital room, David was clutching his chest, coughing repeatedly. Cassie poured him a warm water and brought it to his lips.
He stiffened momentarily, took the glass, and looked at her with a complex, pained expression. "Did he force you?"
"I'm sorry," Cassie mumbled, unable to meet his gaze, feeling utterly ashamed. "If you had stayed confined any longer, your body wouldn’t have held up, and the company would have fallen apart."
In a sudden burst of anger, David smashed the glass onto the floor, his handsome face contorted with rage. "Joseph uses his status to bulldoze over everyone. It's just too much."
It was the first time Cassie had seen him this furious. Surrounded by the shattered glass, she didn't know what to do. "Please, don't do this. The doctor said you can't get worked up."
But David grabbed her hand firmly, taking deep breaths until his chest settled. "I know you're doing this for me. It's my fault for being useless. I won't blame you."
The grip on her hand was painfully intense.
Cassie understood his words didn't reflect his true feelings. No man would easily accept such a situation.
"David, let it go," she said with a rueful smile. "I'm tainted, unworthy of you. And as long as we're together, Joseph will keep suppressing you. Could you bear to see Wit Group collapse under your watch? Think about your parents. They're not young anymore; they want to live out their days peacefully."
"Why are you saying all this? Do you want to return to Joseph?" David suddenly looked up at her, his usually gentle and cultured face now dark and unreadable. "You never got over him. Only he can get you back into Leo's family and oust Vera and her daughter."
Surprised, Cassie felt a wave of disappointment. If she genuinely wanted to return to Joseph's side, she wouldn't have been pushed to the brink like this.
"So that's what you think of me..."
"I... I'm sorry," David faltered, cradling his head. "Cassie, please don't leave me. I wouldn't feel this despair if you'd never given me hope."
Seeing David's vulnerability, Cassie was filled with guilt. However, knowing Joseph's cruelty, she firmly said, "Staying with you only pushes you deeper into hell. You'll find someone better than me in the future."
"Don't push me away just yet. Let time take care of things," David pleaded with a bitter smile.
At this point, Cassie could only choose silence.
After the IV, she arranged for the driver to take David back to his villa.
"Where are you going?" David clutched her hand, unwilling to let her go.
Silence was her only response.
"Should we go after Joseph?" David's grip tightened uncontrollably.
A sharp intake of breath escaped her in pain, followed by a resigned tone. "David, please take care of the business at your company. We'll be in touch later."
The company...
After a painful gaze that lasted more than ten seconds, David slowly released his hold.
"Take care of yourself..." Cassie's voice trailed off with unwritten concern. She turned and walked away.
Chapter 331
David watched her retreating figure until a fierce coldness lit up in his eyes.
He clenched his fists tightly.
The anger that had been building was unleashed when he returned to the office, where he uncontrollably smashed everything in sight.
Suddenly, his phone rang.
It was an unknown caller. He snatched the phone irritably to his ear, only to be greeted by a man's low, mocking laughter. "Must hurt to have your fiancée sleep with another man."
"Who is this?" David's eyes narrowed, a chill running down his spine at the sound of that unfamiliar voice.
"I also know that you didn't lose your kidney. You used that pity ploy to deceive Cassie. You've known about her background all along. You thought you'd skyrocket to success by climbing aboard the Leo family."
"Shut up!" David couldn't hold back his roar for the first time, feeling fully exposed and terrified by such knowledge.
"I’m a person who can help you regain your honor." The voice on the other end was cold. "I can also make Wit Group the top enterprise in Madison and get you the woman you love—as long as you follow my lead in the future."
"What do you want?" David was puzzled.
"That, you don't need to know."
After a few seconds of thought, David nodded firmly, "Fine, I agree."
He was determined to rise above others and make Joseph taste the humiliation he was experiencing today.
On the phone screen, the once refined face warped into something more sinister and twisted.
-----
At five in the afternoon
A senior executive sat in his office, droning on about some overseas business to Joseph.
Walter knocked and entered with a slightly enigmatic expression. "Joseph, the vice chairwoman has returned and requests your presence upstairs."
The vice chairwoman, Mabel?
The executive gasped, his face a picture of shock. Mabel, who usually resided abroad with her husband, was so infrequently seen that many had almost forgotten her role as the vice chairperson of Hernandez Corporation. But why had she returned so suddenly? Could it be related to Liam?
As the executive covertly scrutinized Joseph's reaction, he encountered nothing but indifferent dismissal. "Tell her I'm busy and don't have the time."
Not daring to waste any more of his time, the executive excused himself.
Joseph stood up, ready to leave the office, when a striking woman burst in from the outside.
"If you're too busy to see me, let's see how you deal with my visit, Mr. CEO."
Mabel's eyes, resembling a phoenix's, blazed with fury. "You've grown too big for your britches. You’re not even considering my words anymore. I am still your mother."
"Mother?" Joseph's lips curled into a smirk at the word. "Oh dear Mother, why are you not with your maestro husband? What brings you to my doorstep?"
"You know exactly why I’m here," Mabel said impatiently. "Bring Liam back now. Country F is unstable. Do you want to get him killed?"
"Billions are living there, all well and alive. Is he so precious?" Joseph leaned back into the leather chair, arms crossed. "When I went to Africa for business amidst the epidemics and civil wars, I didn't see you this worried."
Mabel's gaze fell on the face that bore a resemblance to Cameron's, her demeanor icy. "Can you even be compared to him? You're indestructible, just like your father."
"Is that so?" Joseph tilted his head, his grin growing. "Well, you want him to compete with me for the Hernandez empire, don't you? Let him tough it out there then."
Chapter 332
After finishing his words, he grabbed his suit jacket, ready to leave.
"It seems you'd rather have him die there so no one could compete with you for Hernandez Corporation," Mabel remarked sharply.
Joseph paused mid-stride, then said, "Think what you will."
"Joseph, my biggest regret was having you. I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance."
Her voice trailed from behind.
Joseph stepped into the elevator.
Walter, careful not to disturb, observed Joseph's stoic expression, a calm before the storm. He knew too well the facade of tranquility that Joseph wore.
Every encounter with Mabel ended in an argument; they were like natural enemies.
Walter sighed internally. The lady of the house was far too biased.
The driver brought around the car, and Joseph got in.
In the vastness of New York, he felt there was nowhere to go.
He drove to his mansion.
Entering through the door, the spacious mansion was eerily silent. There was not even a soul in sight.
He immediately called Cassie. After a few rings, she rejected the call. He connected twice more, to no avail.
"Perfect," Joseph muttered, a predatory glint in his eyes.
--------
At the hotel
After hanging up, Cassie shivered suddenly.
Joseph wouldn't stoop to new lows, would he?
But after a long wait with no news from him, she ordered room service for dinner.
At seven in the evening, the door beeped and kicked open with force as she was preparing to eat.
Joseph strode in and slammed the door behind him.
"How did you get in?" Cassie jumped, startled.
"This hotel is an investment from my company," Joseph stated calmly as he tossed the room key onto a nearby surface and advanced toward her. "I thought you had enough of a lesson last night, but no."
His towering shadow loomed over her, and Cassie found the lurid grimace on his handsome face both terrifying and menacing. "I meant to leave, but then you had to send that kind of photo to David. What you did was out of line."
"Out of line?" Joseph let out a wry laugh. "I was generous by not sending him what you looked like last night."
"Shut up!" Cassie's face turned ghostly pale with humiliation.
"Or am I wrong? David's fiancée, yet you were clinging to me." His thin lips curled with some of the cruelest words. "You're just inherently cheap, too blind to see your faults, still wanting to stand on ceremony..."
Slap!
Cassie could bear no more, and her palm struck against his chiseled face.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she glared at him. Her red eyes were filled with loathing and rage. That very expression mirrored how Mabel had looked at her that afternoon.
A sharp pain pierced Joseph's heart.
"How dare you slap me?"
His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, taking on a devilish glow.
Cassie instinctively stepped back, murmuring, "Joseph, you can't treat me like this."
"Cassie, I won't show you an ounce of mercy again."
Years later, when Cassie reflected on that night, only one word described it: horror.
---
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