When he saw Cathy, Alex was speechless. Why did he bump into her everywhere he went? He and Debbie tried to change seats, but they found that all the other seats were already occupied. They had no choice but to sit with Cathy.
Debbie gently grabbed Alex's arm. She was still a little afraid of Cathy, so Alex comforted her in a soft voice.
Seeing the two of them being so intimate, Cathy felt even more annoyed. In the back of her mind, she thought that even though she had dumped Alex, he should still put her first. He shouldn't be all over this other woman in front of her.
"How did you two get in? This isn't the sort of place that would let you in," Cathy asked aggressively.
"You think you can steal Mr. Morgan's money and then get yourself invited to a banquet? You think it's that easy?" Billy asked sarcastically. "I think you're planning something else. Alex, which rich guy are you targeting now?"
Alex tried to ignore these two bullies. He didn't even look at them and only whispered to Debbie.
But Cathy continued, "Oh, these two losers snuck in. I'm going to tell everyone. I'll tell the host about it right now and have them kicked out." She was about to stand up, but Billy stopped her. They had only managed to get invited because of Cathy's connections, so he didn't want attention drawn to him.
When the others at the table heard Cathy shouting at Alex and Debbie, they asked her why she hated them so much.
She replied, "You're too funny. Why shouldn't I bear a grudge with someone like him? Don't we deserve to get our own back on him?" Cathy proudly explained to the others, "I just can't bear to see them acting like nothing's happened. Together, they stole 350 thousand dollars from our school's intern fund. You must agree that these two people are complete degenerates?"
When the others heard what she said, they started pointing their fingers at Alex and Debbie.
"Cathy, you've got to watch your tongue and stop spreading these lies about us." Alex had had enough. How could he enjoy his meal with Cathy making these accusations again?
Seeing that she was finally getting a reaction out of Alex, Cathy's anger grew. She shouted at him, "Wow! You stole 350 thousand dollars of the school's money. Why don't you just admit it? Why do you think you're better than everyone else? Everyone should know that you're a shameless thief who stole 350 thousand dollars and gave the money to this slut. You shameless bastard, Alex. I was just talking about you. What's wrong with you, you coward? You want to hit me now, don't you? If you're not too scared, why don't you just do it?"
Cathy arrogantly turned her face to Alex. She had guessed that he wouldn't want to hit her in front of everyone.
"You—" Alex wanted to slap her face, but Debbie stopped him. "Forget it. Just ignore her."
Alex nodded and suppressed his anger.
"You can't even stand up to a girl. What a coward," Cathy said, sneering at Alex. "If I was you, I'd be trying to think of a way to pay back that money. You two are such losers."
Cathy rolled her eyes and punched Alex viciously in the chest.
Alex couldn't take any more. He slapped Cathy hard on the face, knocking her to the ground. Billy quickly helped her up. Debbie held Alex's arms to prevent him from doing anything else to her.
Cathy started shouting that she was ready to fight with Alex, when Graham's voice came across the sound system, "I'd like to thank you all for coming. I've asked you all here at such short notice to let you know—"
When Cathy heard Graham's words, she stopped shouting and calmed down. It would be disrespectful to Graham if she continued making trouble while he was speaking.
Graham continued to speak and everyone listened politely. They understood Graham's position in the East Coast division and felt honoured to be invited.
However, when one of the managers realized that Graham was at the end of his speech and hadn't mentioned the young heir, he asked him, "Isn't this a special banquet for a young heir of the Ambrose family? I think we're all very keen to meet that important young man." How could they not want to meet that noble young gentleman that Graham valued so much?
Other guests agreed. "That's right."
"Yes, do introduce young Mr. Ambrose," another called out.
"We all want to meet the young man."
**
Graham, who was on the stage, looked at Alex. His gaze was warm and encouraging.
Alex just gave him a meaningful glance.
Graham announced, "I understand that everyone wants to meet Mr. Ambrose, and I will pass that message to him. Unfortunately, the young man is busy right now. He did just come to the banquet hall, and he was extremely pleased to see how many people were here, but he's already had to leave."
In the silence, when Graham had finished speaking, everyone heard a groaning voice from one of the tables.
"Stupid loser," Cathy grumbled. Billy was trying to placate her. Cathy cursed Alex as her anger grew. Perhaps she couldn't blame everything on Alex, but she felt if he had not been there, somehow, she might have met the mysterious Ambrose heir. Alex was like a jinx.
"All right, in order to make up for everyone's disappointment, we're going to have a lottery. Anyone here could win," Graham announced loudly.
He explained the rules to everyone.
Each guest had their seat number. Shortly, the screen would display some random numbers, and whoever's number appeared would win a prize.
With Graham being a senior manager in the company, the rewards were, of course, expensive and desirable. The least valuable rewards were an Apple XS phone and an emerald bracelet worth 50 thousand dollars. The best prize was a diamond necklace worth 200 thousand dollars.
Graham had his assistant show, everyone, the necklace. It was sparkling and indescribably beautiful. The eyes of everyone present, especially the women, lit up.
Although she knew that her chances were slim, Cathy still had a glimmer of hope in her heart that she would win this diamond necklace.
Fifteen minutes later, all the prizes except the diamond necklace had been given out.
Many of the guests had won prizes, including Cathy, who had won an emerald bracelet. However, she wasn't satisfied with her prize. Although the bracelet was pretty, it was worthless in comparison to the diamond necklace that she had set her heart on.
However, when she looked at Alex and Debbie, who hadn't won anything at all, she felt much better. She fiddled with the emerald bracelet on her arm and nonchalantly said, "This bracelet is really beautiful. I'm sure people will be jealous."
Debbie looked at Alex. He smiled and comforted her, "It's all right. That bracelet looks like it belongs to an old spinster."
"You—" Cathy choked on Alex's words. She looked at the bracelet and thought that it did look like an old lady's bracelet. She took it off.
On the stage, they were already drawing the final prize. The numbers were rolling onto the screen.
[Seven.] The first number came out. It was table number seven—Alex's table.
All the guests at this table became excited, especially Cathy. If she could get this diamond necklace, she would be ecstatic. It was worth over 200 thousand dollars.
Plus, then she would have won two prizes, and when she came on stage, she would hint to her boss that she was a lucky charm who could help the company make a fortune.
Just as Cathy's imagination was running away with her, the second number appeared.
[One.] At the same time, the third number began to scroll.
There were twelve people at each table, and the second number was one, which meant that the winner would be either ten, eleven, or twelve.
Alex was ten.
Cathy was twelve.
Cathy's excitement increased. She felt the shining necklace beckoning to her, and she saw that all eyes were focused on the three of them.
"It's me, it's me, it's me" Cathy muttered under her breath as if she was trying to control the numbers with her mind.
But on the outside, she pretended not to care because she knew that everyone was looking at her.
The numbers started to slow down and Cathy's hands were entwined.
The numbers were getting slower and slower.
[Two.] It was Cathy.
She stood up excitedly. Billy also stood up. The two of them embraced. After hugging for a while, Cathy wanted to say a few polite words to the other guests.
But then her eyes were pulled to the big screen again. To her horror, the number didn't stop there, but it continued to scroll.
The [two] disappeared and a [zero] appeared.
Cathy's heart plunged. It's Alex's fault, she thought. Why did the numbers change again?
"One more time, one more time," Cathy urged under her breath. If the number jumped to [one], Billy would win the prize. He'll give the diamond necklace to me, Cathy thought joyfully.
However, the numbers on the screen did not scroll. They clearly showed [710], which was Alex's seat number.
Cathy's heart turned to stone. Alex had won the prize. She looked at Alex slowly with a gaze full of hatred. She wanted to kill him.
Billy pulled Cathy to her seat. He felt ashamed of her behaviour.
Of course, Alex was now the centre of attention.
Graham smiled happily and said to Alex, "This young man has all the luck. Please come on stage to receive your prize now."
The others looked at Alex with envy.
Alex guessed that Graham was probably responsible, but he could only smile. Since he had already won the prize, so be it. He had not given Debbie anything really impressive yet, and this diamond necklace was stunning.
"Come on, let's go over." Alex held Debbie's hand, and they walked toward the stage.
Cathy's eyes were filled with a cold gleam. She should be the one walking toward the stage. She was sure that the two of them had somehow changed the numbers and stolen their diamond necklace.
"Nice to meet you, young man. Congratulations." Graham shook Alex's hand and smiled. Alex also noticed a hint of flattery in his eyes.
Graham prepared to give Alex the diamond necklace.
"Mr. Stirling, you haven't introduced this handsome guy to us yet," a confident woman said from her seat, in a loud voice. The other guests also started to call out to him.
"Um—" said Graham, knowing that Alex wanted to keep a low profile. He glanced at Alex, who was looking at him calmly, waiting to see what he would do. Graham had an idea and announced to the guests, "This is Adam Childs. Adam is young and has certainly had good luck today."
Luckily, Graham remembered the name that Alex had used when he had arrived. When he saw Alex relax, he felt relieved.
Graham was about to give Alex the diamond necklace.
"Adam Childs? You liar," Cathy shouted as she stood up and looked at him with a cold glare. "Don't believe him, he's not Adam Childs. His name is Alex, and he's a stinking loser from Preston University. And he's the thief who stole 350 thousand from the school."