Free Web NovelChapter 418: More Struggles
Ciel’s mouth was hanging open, speechless
Thiago pressed his mouth together, trying not to show a smile.
Iris blinked and then turned to Chronos, who was hiding a lopsided grin behind his blanket.
On the couch, Sarah covered her mouth with one hand. Her shoulders were shaking. She was trying very, very hard not to laugh because her sister was the one getting roasted.
"You’re making things up," Lilianna hissed, her breath had gone shallow.
She knew that she was fighting a losing game, but she didn’t want to lose.
"Am I?" Neville said gently.
Neville reached forward and tapped on his own holographic screen. He showed them what it was like to really get into work and hack this piece of high-tech metal table.
The shuffler’s holographic interface blinked twice. It was screen-shared with all the holographic interfaces within the table and within the room.
The display blossomed into a translucent cascade of data. It showed a complete activity log of every shuffle and every deal.
Including every anomalous pattern the machine had detected and quietly corrected over the course of the game during this evening.
He didn’t need Shelly for this simple check anymore. Roaming around doing this and that for the company made him learn a thing or two to shorten his time doing his work.
He proved that rising up the ranks this fast was not because he was with Grayson, albeit a fake boyfriend. But because he was capable of doing things in his own little way.
Everything was perfectly documented, presented as clearly as possible so that even someone with no understanding of the game could probably understand what had happened.
Lilianna stared at it, her expression quickly changing several times.
"You... you set me up." She uttered breathlessly.
No apology.
No remorse.
No acknowledgment of her mistakes.
Only the tone of someone so outraged that she could barely hold on.
"You knew this whole time."
She continued, her voice climbing in pitch, each word sharper and more brittle than the last.
"And you let me keep going... just so... you could humiliate me like this?!"
Neville stared at her for a long time before leaning back in his chair.
"Man."
His voice was flat, dry, utterly devoid of the drama Lilianna seemed to be waiting for.
"She really can hit a high note when she’s mad."
Someone made a sound that was halfway between a gasp and a bark of laughter, but quickly stopped.
And then Grayson’s hands reached forward and pressed both palms gently over Neville’s ears.
He cupped them and covered them completely to prevent Neville’s ears from getting damaged by the loud noise.
Neville blinked and turned to Grayson in askance.
Grayson said, "Aren’t you afraid of getting deaf?"
Neville almost laughed and then seriously put away Grayson’s hands while shaking his head.
Ciel turned to Thiago in disbelief, "I think... there’s something wrong with my eyes. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Thiago took a long, slow sip of his drink and said sarcastically, "I think my eyes too..."
Suddenly, all the playfulness and coziness were drained from Neville’s body.
"I wanted to see if you had a limit," Neville said calmly.
He straightened his posture, which made him look more powerful.
"I wanted to see how far you would go to win each game."
Neville quietly put both of his hands on the table, intertwined with each other.
"But you didn’t, you didn’t have one."
His eyes glinted as he stared directly at Lilianna.
"You were so obsessed with your own unknown goal that you could casually step on your friends without even flinching, thinking, or hesitating."
Neville tilted his head.
"What kind of friend does that?"
He asked in confusion and wonder.
"I don’t understand, Miss Lilianna."
Then, Neville didn’t let Lilianna open her mouth.
"Maybe because I’m not you." He said and frowned, "And I will never wish I am."
Across the table, Lilianna Gringer stood frozen, eyes wavering back and forth to Grayson and Neville.
Because the voice in her head was clearer than ever, it was much louder than Neville’s voice.
’It’s just a game. Tell him it’s just a game. Smile. You know how to smile. You’ve walked runways under worse pressure than this. He’s just a nobody, Lilianna. He doesn’t belong here with these people, and everyone knows it, but they are afraid to say it out loud because Grayson was here. It is your duty to reveal it.’
Lilianna’s lips parted.
"Gray, please, it’s not what it looks like."
Her voice came out high and thin, stripped of the confidence she showed all evening.
She turned toward Grayson and said, "I just wanted—"
"What you wanted doesn’t matter." Neville cut in, standing, trying to get in between Lilianna’s gaze towards Grayson. "But giving it the benefit of the doubt, you think this was the best thing you could do to get it?"
Lilianna had no choice but to face Neville.
Neville continued, "You think that the best way to achieve what you wanted was to cheat and deceive your own friends?"
He paused, and a corner of his mouth twitched with pity.
"You really played yourself, Miss Lilianna."
Next to Neville, Ciel sat in his chair with his legs drawn up, hugging his knees.
Thiago’s gaze moved between Lilianna and Grayson.
Bryan rested his chin on his fist.
Helena had one leg crossed over the other, patient, dispassionate, already knowing how it would end.
And Sarah had her hands clasped tight in front of her, her face crumpled.
"The funny thing is," Neville continued, his voice terrifyingly level, "I was going to let it go."
Lilianna’s eyes widened a little.
"All of it." He adjusted his glasses. "But then you had to make a scene. You had to try and humiliate me in front of everyone."
He spread his hands.
"How’s that working out for you?"
’Don’t let him see you break,’ the voice inside Lilianna urged, its tone growing more frantic, more insistent. ’This is salvageable. Turn to Grayson. Grayson has always been soft on you. He’ll—’
But Grayson spoke and said, "Are you done?"
Neville turned, but Grayson wasn’t looking at Neville.
But to Lilianna.
