Chapter 383: Tell Us What Happened
The fact that Christian dared to instruct Yonina to steal the proposal meant he had already anticipated such a scene. He was completely unafraid.
Even if Michael found out that it was Yonina who stole the proposal and managed to find proof of it, he could only act against Yonina. There was nothing he could do to Christian.
Furthermore, Yonina was on his side but she was carrying Michael’s child. Christian had absolutely nothing to fear from either of them. His intention was to have Yonina steal Michael’s proposal, then use Michael’s proposal to win the bidding.
Christian’s words angered Michael.
Micheal closed the distance between them and reached out to grab Christian’s collar.
Angrily enunciating each word slowly, he asked, "I will ask just one more time. How did you get your hands on my proposal? Who is your mole?"
"Michael, you must have proof before you accuse others. The representatives of so many big companies are assembled here. Surely, it’s not proper for us brothers to be fighting among ourselves here." Still smiling tauntingly, Christian said, "If you continue defaming me, I will call my lawyer."
"Call your lawyer?" Michael sneered. Swinging his arm, he landed a lead punch straight on Christian’s face. "Call him now!"
"Oh no!" Yonina was shocked by Michael’s sudden punch and hurried forward to hold him back. Not caring about her own safety, she tried to placate Micahel’s anger.
"Michael, there are too many people here, you must not go overboard. Let’s leave first and deal with Christian when we find proof, okay?"
"Michael Lucas is too much, what he’s doing is assault!"
"If it were my proposal that got stolen, I might react more violently than he did. All he did was punch Christian. It’s not a big deal."
"But there’s no proof that either side is telling the truth. Besides, they are brothers, after all, it’s disgraceful to fight in public."
"You’re all still here because you want to watch a show, and yet you’re worrying that we’re disgracing ourselves?" snapped Michael.
...
The flames of Michael’s fury burned hotter as he listened to the comments being made.
Christian, however, straightened up and coolly straightened his suit, His assistant handed him a paper towel and Christian used it to dab at the blood that was on the corner of his mouth.
The smile on his face had waned. Looking at Michael, he said, "First, even though you are my older brother, I will not tolerate being hit by you again. If you do that again, I will call my lawyer. Second, you have no right to accuse me of stealing your proposal if you have no proof. Third, we do not know who will win the bid yet. Why are you in such a hurry to settle the score with me?"
Yonina saw that Michael was about to hit Christian again and restrained him forcibly.
"Christian is right. You cannot hit him again in front of so many people."
"Look, my dear sister-in-law is such a reasonable person." Christian smiled again, purposely agitating Michael.
Christian’s words were full of lies. Michael recalled that in the past, Christian used to call Wendy "sister-in-law" too.
Since Michael was putting on an act, he decided he might as well go all the way.
He raised his hand and hit Yonina with a forceful backhand slap.
Turning to face Yonina directly, Michael glared at Yonina with eyes tinged red from anger. "Is it you?"
Sent reeling backward by the force of the slap, Yonina raised her hand to her cheek.
Pale from fright, she cried, "What do you mean, is it me?"
Her expression was both guilty and frightened.
"Stop pretending!" Michael intoned coldly, "You should know very well what I am talking about!"
"I... I don’t understand..." Yonina’s eyes were filled with horror, "Michael, are you suspecting me?"
"Yes. I suspect you." Michael did not try to hide his thoughts. "Yonina, others might have no idea how we ended up together, but you should know! How did we end up in the same bed? How did you get pregnant with my child?
You were my brother’s woman!
Don’t tell me everything that happened is a coincidence?"
"I..." Yonina shook her head and tried to explain, "Didn’t I explain everything to you? I really do not know what happened that day! When I woke up, I was already in bed with you!
I am pregnant with your child now. Do you still suspect that I am working with Christian against you?"
"Yonina, do not test my limits and think you can get away on account of your pregnancy." Michael moved towards Yonina, his hands reaching for her neck. "I softened my heart towards you because you are carrying my child.
However, I never expected you to join hands with Christian against me! I’m sure the two of you planned a long time for today!
To think that I even thought of marrying you once you’ve given birth, so you would be my legal wife.
Yonina, I’m utterly disappointed in you!"
"I..." Yonina was having trouble breathing with Michael’s hands around her neck and gasped with much difficulty, "I did not, I really did not..."
"What do they mean? There’s such a back story behind the older Mr. Lucas and Miss Collin’s engagement?"
"You didn’t know? The news was all over the city. I heard that Miss Collins was originally going to marry the younger Mr. Lucas. However, on the night of the engagement party, before they even had the chance to make the announcement, Miss Collins was found in bed with his older brother. That was also when she got pregnant."
"Oh my, that means it’s Mr. Michael Lucas who stole his brother’s woman?"
"Who knows exactly what the story is? Anyway, it’s a confusing mess."
...
"Michael, my sister-in-law is pregnant. You can’t treat her so roughly!" Christian anxiously approached Michael and Yonina. He reached out to help Yonina but seemed a little afraid.
His hand, already on its way to stop Michael, drew back.
Christian looked around at the gathered people and pleaded, "Help her!"
It might look as if he were sincerely trying to help Yonina, but in truth, he was just trying to muddle the waters and create an even bigger mess.
The onlookers took the bait and started trying to calm Michael down.
"Mr. Lucas, you don’t have proof yet, right? Why don’t you investigate before jumping to conclusions?"
"That’s right. Yonina is your fiancee and pregnant with your baby. You can’t use so much force on her. What if something happens to the baby? It’ll be too late for regrets then."
All those well-meaning words advising Michael to calm down were like music to Christian’s ears.
However, they merely added fuel to Michael’s fire.
There were many people who spoke up to help but none actually stepped forward to hold Michael back. After all, they were just here to watch and did not want to get involved.
Regardless of what the couple’s private life was like, Michael Lucas was someone they could not afford to offend.
"Michael, let go. My sister-in-law’s face has gone pale." Christian urged. "Your temper is bad, to begin with. If you lose control, it might not only be the baby who’s affected!"
"Michael, I... I really... really did not.. not..." Yonina struggled to speak, "Trust... me... I... I will not... betray you."
...
Michael and Yonina’s falling out act was almost complete.
At least, all those who were present should believe it.
Most importantly, Christian had to believe it.
Just as Michael was about to loosen his hand, the sound of many footsteps came from outside the conference room.
A large group of reporters surged into the room bearing media equipment.
"Mr. Lucas, are you confident of winning?"
"Mr. Leroy, what do you think of your competitors at today’s bidding? Do you think you have a good chance of winning?"
"Mr. Zee, who do you think is the most likely to be chosen today? Care to share your thoughts?"
"Mr. Lu... Lucas, what happened between you and Miss Collins?"
After the barrage of questions when they first entered the room, the reporters finally noticed the strange position Michael and Yonina were in.
They thought they might have seen Michael remove his hands from Yonina’s neck.
Once the cameras came into the room, Michael had shifted his hand so it looked like he had merely put his arm around her shoulder rather than strangling her.
Instantly switching to a gentle demeanor, he said with a smile, "Miss Collins is pregnant and I’m afraid she might have problems with balance so I am giving her a hand."
However, that was not what the reporters saw.
Michael did not look like he was supporting her earlier!
"Mr. Lucas, if we’re not mistaken, you were obviously strangling Miss Collins earlier."
"Miss Collins looks terrible and there are even fingerprints on her neck. What exactly happened between the two of you?"
"Miss Collins, why are there bruises on your face? What happened? How did you get them?"
"Mr. Christian Lucas, why is your face injured too? How did you get injured? Who hit you? Why did that person attack you?"
...
The reporters were originally here to cover the bidding, but were sidetracked by Michael and Yonina’s fiasco.
When they noticed the injuries on Christian’s face, their interest was further piqued.
"My apologies, but I will not answer any questions unrelated to the bidding." The smile on Michael’s face noticeably waned as he refused to answer the reporters’ questions.
Michael’s reaction made the reporters even more curious.
However, they dared not push him further.
Instead, they turned their attention to the other people who were in the room.
"Mr Zee, can you tell us what happened between Mr. Lucas and Miss Collins earlier?"
"How did Miss Collins get injured? Mr. Finn, do you know what happened?"
...
With Michael’s standing in the business world, no one dared answer the reporters’ questions even though they all knew what happened.
They all smiled and said they weren’t sure what transpired.
The reporters did not manage to get any answers to the questions they had but they were unwilling to give up.
Some of the braver ones had intended to ask Michael again but he put his arm around her shoulder and informed the reporters, "I’m sorry, my fiancee is pregnant and needs to rest. I will send her home now."
With that, he turned and left with Yonina.
Although Michael had left, there were still many people at the scene. None of them would willfully divulge the truth to the reporters.
They fobbed the reporters off with standard replies and left soon after.
Christian left immediately after Michael did.
He had no intention of telling the reporters what exactly happened. It would not be necessary.
All those other representatives might not have said anything to the reporters earlier but news was bound to leak out one way or another.
Everyone loved gossip after all.
There was no need for Christian to spread the news personally.
