Chapter 5

A bleeding ulcer? I froze.

In my past life, she had done the same, gambling with her health for her career.

In the end, she won a multi-billion dollar fortune but lost her life.

My heart still felt an undeniable pang of pain.

But it was only for a moment.

I calmly told the person on the other end, “I’m not your Dean. You have the wrong number.”

Then I hung up.

I thought that would be the end of it.

But the next day, Cassandra directly blocked my path downstairs from the company building.

Her face was pale, her lips bloodless. She clearly looked very ill.

She grabbed me, her voice tinged with a plea and a hint of accusation.

“Dean, I was hospitalized. Why didn’t you come to see me?”

“I called you so many times. Why didn’t you answer?”

Listening to her words, I suddenly felt a profound sense of weariness.

“Cassandra, we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Besides, your health is your own responsibility. It has nothing to do with me.”

Cassandra seemed enraged by my coldness and abruptly pinned me against the wall.

“Dean, how can you be so heartless? I risked everything for you, and you say it has nothing to do with you?”

“Are you just waiting for me to die?”

Trapped in her embrace, I caught the faint scent of antiseptic on her, exactly the same as the smell from her in my past life when she died in my arms.

A familiar suffocating sensation seized my chest.

Just as I was about to gasp for air, a black Bentley glided silently to a stop in front of us.

The car window lowered, revealing Victoria’s elegant, impassive face.

Her gaze swept over me, finally landing on Cassandra. “Let him go.”

Cassandra met her gaze, refusing to back down.

Victoria, however, suddenly smiled—a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, laced with a hint of disdain.

“Miss Cassandra, don’t you think the process of securing funding for your first project was a little *too* smooth?”

Cassandra froze.

Victoria slowly uttered her next words.

“It was Dean. He gave up a full scholarship to Stanford University to secure that opportunity for you.”

“He laid out the path for you, and here you are, questioning why he wouldn’t walk it with you?”

“Cassandra, you don’t even deserve him.”

Cassandra was thunderstruck, her entire body stiffening.

She looked at me, utterly disbelieving. “Stanford… a full scholarship?”

I had never told her about that.