“You— “
“I know… I know… I sound like an absolute piece of crap right now.” She chuckled. “Totally unexpected from someone like me. But really… let’s be honest here… did you expect me to not play dirty?”
Mr. Corneel sat there, eyes wide, totally speechless at Lily’s statement. In between the two of them, the media would surely believe Lily. This was because her story was way easier to believe compared to his. This woman— this woman is just like them! He thought inwardly.
“So… are you going to tell me why you chose to play around with my company?” Lily raised an eyebrow. “Or… are we going to keep playing this game?
“I— I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Really?” She did not believe him. In fact, she would not believe anything that came out of this man’s mouth. Not when he could easily read her as much as she could read him. “Mr. Corneel… you already know what kind of person I am, right? You know… I am just making sure that you know what kind of person you are talking to.”
“You are threatening me.”
“Oh… no… no… Why would I threaten an upright man like you?” she grinned at him. “That… would be just cruel of me.”
“President Zhou— I don’t think you understand what you are getting into.” Mr. Corneel uttered in a low voice enough for Lily to hear him. “This is beyond you— In fact… this is beyond us all.” His jaws thinned as he stared at Lily’s face, scrutinizing. “I already told you, we are prepared for piracy like this. In less than forty eight hours, we will retrieve our people and will try to retrieve our oil.” He said.
“You know… Mr. Corneel, did it ever occur to you that someone else wants to stop this deal from happening?” she asked. “I mean… isn’t it convenient that the attack happened while you were here? Isn’t it convenient that I was your initial suspect the moment you heard the news? Isn’t it convenient that… I now dislike you and your company because of your baseless accusation?”
He gulped. Now that Lily said this…
“You see? What if someone wanted us to fight?” Lily shook her head. “Sadly… they have already succeeded. We already lost each other’s trust, causing a huge rift between us that will affect our business transactions moving forward.” She rose from her seat. “I will give you my decision tomorrow. Let’s stop wasting each other’s time anymore.” Lily turned towards the wall to ceiling window made of glass as she let out a sigh. “What a waste… Mr. Corneel… what a waste.”
Hearing her words, Leon Corneel could only grit his teeth in silence. That damn Mr. Yi told him that Lily would easily agree to this deal because of her greed. There is no way that she would let this opportunity pass. Because he wanted to get into this organization, he agreed. He agreed to everything that Mr. Yi told him to do.
Seeing Lily’s reaction, a thought instantly came to Mr. Corneel’s mind. Lily might not be the one trying to sabotage this deal. It was his sons.
When Mr. Yi approached him a couple of years back, his company was not as stable or successful as it was now. Because of the promises that the man gave him, he easily agreed and just like magic, his company’s worth soared. However, seeing his company gather the attention of everyone, winning awards after awards and hearing people recognize his name was somehow addicting. He wanted the attention, he wanted the unending praises, the influence and the money that came along with it.
So when Mr. Yi approached him a few months back, he was hesitant. How could he even give his company to a woman who was not even in the same industry? However, before he could even voice out his concerns, Mr. Yi quickly reminded him how he was the one who put the company on the pedestal and not Mr. Corneel. He even went as far as to threaten him. If Mr. Yi could put him to where he is now, he could easily take it all away. The money, the fame, the influence.
Mr. Yi said he would not even blink an eye in taking away everything that Mr. Corneel loved so much.
Mr. Corneel shivered inwardly. Just the thought of that man’s eyes was enough to frighten him. How could he say no to a man like that? Seeing the fear in his eyes, Mr. Yi started telling him about an organization— a group of people that work behind the scenes… controlling the black market and the world’s economy to maintain the status quo. He then started telling him how getting this acquisition could get him a seat in this organization.
He promised, richness, more influence, more money, more fame— more of everything that he had right now. Of course, the greedy Mr. Corneel easily agreed. Did he even have a choice?
So… they made a plan— a simple one. Let Lily sign the contract and Mr. Yi would take care of everything moving forward. He even remembered Mr. Yi say that this was nothing but a simple… and small task. A test from the organization!
Apparently, convincing Lily was like a test that he needed to pass, it was like a rite of passage. While he was still a little hesitant, he decided to trust Mr. Yi this time. After all, he was also holding his side of the arrangement that he and Mr Yi had made years ago.
But his sons were different. Herman and Rein were both mad at him for deciding to let Facci Group acquire their company. In front of his angry son, he was forced to explain how this was all because he owed a friend everything that they had now; it was a grave mistake. His sons schemed to make Lily delay the signing. From sending the twins to bringing Athalia with them. The two were doing their best to create a bad impression in front of her.
When he tried to stop them, the two threatened to reveal all his secrets to Lily. Now, this immediately shut him up. After all, Mr. Yi told him not to tell anyone about the deal. And due to this, Mr. Corneel was facing the greatest dilemma of his life. Was he really going to allow his sons to ruin this deal? Or inform Lily of the possibility that one of his sons was trying to sabotage this deal?
