Leon paled while his sons stood dumbstruck at Lily’s words. A trap. This was nothing but a trap that Lily had created for the Corneel’s. They then stared at Lily as she held her hand towards her secretary’s direction. In response, her secretary handed her a piece of paper.
With a smile on her face, Lily tore the paper and threw away the shreds in front of them. “Now… there is no contract,” she said. “Too bad, you took a lot of time coming to a decision. You should know how much I hate waiting.”
“You played us.”
She shrugged at Herman’s words before she beamed towards Athalia’s direction. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But you already said that— “
“I don’t remember saying anything.” She interrupted Leon. “Isn’t that right Miss Athalia?”
“I—”
“What is she talking about?” Rein approached his fiance.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you… working for her?”
“No! What are you talking about?”
“I should have known about it! I should have known that you were working for her!”
“Rein! What are you talking about?”
Seeing this, the smile on Lily’s face grew wider. She propped her chin on her palms and watched as Rein and Athalia started arguing as they revealed the plan to make Lily as uncomfortable as possible. She then nodded at Yang Mi’s direction, silently telling her to call Yuanfeng. Make him release the news to the media.
“What have you done?” Leon asked when he noticed Lily’s actions. “What did you do?” Everything seemed to happen too fast that until now, he was not able to grasp Lily’s strategy in making them reveal their cards.
“You planned all this.” It was Herman. He narrowed his eyes at Lily. However, before he could take a single step, Lily’s two bodyguards were already standing next to Lily. He paused, surprised at how everything else seemed to be so organized. It was as if Lily already predicted their reactions ahead of time. “Why? Why ruin us?” All they wanted was for her not to sign the contract. They succeeded, yes. However, the news that she would release to the media might cost them their company.
“No idea what you were talking about.”
Herman stared at Lily’s face, his gaze unfathomable. The attacks must have been a part of Lily’s plans. First, she needed a way for them to confess the real reason why they were here. So she orchestrated something that would surely stress them out. For a businessman, losing hundreds of millions worth of oil was surely enough to ruin their day.
When facing stress, the division between them and their father became obvious. They had betrayed and threatened each other as they thought about their own benefits. They did all this while Lily watched and observed their actions. Then to end it all, she offered an impossible deal to their father. She tested the waters and immediately found out that their father would agree to anything as long as the deal would be signed.
To their father, money was not important. It was the deal, this contract — Lily owning the company was the most important. For some reason, the man had become crazy and thought that paying this friend of his was more important than his family. When Lily found out about this, she immediately backed out, creating more chaos and problems for them.
This— All this — everything was a trap, a game. And she had just won.
He gulped, his hands balled into a tight fist. They should have known that this game was not about them against their father. It was Lily against them. They should have known that Lily would not let them leave with huge smiles on their faces after wasting her time like this. He met her clear and direct eyes.
Time.
That is the only thing that Lily invested in this deal. To people like her, time meant money. This must have upset her. “We’re leaving,” he uttered after a couple of seconds of silence. “We are leaving now!” This time, he directed his gaze towards his brother and father. These two needed to learn that in this game, Lily was the only winner.
“But— “
“Now!” He hissed at his younger brother. He gave his father a sharp gaze. “You are coming with us.” The only thing that he could blame in all this was their father. He was the only one who single handedly ruined their company just because of some promises made by this friend of his.
Seeing his serious expression, both Leon and Rein with his fiance stood from their seats and started walking out of the door, leaving Herman in front of Lily. “You won.” Herman added. “Don’t bother our family again.”
“How presumptuous.” Lily answered almost immediately. “You are making it sound as if I was the one who approached your family. Mr. Corneel… that is simply rude.”
“As you know now, it wasn’t our intention.”
Lily smiled in response. “Intention.” She made a deliberate pause. “Tell me, Mr. Corneel. What was your real intention.”
His throat turned dry as he continued to stare at her eyes. Their intention was to stop this deal while their father’s intention was to make Lily the owner of Corneel oil and co. However, he was not going to tell Lily about this. Not after what she did to their company.
“Ruining my peace.” Lily uttered. “That was your intention. And there is no convincing me otherwise.”
“You are— “
“As I said… there is no convincing me that you are not here to threaten my peace.” Her hand made its way into her stomach as a sinister smile slithered on her face. “You see? I tend to crush everyone that has that intention.”
He opened his mouth, wanting to rebut Lily’s words. However no words came out of his mouth. Seeing this, Lily raised her hand and gestured for him to leave. “You and your family will suffer for your father’s decision.” She declared. “I heard your woman just gave birth?”
“You—” he widened his eyes.
“Leave. Attend to your partner’s needs. I am sure she needs you more than your company will ever do. I don’t want to see you and your family in Hong Kong ever again.” Lily added. “You lost millions today. You don’t really know what you will lose in the coming few days. You better value what you have now and stop stressing yourself over this matter.”
