The Villain's Wife

When Lily and Zhou Jingren arrived at the mansion, they immediately had their dinner before having a conversation with Qin Yuanfeng about what had happened earlier. Today, Qin Yuanfeng chose to stay back at the mansion as he hacked through the satellites and watched as Bei Tian lead the attack against the Corneel's.

"Really?" Lily's eyes widened as she stared at her twin brother. "You altered the video?"

"Hmmm. Blurred their faces and added some tattoo on Bei Tian's neck just to make it seem like he was one of the group that had been attacking the tankers lately."

"Now that is impressive." Zhou Jingren said.

"Was it obvious?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean?" both men looked at her.

"I mean… the pixels of the video. Does it look altered after what you did?"

"No, it was good. I can assure you that—" Qin Yuanfeng did not continue his words when he noticed Lily shook her head. "Is it wrong?"

"No. Keep it that way." Lily gave him a smile full of assurance. "It's better that way."

"You are suspecting something." Zhou Jingren stated.

"Yes… I am." She answered, her gaze never left Qin Yuanfeng. "You have records of his phone call? Tomorrow, I want you to continue monitoring his calls. Include the brothers." She uttered. She could not wait to see their reaction tomorrow. Lily then excused herself, leaving Zhou Jingren and Qin Yuanfeng to discuss some specifics that she had no way of understanding.

Lily was not yet sleepy, so she chose to read her grandmother's diary again. In fact, she had been reading the ready over and over since she got it. To Lily it looked like a puzzle, something that she hoped to put together one day. Not long after Lily started reading, her phone buzzed.

Eyeing the caller ID, Lily immediately answered it. "Cathy!" she beamed. "How are you!" As expected, it was about the baby shower that Zhou Dae Un had planned. "You are joining us?" To be honest, she was surprised that Zhou Dae Un got Cathy's number. "As well as George!? That— That is wonderful! Of course… I will make sure to invite the other's too. Fernando and Li Shanshan… of course!" After a few more seconds, Lily ended the call with a huge grin on her face. Excitement and joy could be seen swirling in her eyes as she sent a text full of gratitude to her mother in law.

…

Unlike Lily, the Corneels were not having a very good night. The three men of the Corneel Family were pacing inside their suite room, each wearing a scowl on their face. With their footsteps muffled by the carpet, the three of them were having different things on their mind.

Leon Corneel was extremely stressed out. Lily saying no, could easily cost him everything. While he already told his sons about the deal he made with his friend but he had never told them the real consequences if the acquisition goes south. He never told them the real reason why their company succeeded. Why would he? That was akin to him accepting that he was not the good businessman who everyone believed him to be. He would not let his sons think that their company only became this big because of that deal. He gritted his teeth as he thought about calling the man.

Since he came here, Leon had already tried to dial that man's number several times. However, each time, he would cut it off before the latter could answer his call. He was afraid. He was scared of the man's response. Was he going to bankrupt the company? Was he going to rally the shareholders against him? Was he— Was he going to kill him for his failure?

"We need to do something," Leon uttered after a long time of silence. "If you two are not responsible for this… then it could be a mere coincidence. The pirates must have found a leak of information about our security. We need to act. We can't just continue to pace inside this room as we grit our teeth in anger."

"And what would you like us to do, father? Leave the meeting to take care of the pirates?" Herman sneered. "Why don't you call that friend of yours and ask him to help you? If he really wants Lily to buy this company, then he should be willing to help us out."

"Are you insane?" Rein chimed in. "Asking that man's help means that we are giving up. That cannot happen!"

"Rein… It's a win— win situation," said Herman as he sat on one of the velvet chairs. He turned towards his brother. "Even if that man will help us, there is no guarantee that Lily will agree to the acquisition. She is not dumb. I know… I know she was observing our interactions earlier. She must have seen everything."

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked but he never got a response.

"She was staring at us the whole time, observing our actions, listening to us talk. She was reading us like an open book." Herman added. "She knew something was going on. Though, she does not know what it is yet."

"You— You deliberately made it obvious," their father stated, disbelief laced his tone. "The pirates— "

"I told you! We are not responsible for attacking our own company!" the younger son said. "Do you really think we are that dumb?"

Leon stayed silent. One more word and these two would threaten him again. He narrowed his eyes at them instead. "You ungrateful brats!" he hissed.

"Call him father," his second son's words immediately made him freeze. "Call that friend of yours."

"Wh— What? No!"

"There is no other option. Ask him to help us or…"

"Stop threatening me!"

"Rein?" Herman smirked at his younger brother. "What do you think will happen if Lily comes to know that someone else is forcing father to sell the company to her?"

"She won't buy it and will obviously start investigating this matter."

"See father?" Herman said. "We all know that she is a very capable woman. It won't take too long for her to know who this person is. She will surely ruin you and… reward us." He narrowed his eyes at his father. "Now… call your friend."