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"She did what?" A deep voice echoed inside the walls of the study. Frowning, the man turned his head towards the woman opposite to him. Slowly, a smile slithered on his aged face. Soon, his smile turned into a low chuckle."So…. She must have got it. What a smart one."

"I told you," the woman pursed her lips. "She is one hell of a woman." She took a sip of her tea. "There is no need for us to intervene. I am sure Lily can handle it."

"She is pregnant. She cannot exhaust herself."

"With her husband by her side, there is no way Lily will exhaust herself. He would never let that happen."

The man nodded, his face turned serious. "She is starting to ask questions."

"I know." A sighed escaped her lips. "Even her husband is starting to dig into the past. Sooner or later… they will know what happened to Lilian." Sadness flashed in her eyes. The fact that they could not say a thing about it had been weighing her down. "If only we could…"

"Our families will suffer." The man interrupted her. "Even Lilian was not able to do something against them."

"But… if we could tell her about them…"

"Cathy…" the man made a deliberate pause, his gaze turned complicated. "What happened last year was proof the organization cannot be trusted. We don't know… It would not surprise me if they planted someone to get close to Lily."

"You are saying…"

"A spy." He nodded. "Tread carefully. They have been playing the world with their idiologies, controlling the global market, wars, slavery. If they can do that while avoiding the eyes of everyone, they can easily plant someone near us- near Lily."

Cathy's face turned serious. Just like what Lilian said before her death, do not trust anyone.

Doubt.

Doubt as much as you can. The world is a treacherous place, they should be careful.

"The goal is to protect Lily not get her in trouble." The man continued. "I believe, informing her about this will put her in danger."

"But… we need her to be vigilant. Without knowledge, Lily might make the wrong decisions, wrong choices. We can't— We can't let her become the next Lilian." Shaking her head, the side of Cathy's lips turned downwards.

"Ironic isn't it?" the man lifted his eyebrows. "Information… knowledge was the reason why Lilian died. Do you want the same thing to happen to Lily? Knowledge might mean power… but sometimes, it could get us into trouble. Sometimes, too much knowledge could mean danger."

"I— "

"See? We only have two options." he snorted. "First, we watch from the sidelines. Let them approach her first before we dive in and inform her what happened. Or… " Slowly, a sly smile can be seen in her face. "We let her find out by herself."

"You mean— "

"As you said… she is a smart woman. She will figure it out soon, whether we intervene or not . It won't take too long for her to know the truth. It won't take too long for her to trace the connection of Lilian's and her Grandmother Ye's death."

Cathy nodded before letting out a sigh. She always thought the worst thing about knowing a secret was keeping it. She was wrong. The worst thing about it is the fact that she would be forced to watch in the sidelines knowing she could have revealed the secret and saved someone.

"She is happy now." The man continued. "Let's not ruin it."

"Lilian was happy too." Cathy's face turned ugly. "Bec was happy too! But where are they now?" She felt her throat tighten. If only she knew about all these things years ago. If only Lilian told her about all these things ten or twenty years before her death. It would have been different. The outcome… would have been different!

She gritted her teeth before drinking the remaining tea that she had.

"Cathy… you are still as ill tempered as ever." The man smiled. "You really think you can stop an organization that treats itself as gods? Lilian… was not able to stop them. We both know she is more powerful than both of us combined. Do you think… the outcome would have been different if you were aware who the enemy was?"

"Who knows?" She retorted. Just because they are weaker, does not mean they are not capable of doing something. A small action, a small counter attack, a small plan.

"All I know is telling Lily what we know will put her in danger. She is too scheming to let it go. We cannot put her pregnancy at risk. We saw what happened to her seven years ago. She cannot go through something like that again." His voice contained authority. "I understand your concern and I know you have long treated her as your daughter. However, all you can do for now is to protect her from the shadows."

For a few seconds, she turned quiet. Slowly, she nodded in approval. "I understand."

"Good. Now… manage the Arison Holdings well. Impress George, you know how he treats Lily. His support towards Lily is vital. We needed to continue everything that Lilian started. Slowly, secretly."

Cathy's lips thinned. If someone would ask her, the only thing she regretted the most is not being powerful enough. Not being influential enough. Not being smart enough. She regretted not being enough to protect Lilian and Bec. She hated it— everything about the past.

Compared to that organization, Cathy and even Lily was just a small ant. Something that could be crushed easily by their influence.

"So we pretend." Cathy said. "We continue to pretend that we are dumb blokes playing on their palms."

"Yes. We pretend." He nodded. "We pretend we are unaware. We pretend that we are dumb. We pretend they don't exist. We have been doing this since Lilian died. We can continue doing it even now."

Another sigh escaped Cathy's lips. She eyed Mr. Rossi and nodded. "Then… I guess… we don't have another choice."

Understanding flashed in their eyes. Their goal was to protect Lily. Their goal was to ensure her safety as they hope.

Hope one day, Lily would find out the truth on her own and will somehow… use her brains to shake the very foundations of the organization and lead it to its destruction.

....

Proofreader: Dragon777

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