"I see… but I won't help you." Lily answered, seeing the disappointment in the man's eyes, she continued. "Unless… you do something for me."
"How will I know that you will help me once I do what you want me to do?" he responded.
"Well… Mr. Zhou, you don't really have a choice. Do you?" she leaned against her chair, the same smile was on her face.
...….
"I told you he will take the bait." Zhou Kang chuckled as he eyed his father's grave expression. "See? He betrayed us overnight just because of his daughter. I say that man needs to suffer the consequence of his actions." Old Man Zhou did not respond. He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at their family portrait just behind Zhou Kang. His eyes were gazing straight toward Zhou Jintao's smiling face.
"How did you know this? How sure are you that he went to talk to Lily to betray us?"
"Father… I am hurt. Since when have you started doubting my capabilities?" Zhou Kang faked a sad look before he laughed. "I have ears, people who had been with my brother for tens of years now. That and predicting him is quite easy, no?"
"So… this- you planned all this to get rid of Lily? You planned to use your own brother as a bait?"
"The fish already took the bait, Father. There is no need to question my choices now. As always… I was right. Ahhhh… Jintao is quite a predictable man. Just play with his emotions and he will snap." Leaning against his chair, Zhou Kang continued with a smile on his face. "If we want to eliminate Zhuo Jingren… then we should start by killing that woman who is backing him."
"Backing him?"
"Can't you see? She is smart and meticulous. She is ruthless and every scheming too. That type of woman is only good if she was on our side. She can't be left alone. We need to target her first before we target her husband. Or we will suffer the consequence of underestimating her."
"She is but a woman. I don't think she deserves all this… scheming. Have you ever thought about this? Without her grandmother's inheritance from Europe, she is nothing. She is not someone like Zhuo Jingren who had climbed up to the ladders of success by his own decision. She is but another privileged woman who got lucky."
"Ah… you are underestimating her!" Zhuo Kang dramatically shook his head. "She is his weakness, but she is not weak. I am telling you this because I have studied everything about her. She had caused some families to fall, empires, businessmen to kneel in front of her. She has the Yang Family is behind her. The Qin Family from Mainland China will practically do everything that she would ask them to do. She is powerful even before they met."
Silence followed his words as Old Man Zhou furrowed his brows. He eyed his son who was beaming at him before he let out a deep sigh. "I honestly think that the woman is hiding something. I believe that this is just all on the outside. I do not understand it. She is…"
"We tend to destroy everything that we don't understand, father." Zhuo Kang interrupted his father. "That is human nature. It's simple… we destroy her, make Zhuo Jingren unstable and then it would be easy for us to get his business too."
"Was this really just about the business?" Old man Zhou asked.
"Of course not. This is for your own interest as well. Once we acquire his business, we could be the new superpower in Mainland China. Imagine everyone begging to have our favors? Hm?" Zhou Kang said. The first step into making someone agree to what you want is to give them something that they want. In this case… he was enticing his father using what Old Man Zhou loved the most. Power.
"I will think about it. Can you tell me more about your plan?" Old Man Zhou said.
"Well… since he already betrayed us, there is only one way that he could redeem himself and that is by dying for us. Simple."
"Kang! Jintao is still your brother!"
"Father… the saying blood is thicker than water had always been overrated. He might be our family but look at him now? Who is he talking to? Our enemies! He wanted to use that woman's brain against us. He wanted to destroy us. You can't be thinking that we should still forgive him even though he already decided to betray us, right?" Seeing the old man's stern face, Zhou Kang continued.
"That woman will surely ask him for something. A way to prove that he is loyal to her. The next time they met… I am sure it will not be in an office. It will be somewhere remote, away from everyone's eyes. That would be the perfect time to strike. We bombed them. I can have my men install it in his car. In this way, we will kill three birds with one bomb. Literally."
"Three?" the old man asked, confused.
"Zhou Jingren won't blame us. How could we kill someone who had been with us for years? How could we kill a family? He would blame someone else instead. Someone that hated us… someone that could possibly hate him as well…. Someone like the Dongfang family." He smiled. A tinge of victory and evilness, swarm in his eyes. "Say, father… isn't this just the perfect plan? Ever?"