"Ten percent," Lily said. "I want ten percent more than the market price."
"Are you crazy?" Ron furrowed his brows. He sent a signal to Adrian as if telling him not to involve himself in this matter. Seeing Lily only arched an eyebrow at him, he continued, "The board of directors is forcing you to sell your shares. How could you demand such a crazy amount?" If combined, Lily, Zhou Jingren, and Zhou Dae Un's shares are more than anyone's shares in the company.
"Well… the combined value of our shares is more than 35%. Was it 39 percent? Or 40? But that is not my point." A cunning gleam flashed on Lily's eyes. "My point is… itfwe sell these shares to the competitor then…"
"You wouldn't dare!" How could Lily say something like this? Does she want the Lee Group to be swallowed by another conglomerate? Ron felt his temper flared.
"Uncle calm down." Thomas sent a concerned gaze at the old man. "Miss Lily, your demands are unreasonable. There is no way that we will buy it out when its ten percent more than the price in the market."
"Fifteen," Lily uttered. Her shamelessness only made everyone speechless. "Last chance." She uttered. Both Zhou Dae Un and Zhou Jingren already said that they are not interested in this company. But, Lily was different. How could she just leave a company worth million's like this?
Of course, she knew that Ron and Thomas would never agree to her terms. Normally a buy out like this would not give anyone big profits. There is no way that a normal businessman would agree to this.
Lily eyed Thomas before sending him a knowing smile. Lily agreed to have those proof in exchange for kicking Ron out of the company. She agreed to make Ron's life miserable. However, she never agreed to not earning a profit while doing this.
Was this being evil? Probably. However, Lily's motivation always revolves around profits. Without profits, Lily would never dare involve herself in things like this. She would rather lie in her bed and eat sweet and sour dried fruits than schemed against these people.
"That is not possible!" Ron wanted to curse. He wanted to trash Lily's smiling face. Just how hateful was this woman? To Ron, Lily is the only person that is preventing him from achieving his goals. He eyed Zhou Jingren's languid posture as he sat next to his wife. "Are you letting her decide this matter?"
Zhou Jingren gave him a shrug in response. "What's mine is hers." He added. How could he stop his wife from playing? Lily had always been like this before they got married. And Zhou Jingren was not planning to change this side of her.
"Foolish," Adrian chimed in.
"Well… there is no stopping us from selling the shares to another company if you agreed." Lily said, her tone was full of amusement as she poked at her husband's shoulder. "I want the dried mango." She uttered before shifting her gaze back to the three men in front of them. "After selling the shares… I will then release the evidence of the insurance fraud and guess what will happen?"
"You— "
"Lily!" Frustration crinkled in Thomas' eyes. "This is too much! How could you do this just after the old man died!? You knew the effects of this scandal! It could destroy lives, jobs, and dreams! Are you going to do this just because of a few millions?"
"Is that my problem, Mr. Lee?" she responded. The freezing contempt in her voice was clear as she raised her chin. As if she was challenging them to answer her. Was it her fault that the old man and Ron committed those crimes? Was it her fault that Thomas did his best to cover it? "Was it my fault?" she asked as a sinister smile hung in her lips.
"What a B*tch," Adrian said in a low voice. While he was also aware of these fraud cases, Adrian still chose to help his father in hiding those shreds of evidence. In fact, Adrian was surprised when his father told him that Lily and Zhou Jingren found out about this matter.
"You can only blame yourselves." Lily shrugged as she started eating her dried mangoes. "This tastes very good." She smiled at her husband. "So? Are you going to buy the shares or not?"
"The price is not profitable for us. As a businessman, you should know this." Ron said. He knew that talking to a woman like this would not take him anywhere near his goal. He would not want to end up like Isaac and succumb to his anger. By now, both Ron and Thomas already knew that Lily is especially good at making people angry.
"Not my problem. It's either that… or your reputation and your company." Lily said. "The choice is really easy here. You are only making it difficult for yourselves."
"If we buy this… what will happen to the fraud charges?"
"I will give it back to you." Lily immediately answered without batting an eyelid. "The media will never know what happened in the past. Win-Win, right?"
"Then… how can you assure us that you won't betray us in the end?" Thomas said as he swallowed his saliva. For some reason, he felt that his deal with Lily was extremely flawed. It made him feel as if Lily was doing him a great favor. When in fact, the woman was also using him to attain her goals.
His memories seemed to take him to his college years when he used to study medicine and law. He clearly remembered one phrase that could perfectly describe Lily's actions right now.
*Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim*
Lily might have shown a sincere move to make him feel that she was very generous in helping him. However, in the end, her actions only covered the dozen of dishonest ones that she was about to make.
If this is not cruelty... then what is?