Lily first looked at Mike, then averted her gaze from the tiny man before her, rejecting his request upfront, “No! | have my family,
friends, and career out there. How will | contact them if | give you my phone? I'm here to work for your organization, not to become
your prisoner.
“Plus, whatever | have on my phone is my private information. How could | turn it in? Also, how would | ensure you guys won't
harm my family the second | turn my phone in? | need to know they're safe at all times!”
“You're overthinking.” The man replied slowly, “Since you're willing to cooperate with us, you're part of us. Why would we make
things difficult for our people? Plus, we don’t need to do anything for your family. We wouldn't want to cause any problems here,
either.”
That made Lily sneer. “What a joke! It's not like you guys haven't hurt anyone for no reason at all before this. You don’t trust me,
and likewise, | don’t trust you. In what way can | be sure that you won't create problems for your own people?
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“What about Mike's son? Is holding an innocent child captive not making your people's lives difficult?”
Upon hearing the mention of his son, Mike looked up at Lily in surprise. From his eyes, Lily knew he was slightly emotional at the
moment. He turned to look at the man behind him.
Along thad passed, but he still had not heard anything about his son. He could only ensure that his son was still alive through
the occasional video calls, which was his only solace.
However, as tpassed, he was slowly losing patience and was getting slightly frustrated. The man licked his bottom lip and
stared at Lily, gritting his teeth.
He had not expected Lily to be such a complex woman to deal with. “That's none of your business, and I'll keep my promise to
you.”
“Why should | trust you?” Lily retorted without any hesitation. “You don’t trusteither, right? That's why you wantto turn in
my phone. Since you don’t trust me, how can you expect that in return?”
Seeing that the man was not replying, she turned toward the elevator. “Since we can’t reach an agreement, we don’t need to
discuss working together. The most crucial thing in a deal is trust.
“Since you have doubts about me, we're better off not even starting a collaboration. Your organization has many capable people,
and I'm sure they can help you with your problems.”
Slowly, she strode toward the elevator. She was betting that the organization needed her and that she was important to the
success of their project.
Just as she was about to reach the elevator doors, the hideous voice sounded as she had expected. “Stop right there!”
Lily stopped but did not turn around.
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“Fine. It's just a phone, anyway. | won't take it away from you.” Upon getting the answer she wanted, Lily then turned to face him
again, and her brow was raised this tto ensure that he was serious with his words.
The man replied calmly, “I can understand what you mean, but don’t you ever forget that this is my territory. No matter what you
want to do or say, I'll know it all!”
He pointed to his ears and his eyes as he spoke to warn her about the surveillance cameras, as well as his people everywhere to
watch her every move.
That was something Lily was aware of. Smirking, she said, “Of course, but you're mistaken about something there. | think | need to
correct you about it.”
“Oh?”
“This place is the country’s territory, not yours!” Lily smiled coldly while her gaze turned even sterner.