CHAPTER 97: COOPERATE

Lillian sat in her office, a small, barely visible satisfied smile on her face as she went through the documents before her.

She looked relieved and completely unburdened. She felt free.

Free from her past, from the shadow that had been constantly plaguing her mind, from a past that she had always been running from.

"Maybe I should pay Mom and Dad a visit," she muttered to herself and she flipped through the pages of the document, "should I take a short vacation after Sentinel’s launch?"

Finally dealing with the two felt so satisfying. She didn’t expect them to completely back off since she was sure someone was paying them to do this.

Maybe as a way of targeting OmniTech Corp? But this should keep them at bay for a while and it’d be enough time to prepare for when they returned.

Lillian wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to their baby. A blush appeared on her face as soon as the thought crossed her mind and she fanned her face with her hand as if she could physically erase that thought.

Speaking of which, she hadn’t seen Ethan since last night, neither had he texted her. Although, Athena had informed that he was okay, just busy with something.

But she had hoped to at least hear a bit of praise from him even if he didn’t know exactly what she had done.

Her thoughts were broken off by her ringing phone and she quickly turned to it, expecting it to be a call from Ethan only to be disappointed when she noticed it wasn’t a number saved on her phone.

"Hello?" She said as she placed the phone on her ear.

"Is this Ms. Hayes?" A voice asked from the other end, though it didn’t seem like a question, it was more of a confirmation.

"Yes?" Lillian answered, the voice sounded male and not exactly one she recognized so how had they, whoever the person was, gotten her number?

Nothing was said for a while after her affirmation but from the sounds in the background, it seemed the person with the phone was moving.

"Hello Lillian," a second later, another voice was heard, this one was of a female and she had a slight Russian accent, "this is Irina Romanova."

Romanova?

The name sounded familiar but she couldn’t exactly remember where she had heard it before, but it definitely wasn’t from someone she personally knew.

"I see you haven’t heard of me," Irina continued letting out a small chuckle. "But that doesn’t matter right now, I don’t usually introduce myself to people this way, Lillian, but you and I... we share an interest."

Lillian frowned at her words, she was sure they had never met to even know what interests they shared so she asked, "and what exactly would that be?"

She expected something related to OmniTech Corp, maybe a company owner trying to personally cut a deal with them ahead of all the others, but the answer was not one she expected.

There was a short pause before Irina spoke again, her grin could almost be heard through the phone.

"Ethan Carter."

-----

And that’s how Lillian found herself in this restaurant with this admittedly beautiful lady of Russian descent.

Honestly, was this lady flaunting her beauty with that dress? Or was this some form of psychological attack to suppress her?

Contrary to Lillian’s thoughts, Irina was dressed like this to impress her or at least gain her approval, why?

Even Irina was confused.

Ever since she acknowledged that she wanted Ethan, she had been doing things that were completely out of character for her, but she weirdly didn’t hate it.

Michael would flip if he saw her behaving like this, especially since she risked her brothers finding out.

But they currently had a lot on their plates thanks to her so...meh, she mentally shrugged.

One thing she hadn’t expected though was that Lillian would be a lot more beautiful in real life than what

Taking a sip of her wine, Irina felt herself calm down a bit before saying, "now then Lillian, to the reason I called you here."

Lillian observed that Irina had been using her first name to address her which didn’t sound like something one would do before a professional meeting but she didn’t mind.

"As I said previously," Irina gently placed her glass down and her purple eyes locked with Lillian’s green ones, "you and I share similar interests in the form of Ethan Carter."

Lillian frowned at the mention of Ethan, "and how exactly do you know Ethan?"

Irina leaned back with a smile on her face, Lillian seemed defensive of Ethan which was understandable since she didn’t exactly know who Irina was or her connection with Ethan.

"Well, Ethan and I have a special deal but that’s not the reason I called you here," she deliberately remained vague before switching to her main point, "Ethan is an interesting person and I just happen to have developed some interests in him, interests I’m sure you also have in him."

Lillian froze at her words but she wasn’t done yet.

"More than anything I want to have him all for myself," Irina continued, "I want his smirk, his eyes and even his entire being to belong to only me."

Lillian was even more speechless at the words she was about to give a response when Irina added, "unfortunately, there was already someone else."

Lillian’s grip on her glass tightened. Her heart seemed to be skipping beats, whether it was in nervousness or expectation was unknown, but her face remained calm.

"Someone else?" she asked, though she already knew what Irina meant.

Irina’s eyes gleamed with either envy or jealousy, maybe even both. "Yes, you."

Her heart definitely wasn’t working well after that answer she just received but that wasn’t the point, she still didn’t learn what Irina wanted so this was not the time to be happy just yet.

"So what, you called me here to tell me you’re... jealous?" She asked with a sigh

Irina let out a short laugh, though there was no humor in it. "At first? Yes. I wanted to eliminate the competition.... permanently. It would have been easy. With just one order, and you would vanish from his life." She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "But then I realized something important."

Lillian narrowed her eyes. "And what’s that?"

Irina studied every little detail of Lillian’s expression. To her own irritation, the girl wasn’t crumbling under pressure. She wasn’t even afraid. That realization sparked something in Irina’s chest.... respect.

"Eliminating you would only make him hate me," she admitted with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. "He doesn’t seem like the type to forgive, and with the capabilities I’ve seen from him, I wouldn’t be safe either, even as the queen of the underworld."

Wait, hold on.... Did she say queen of the underworld? Was the thought passing through Lillian’s head.

She wanted to ask but Irina didn’t allow herself be interrupted to she just silently listened as Irina continued.

"So instead of wasting my resources plotting against you," Irina went on, her smile getting brighter, "I thought... why not try something different? Why not... cooperate?"

"To win his heart... together."