The Villain's Wife

When Herman left, Lily's face instantly turned serious. She immediately went to see Qin Yuanfeng who was inside his computer room. "Do you have something?"

"The call was routed to a number in Mexico." He answered as his hands flew towards the keyboard. "Now here is what's strange. Remember I was watching the Old Man Li earlier? I was randomly tracing the calls that he made because I thought he was planning something against us. Look at this number."

"The same one?"

"Hmmm. The same number. He called this number during the time that he interacted with us."

"Were you able to get a recording of this call?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not a god." He answered. "I wasn't able to get anything aside from the number. Still the fact that two people who are currently interacting with us called the same number is quite… strange." He eyed his sister. "What do you think?"

"Do you know who owns this number?"

He stayed silent for a few seconds. "Cartel."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's a man associated with the Cartel." As expected, Lily turned silent at his brother words. She had never associated herself with the Cartels in Mexico nor did she remember offending anyone from those organized crime groups. Why would they even try to mess with her.

"Then stop the investigation." She answered after she sat down on the seat behind Qin Yuanfeng. In response, her brother looked at her before he asked Yang Mi to get Lily a cup of tea.

"Are you alright?"

"From now on…" Lily gulped. "I want you to keep the investigation as secret as possible. No one, aside from you, Jingren and I, should know about these findings. On the outside, pretend that I already asked you to stop it." She said. She absolutely trusted Yang Mi and she knew Jingren trusted Bei Tian and Secretary Go too. However, she could not risk it. It was always better to keep this information to themselves. Qin Yuanfeng nodded in response.

Seeing this, Lily closed her eyes. She leaned back her head and started massaging her temple. There was no way that someone from the Cartel would involve themselves in a business from Europe, a business that was closely related to the Italian Mafia's lead by George. Or someone who married to a man who almost ruled the entire black market in South East asia.

No. Before the oil tanker, Lily never involved herself in any illegal activities that would somehow gain the attention of the mafias in Mexico. She opened her eyes and eyed Yang Mi who had just arrived with her tea. There was only one possibility left.

Someone deliberately routed the call to someone related to the Cartel so that she would stop looking into the matter. Someone wanted to scare her. Lily took a sip of her tea. Since they wanted her to stop then from now on, Lily would no longer show interest in this matter. Or at least, that is what she would do on the outside.

"Are we really going to stop, just like this?" Qin Yuanfeng said. She nodded in response.

"I am pregnant. I don't want to attract anything that could endanger me and my child." This was a fact. However, she would continue on observing everything. She would silently watch these people for now, to protect the people that she loves. "I need to unwind. I will go and shop, would you like to come with me?"

"I will." Qin Yuanfeng said. He immediately closed his computers and grabbed his coat before leaving with Lily.

.............

Hohensalzburg Castle, Salzburg, Austria

It was said that the castle was built for the Archbishops' desire for recognition of their political authority and power. They were right. But, it wasn't the Archbishop who wanted to show their political authority. It was the Spectre.

The silence in the room was thick, it was almost suffocating. Except, the men and women sitting on the long rectangular table were not affected by the current atmosphere in the room. They were used to it.

"The month just started and the weather in Salzburg is already this cold," a man commented.

"It is time for us to see the newest members that will soon rise in Asia." Another one voiced out. Just like everyone else, he ignored the man's previous comment about the weather.

"I will see him soon," Harringfort was not able to hide the amusement that was hiding behind the hood that covered half of his face. "There is no need to worry about this matter. Our real concern of today's gathering is to talk about the Cartels in Mexico. We are losing control over them."

"That is indeed alarming. Are we going to cause another war between two cartels?"

"Better." Harringfort uttered. "I have informed the council about this. If my calculations are correct, a great war between those cartels is coming. However…" his words were interrupted when one of his men walked inside, with a dark look on his face. He leaned towards Harringfort, whispering some words that made the latter frown.

"Did something happen?" Someone asked.

"Nothing." Harringfort shook his head as he gestured for his men to leave immediately. "I believe someone just ruined my plans. If this is the case, they are leaving me with no choice. I will instigate a war between the Cartels next week. I want someone to inform the DEA, warn them not to involve themselves. The Cartels will ruin themselves. This will serve as a warning. They need to follow the law or they will suffer."

"You talk as if the council already approved of your plans?"

"This was the initial plan. However, I told them to at least consider my own plans. They had agreed. However, I encountered some problems. Now, they will have to follow what they had originally planned." A war between Cartel Groups was bound to attract attention. Aside from this, it would also involve a lot of innocent people. This was the reason why the council agreed to his plans in letting Lily and Zhou Jingren deal with it.

However, just now, the council had just informed him that Lily decided not to involve herself. She must have decided to stop the investigation that she was doing when she heard that the number that the Corneels called were directed to a person in Mexico. However, this was something that he could not fathom.

Why would she suddenly decide not to involve herself instead of attacking those people?