She didn't reach for the box, shaking her head instead. "You don't need to do this. I have already ordered a phone online."

"No, You haven't."

"You wouldn't know." She shrugged. Unless he was stalking her, but he didn't have time to do that.

He pinched his nose bridge helplessly. "I know you are, Zaria. You were barely able to swallow your saliva from how busy you were. How would you have the time to order a phone?"

He gave her the kind of look that threatened to slit her throat if she kept arguing, so she reached for it. Knowing that she was about to ask for the receipt so she would refund the money, he shot her a mean stare and she had no choice but to shut up.

"I thought you would have given this to some other woman." She couldn't help commenting as she picked it up.

He looked at her and frowned. "What other woman?"

She wanted to roll her eyes at his feigned ignorance. "Your girlfriend. Don't you have tens of them?"

In response, he laughed mysteriously, making her wonder whether she had said anything wrong.

_

Just as she thought, her new phone flooded with messages as soon as she was back in contact. She selected all their contact names and responded with the same message "I'm okay, call you later." She then set her phone aside and resumed her work.

…

Meanwhile, Desmond acted as though nothing had happened. Zaria was right. It was hard to believe that Liam could do such a thing.

No matter how he investigated it, he couldn't find any link between Jaime and Zaria—not even a coincidental occurrence. Her record was in fact so clear that if he didn't know how secretive his brother was, he would have had more suspicions.

On the other hand, Liam and he grew up in the same residential area. It was not unusual for him to have Jaime's contact number. Besides, even if he lost it, there was Samantha…

He didn't want to think about it anymore. He didn't want to wrongly suspect his friend. At the same time, he couldn't understand the bizarre force inside him, but he wanted to believe in Zaria.

Tapping his desk, he grinned. He knew what to do. The guilty one would come out clean in due time.

…

On Thursday, Desmond departed for Tokyo with Liam. Because the meeting was to be held on Friday and they were too busy all day, they could only leave at 6 pm.

Zaria saw them off at the private airstrip. Of course, she ignored Liam and assumed that his assistant would cater for him.

It was his fault that she was acting that way around him, so he didn't give any comment about it and left for them to discuss freely.

He glanced at her after Liam left.

Before he could say anything, she shoved a document folder into his hands. "You will need this. I will not be there, so I compiled everything you need for the meeting. There is also some background information about Mr. Sano and YLD Tel Co."

There was still a few minutes before they departed, so he opened the file. When he saw the information, some of which should be considered as YLD's company secrets, he glanced at the woman beside him while deep in thought. Was there anyone she couldn't investigate? Why was he starting to think that she might have investigated the Fort Family on her own?

"Sir?" She blinked questioningly in reaction to his gaze.

"Do me a favor. Help me investigate the Preston family. I'm starting to be suspicious of them."

She widened her mouth at the sudden order. Investigate his friend's family?

Were these two starting to stab each other in the back?

Thinking of what Liam had made her do, she thought it was indeed possible. "Give me a lead."

"Liam." He stated, knowing that it was merely a test. If she could uncover anything about Liam, then he would be sure that she didn't need anyone to tell her about the Fort family.

She didn't know that she was merely being tested. Instead, she thought that the Preston family was a cover and Desmond's actual target was Liam.

"Give me a week." She said, just as Liam called to signal Desmond onto the plane.

"Make sure to do it in secret." He reminded her before boarding the plane.

___

On Friday Morning, Zaria woke up earlier and was about to go to the bathroom when her phone rang. She guessed that Desmond must have arrived at the hotel, so she picked it up.

"Hello, boss? Have you arrived at the hotel? Is it good enough?"

"It's great, but I don't like it." Came the man's displeased tone.

"I'm sorry. Hold on. I will…"

"Because you're not here. I miss you."