"It was nice meeting you, Olivia," Lillian said as she rose from her seat, brushing invisible crumbs from her skirt.
"It was nice meeting you too," Olivia said with a smile on her face as she also stood up, "maybe we should do this again some other time?"
Lillian paused for a second as she thought about it for a while before handing Olivia her phone,
"I’d like that," she said and Olivia took the phone and entered her number, a small smile on her face.
"Alright then," Lillian said as she took her phone back, "see you later, Olivia."
"You too."
With that, Lillian walked out of the cafe and towards the guard who was waiting by the car, his eyes hadn’t left the two since Lillian entered the cafe.
With a smile, she entered the car, seemingly happy to have met a potential friend now that Aria had moved in with her boyfriend.
Olivia watched as the driver closed the door as Lillian had settled in the car, before looking directly at her.
She just smiled and gave him a subtle friendly wave and he walked to the driver’s seat and drove away.
Olivia watched as the car disappeared from sight before she dropped her smile and let out a sigh.
She let a breath she didn’t know she was holding in.
Olivia hated that she had to do this, but at the same time she didn’t have any other choice.
From their interaction, she genuinely enjoyed hanging out with Lillian. The only problem was that the girl was that she had no sense of danger.
For the COO of the company that the collector was interested in, Olivia thought she’d be more cautious when interacting with complete strangers.
Especially when considering that she had been kidnapped recently, and an attempt was made again just the previous night.
In different circumstances, maybe they’d be friends but right now, Olivia needed to money for his mother’s treatment and for that, she needed to use Lillian to get the man behind OmniTech.
She took out her phone, placed it on her ear and said, "I’ve successfully made contact with the target."
"Good," the person on the other end, the collector, said.
"She does not suspect anything, for now," Olivia added.
"That’s good," the collector said before asking, "and you ensured this meeting keeps happening?"
"Yes," Olivia answered, "she even gave me her number."
The collector had ordered her to report every single thing that transpired between the two and that was exactly what she was doing.
"How adorable," the man said with a small chuckle.
Olivia didn’t smile. She failed to find the humor in the words that he did. But the collector didn’t mind a single bit.
"She seems to be lonely," she said instead, her voice tightening just a bit, "her best friend moved out recently. She’s emotional right now, vulnerable even. If I keep this pace, it won’t take long before she opens up completely."
"Good," the Collector murmured. "You’ll use that."
Olivia closed her eyes briefly.
"I know."
"And the Founder?" the Collector asked in a tone that suddenly darkened. "Anything at all?"
"No," Olivia answered. "Nothing yet. Lillian never mentioned them. Never hinted she even knows who they are. It’s possible the Founder only communicates with her through their avatar."
"Possible," the Collector said. "But unlikely. No one gives that much authority to a COO without direct oversight."
"I think,"Olivia hesitated a moment before adding softly, "she genuinely seems kept in the dark, like the rest of the world."
There was silence for a short while before the collector spoke up again.
"Are you developing a liking for your target?" He asked, his amusement evident in his voice.
She hesitated for a short while before shaking her head, "no."
"That’s good," the collector said, his voice taking a softer tone, "after all, your mother’s treatment depends on your success in this, you wouldn’t fail like Victor did, will you?"
"I won’t," she said firmly. "I promise."
Her mother was the most important person to her, besides she barely even knew Lillian, after all, they just met, so she would choose her mother every single time.
"Good, continue the operation, and remember you goal in all this is to uncover who OmniTech’s CEO is, nothing else."
"Got it," Olivia said before the line went completely silent.
She held the phone to her ear for a few more seconds before she put it down and sighed again.

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