"Well, yes," Shane replied as he massaged his own forehead.

Natalie then looked toward Lina. "Then Lina ought to get a share too."

Even though she was not under the employ of Thompson Group, there would be no playing favorites between everyone who was on their side right now. "Yeah, sure." Shane nodded.

"Wow. Me too?" Lina's eyes lit up.

"That's right. Mr. Shane's so generous," said Sally in a toothy grin.

Lina could not stop giggling as well.

Natalie cleared her throat. "Why are all of you only praising Mr. Shane? What about me? Wasn't I the one who fought for your welfare?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Mrs. Thompson's also very generous. The most generous of them all." Lina and Sally's responsive fawning immediately left Natalie nonplussed.

"Oh yeah, Nat. Hurry up and tell Mr. Shane what happened," Lina said with a straight face after the time for playfulness had passed. "What's she talking about?" Shane regarded Natalie with a frown. Amidst the close attention paid to her, Natalie related what she heard from Tina.

Sally gasped. "So, Nat. Do you figure that Jacqueline and her people will be looking to sabotage you in the finals?"

"Yes. Apart from her, I can think of no one else." Natalie nodded.

Lina looked at her, then toward Sally. "Who's this Jacqueline?"

"She's their sworn enemy. A very, very nasty woman," Sally spat in disgust.

"I see," Lina acknowledged, though unsure what to make of it.

"What do you think, Shane?" Natalie asked while she regarded him.

"I'll bring this to the organizers' attention and have them stay vigilant. Having said that, it would be challenging to stay guarded against the designers themselves. As apart from that Jayson, we still don't know who else could be in on it. As much caution we might exercise, we may not be able to avoid everything they can throw at us."

"Do you mean that even if we were to take preventive measures, there might still be designers who'd replace a loophole to harm Nat?" Sally scratched her chin thoughtfully.

"That's correct. So if anything were to happen, you need only work with the organizers for the follow-up investigations. I'll help handle the rest."

"Okay." Natalie nodded.

"As for that Jayson, we'll just have to sit tight. So long as we don't move against him, he'll eventually let his guard down, thinking that we are hapless to act. That'll allow us to catch him in the act if and when he tries to strike against you again. It'll be a better position for us to be in than where we're at now, which is without a shred of evidence on our hands," Shane said staidly with eyes narrowed.

Lina applauded. "That seems like a sound plan. But it won't be easy to nab him now, Mr. Shane, as we'll have to keep him under constant surveillance while trying to anticipate his next move." "That won't be difficult for me. I'll see to the arrangements," Shane replied blandly.

Lina smacked her forehead. "Right. I forgot that Mr. Shane is the chairman of the Thompson Group. This isn't hard for him to do at all."

"Has the spy cameras picked up anything on Sean these past few days, Connor?" Shane asked as he looked at the little chap.

The boy shook his head. "Nothing as yet. Like before, they've vanished without a trace. I've really no idea where they're hiding." "It's okay. Continue to keep an eye on them." Shane ruffled his hair.

Connor responded with a nod and a grunt.

On the second day, Natalie, Lina, and Sally headed for the jewelry market to acquire the obsidian without Shane and the two children.

As Shane had a virtual meeting to head and in consideration of how hard it could be to mind the kids in what should be an expectantly crowded place, Natalie decided that it might be better to just leave them a home.

"What do you think of this piece?" Sally pointed to a volcanic glass the approximate size of a basketball.

Natalie went closer to inspect it and shook her head. "I don't really know much about this. Maybe we should check with Lina."

At this moment, Lina walked in. "What's up?"

"We wanted you to have a look at this," said Natalie with a smile.

Lina did as asked and immediately voiced her disapproval, "This one isn't dark enough. There are many types of obsidian of varying quality, of which the best and most valuable ones are the fire obsidian."

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