"Huh? Why are we at my house?!" Emilia couldn't help but cry out in shock as she recognized the familiar walls of her own dining room. Taking a seat at the table, she noticed the assortment of food items placed in front of her, while Damien indulged in his pudding on the opposite side. Her mother continued to appear, presenting a new batch of freshly cooked dishes.
"Aunty, can I sit beside Emilia? It's cold here." Damien took a spoonful of pudding before turning towards a middle-aged woman who appeared much older than her actual age, evident of her hard life and struggles through businesses yet wore a formal attire like an office lady.
"If Sir Damien wants to, please take a seat." The woman with her closed eyes and wrinkled face nodded before moving towards the kitchen to bring more food for both Damien and her daughter.
"Cold? Seat? Why are you sitting beside me—No! That is not the question, why are you at my house?" Emilia shook her head as she held the bowl of rice and gestured towards Damien, aware of his flirty words. Despite feeling embarrassed, she knew he would just say she was hot and he wanted to sit beside her to prevent himself from getting cold.
So, she was definitely not going to fall for this cliché dialogue.
"Isn't it obvious, you are sitting while covering the heater, idiot." Damien pushed her chair and sat near the single room heater placed in the dining room.
Due to business losses and debt, several apartments and houses under the Blake family were sold out, leaving one remaining which belonged to Emilia's grandmother, where they lived while still struggling with the last remaining company's decision-making since Emilia's mother had less than a 2% share in her own debt-driven company.
'She seems old,' Damien glanced at the exhausted woman who kept a fake smile as she came out of the kitchen and finally took a seat on the other side of the table.
He kept looking and understood this was the result of all the struggles and hard work this woman had to go through, yet ignoring her physical appearance, what Damien noticed was the condition of this house.
Even though it appeared humble, his eyes observed the floors, paintings, and decorative items which in truth crossed the valuation of 30 million NR (1 NR= 1 USD), something which no one would expect from a widow and debted woman.
And this was why Damien had chosen this particular woman; particularly, he just wanted to have someone support him financially and handle his businesses until he was done with his villain game and coincidentally he found Emilia going around here and there with her mother.
So he grabbed two birds in his hands, knowing how Emilia's pronunciation matches Amelia.
"Disgusting, she is an old woman, you rascal." Emilia frowned as if insects were crawling all over her when she saw Damien's eyes fixed on her mother, clearly looking at her with malicious intent.
"....oh my, What's with your words, Elly?" The woman, who was already aware of Damien's gaze had noticed the things she decorated in her home, remained ignorant until she heard her daughter for the first time abusing someone whom she had just met five days ago.
A week ago, Damien Raphael purchased a large number of shares from her company which was already facing problems because the board members were not giving value to her suggestions and supporting the board member who was the right-hand man of Gabriel Blake, leading to the company facing losses.
Helpless as she was, the most she could do was keep her tax-free assets safe and away from the eyes of Gabriel and their men while waiting calmly for the company to be destroyed, leading all investors to sell their shares, leading board members to also leave the company, and then she would use her assets to once again support it.
But, this young man purchased most of the shares and created a disbalance between both her and that board member, leading the overall losses the company faced to become lower due to decision-making being in better hands.
However, she doesn't need small profits for a company which was dying much faster but needed to face faster losses to get complete authority over the decision-making of the company which her husband had messed by transferring the things into the hands of board members.
Whatever the case, things were going to be fine now because she had already made a deal with this young man.
"Mom, do you know where he took me tonight?" Emilia gritted her teeth, turning her gaze downward in frustration. Two days ago, this man had warned her that he would destroy her mother's business and leave them without a home.
She had seen how much her mother had to suffer after her father's death when due to his kind heart and foolishness, he had scattered the control throughout board members who turned against her mother.
When her mother assured her everything would be fine, Damien Raphael purchased shares in her company.
Emilia had seen her mother frustrated that night while mumbling about how if he hadn't purchased shares, everything would have been fine.
So, she being helpless, chose to follow this man who humiliated her so much within two days that she removed all the ideal image her naïve mind had for this person.
Unbeknownst to her, her mother wanted the company to end much sooner, but with the arrival of Damien, losses significantly decreased. Since knowing about Raphael Group's heir investing in a company, several investors entered the line.
And this misunderstanding was what Damien took profit of: a woman who was smart and cunning but needed a leash and on the other side, her daughter who, seeing her helpless mother, wanted to help her in some way.
"What? Did he do something to you?" Suddenly the woman's hand halted in her path, glancing towards Damien as she remembered the last time, according to their deal, he was going to use her daughter to play a fake marriage role and in exchange transfer all shares to her.
Yes, She and Damien had already discussed it beforehand, or else she wouldn't have let her daughter come into the limelight by being engaged with Raphael.
But she weighed profit and losses, knowing how after this small drama, she would get shares and due to rumors of her daughter being engaged to Raphael Group's heir, even though he was now technically not the heir but not many knew about this, leading several investors to boost the company.
Though she had heard several rumors about this useless heir, which was why she trusted him knowing how he was interested in another woman from the Crimwell family and would not harm her daughter but solely was using her to make his girlfriend jealous.
However, if this man were to harm her daughter, considering that he had already lost the support of the Raphael Group long ago, it wouldn't be difficult for her to bury his dead body in her backyard, especially since she still has a few rifles from her younger days buried there.
"H-he," Emilia clenched her fists and looked down before her mouth twitched because Damien placed his hand on hers and gave a nod as if giving her emotional support, prompting a vein to form on her forehead. In a mumble, disheartened tone, she revealed the fact that she was married to Damien by pointing her finger at him, she declared, "I am now married to this thing over here."
'.....Thing?' Damien raised an eyebrow upon hearing Emilia still not accepting him as her man and calling him a thing. He leaned on his palm with his elbow supported on the table and glanced at Emilia's mother to see her reaction.
"Ahem, I see," the woman cleared her throat and averted her eyes, not wanting to reveal to her daughter that she had bargained her daughter to gain shares of her company.
Technically, it was guaranteed, but still, she felt guilty about taking advantage of her daughter's naivety.