Xavier didn't plan to stay long. After Raphael finished speaking, he took his leave.
As soon as Xavier left, Raphael's face turned grim. He pulled out his phone to call Emily but changed his mind at the last second and dialed another number instead.
The call was quickly answered by a voice altered through a voice changer. "What's the matter?"
"I want to divorce Emily. Keeping her around will only ruin our plans," Raphael said bluntly.
The reason Raphael hadn't divorced Emily after acquiring the Jones family assets was partly to avoid a bad reputation and partly because this mysterious person had suggested that keeping Emily might be useful.
But now, Raphael didn't care about Emily's potential usefulness; he just wanted a divorce. Otherwise, she would continue to cause him endless trouble. Most importantly, his mistress was pregnant, and he couldn't let his child be born illegitimate. If Emily found out, she would never let it go.
However, the mysterious person, Duncan, disagreed. "I told you, Emily still has value. If you're worried she'll mess things up, I'll warn her myself."
Duncan paused and then warned coldly, "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. If you don't want Emily to ruin our plans, keep your own affairs hidden. If you jeopardize my plans, I can lift you up or crush you down."
Raphael's face grew even darker. It was clear that his every move was being monitored. His recent arrogance felt instantly deflated. He couldn't do anything against Duncan, so he clenched his phone and gritted his teeth. "I understand."
Duncan detected the change in Raphael's tone but didn't expose it. He gave a few more warnings before hanging up.
After putting down the phone, Raphael's handsome features twisted in anger. He kicked his desk violently and swept all the documents off it in a fit of rage. Only after wrecking his office did he feel slightly better.
Meanwhile, Emily had no idea about any of this. She had just received a call from Duncan.
"Raphael called me earlier. He wants to divorce you. If you still want to live a wealthy life and surpass Deanna someday, behave yourself for now and don't provoke Deanna and Lance!"
"But what if Deanna and Lance provoke me?" Emily asked discontentedly.
As for Raphael's talk of divorce, she knew that as long as she was useful to the mysterious person, Raphael wouldn't divorce her. Although she didn't know what use she had to Duncan, it didn't stop her from leveraging his power.
She then recounted the issues her mother had encountered.
Duncan pondered for a few seconds and guessed Deanna and Lance's plan. He instructed, "Since Deanna and Lance don't dare confront you openly, they must have concerns. As long as your mother holds firm, they won't be able to do anything to you. Have your mother stand her ground a few more times, and they'll give up."
Emily felt disappointed upon hearing this. She had hoped the mysterious person would help her directly.
After returning home, Deanna rested for a few hours before she and Lance went to pick up their children.
The kids were ecstatic to see them. "Mommy, Daddy, when did you come back?"
"Was Uyrila fun?"
The children surrounded them, eagerly asking about their trip abroad.
Deanna answered each question patiently. "We came back this morning. Mommy and Daddy didn't visit many places, but the trip was nice. When you have a break from school, we can all go together. There are many ranches where you can play and get close to nature."
"That sounds so fun! Let's go during summer vacation," Chloe said excitedly.
Deanna affectionately pinched Chloe's little nose and smiled. "Sure, as long as we don't have other plans, we'll go. We'll bring your great-grandmother and grandparents too."
Their families had never gone on a trip together before. Recently, Deanna and Lance had been busy with their own work, leaving household matters to their parents. It was time to show some appreciation.
Lance understood Deanna's thoughts and offered, "I'll arrange the trip when the time comes. You all just need to enjoy yourselves."
"Great! I'll tell Grandma and Great-Grandma tonight," Chloe said, jumping with joy.
Deanna initially wanted to stop her since the plan wasn't set in stone yet. But seeing her children's happiness, she couldn't bring herself to say anything.