In the Howard family villa, Emily sat in the garden, feeling quite pleased. She held a glass of wine, sipping it lazily while basking in the sun.
At that moment, her phone on the table started vibrating. She put down her glass to pick up the phone, glanced at the screen, and answered with a slight smile on her red lips.
"How did it go? Is it done?"
"Miss Jones, I returned your money. You nearly got me killed. Find someone else for this job; I can't do it."
The person on the other end hung up immediately after speaking.
Emily was stunned for a moment, then her expression turned sour. She glared at the phone and gritted her teeth. "If you won't do it, someone else will."
However, after contacting several people, she was met with refusals. One person even explained clearly.
"Miss Jones, it's not that I don't want to take the job. The person you're targeting is under Mr. Mercer's protection. We don't dare touch them."
"It's just Mercer Group! Look at how scared all of you are. I refuse to believe there's no one willing to do it!"
Emily was furious and hung up the phone in anger. But in reality, no one took the job. This drove her mad with rage.
She couldn't understand why Deanna, who she considered a worthless woman who even had children with another man, was favored by such an outstanding man like Lance.
"Damn it, Deanna! Why are you still alive? Why don't you just die and stop opposing me!"
In her fury, Emily flipped the table beside her. The noise caught Raphael's attention as he returned home. He frowned and approached her, displeased.
"What are you raging about now?"
Seeing him, Emily was momentarily stunned but quickly composed herself.
"When did you get back?"
"Just now," Raphael replied and asked again, "You haven't answered me yet. What were you doing just now?"
Seeing no way to avoid the question, Emily decided not to hide it.
"Deanna is in trouble; you should know that. I finally caught a chance to deal with her and wasn't going to let it slip!"
Her eyes turned vicious as she spoke, then filled with unwillingness. "But I didn't expect that no one dared to go against the Mercer family. A bunch of cowards!"
Raphael was infuriated by her words. He stepped forward and grabbed Emily's chin.
"Didn't I tell you not to provoke Deanna? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"
"Do I have to endure all the suffering without fighting back?"
Emily pulled her chin back defiantly.
"Or is it that you're stopping me from targeting Deanna because you still have feelings for her?"
Raphael's eyes flashed with a dark light, and he frowned in displeasure.
"Emily, enough. I'm stopping you because every time you go after Deanna, you end up hurting yourself! We're the ones who suffer in the end!"
Emily was left speechless and even more unwilling to accept it.
Before she could speak again, Raphael continued, "However, if you want Deanna to suffer a bit, there's a way. We can find someone to make her suffer. Even if our plot is disclosed, we won't bear the blame."
"What do you mean?" Emily looked at him in confusion.
Raphael smiled slightly. "You know Miss Cody from the Cody family? She's been wanting to marry Lance."
He gave Emily a meaningful look.
Emily understood his implication. The Cody family was second only to the Mercer family and had close ties with them. Getting Bella Cody to deal with Deanna would be more reliable than anyone else she could find. After all, a woman's jealousy is not to be underestimated.
However, Emily frowned again.
"But I've never had any contact with Miss Cody. I'm afraid I can't arrange a meeting."
"For something like this, there's no need for a face-to-face meeting. Just get someone to inform Miss Cody that Deanna is Lance's mistress. She'll definitely verify it herself," Raphael said with a cold smile.
Unbeknownst to them, Bella was already aware of the situation. She couldn't believe that after such a scandal involving Deanna, Lance still protected her so fiercely. He even brought Deanna's children to his villa for care-it was outrageous!
The more she thought about it, the angrier Bella became. She immediately reported this to Samantha.
Meanwhile, Lance knew nothing about these developments. After leaving the police station, he went straight to Hughes Pharmacy to ask Old Hughes to use his connections to trace the source of the musk.
Since musk is a valuable and somewhat hazardous substance, any pharmacy selling it would keep records.
Old Hughes found Lance's request very troublesome.
"If we need to investigate this, it won't be quick. There are dozens of pharmacies in the city, not to mention some private ones."