Raphael was momentarily stunned and then asked, "It's been a while since I've seen you this happy. Did something good happen?"
Hearing his voice, Emily finally noticed Raphael's presence. She turned to look at him, her smile not reaching her eyes. "Nothing much, just saw online that Deanna and Lance are in trouble. It made me feel great. By the way, do you know what happened to them?"
Raphael frowned deeply at the sight of the woman gloating in front of him. "Did you have anything to do with Deanna's troubles?"
"How could I?" Emily immediately retorted, defending herself. "First of all, I don't have that kind of power right now. Besides, everything I do, everywhere I go, and everyone I contact has to be reported to you. The servants in the house are all your spies. If I had done it, wouldn't you already know?"
At this point, Emily felt extremely frustrated with her life. She felt like a prisoner in the Howard family, constantly monitored by everyone around her.
She didn't dare to lose her temper because Raphael would surely threaten her with divorce. And she couldn't afford to get divorced. Not only did she want to reclaim the shares Raphael had tricked her out of, but she also knew that after a divorce, her life would be even worse.
She knew her father too well. With the company in crisis, if she divorced Raphael, he would arrange for her to remarry to benefit the family. The man she would marry next would likely only have good family conditions and nothing else.
The more she thought about it, the more resentful Emily became. She hated Raphael for deceiving her into marriage and not following through completely.
But she hated Deanna even more. If it weren't for that woman, she wouldn't be in this miserable situation, with no reputation or financial power.
Raphael found some logic in her words and temporarily dismissed his doubts. He warned her, "You'd better stay out of Deanna's affairs. If you bring trouble to the family, you know the consequences."
With that, he left the living room without caring about Emily's expression. Watching his departing figure, Emily's hatred for Deanna grew even stronger. To her, Raphael's repeated insistence on not targeting Deanna seemed like he still had feelings for her.
Wait, still had feelings... Emily's eyes narrowed with a sinister plan forming in her mind. If Raphael still had feelings for Deanna, why not let them be together? This way, she would have a legitimate reason to divorce him and could even claim a large portion of Raphael's assets. She could also take revenge on Deanna, making Lance despise her and the Mercer family abandon her, leading to her complete downfall.
However, despite this plan being good, there was no immediate opportunity to execute it.
Emily tapped the armrest of the sofa thoughtfully. She needed to find a chance to make Deanna and Raphael meet, preferably during this chaotic period.
If a scandal involving Deanna broke out now, Lance would definitely not support her. At that time, dealing with Deanna would be a piece of cake.
Meanwhile, Deanna was unaware that someone was planning to add fuel to the fire of her troubles. She was at the research institute waiting for the test results of Sunfire Elixir IV. Lance was with her the entire time.
They waited for three hours. Fortunately, the results were promising; there were no mutations, and it remained a mild auxiliary drug. Seeing the results, Deanna breathed a sigh of relief.
"Great! With this data, we can prove our drug is safe," she said happily to Lance.
Lance looked at her joyful expression with soft eyes. "I'll help you," he said gently.
Hearing this, Deanna felt grateful for everything Lance had done for her. "Thank you for standing by me unwaveringly."
"Silly girl, no need for thanks. You are my fiancée; who else would I stand by?" Lance said affectionately as he ruffled her hair.
They decided to head back as it was already late. On their way home, Lance suddenly received a call from Xavier.
"Mr. Mercer, several overseas parts suppliers have abruptly terminated their contracts. The parts we had ordered have been canceled. The factory's current stock won't last a week, and we need to deliver an order by the end of the month. We're short by a third," Xavier reported.
Lance's face darkened instantly. He had no doubt this was the second move by whoever was targeting Deanna, aiming to keep him too busy to help her.