As Raphael stepped out of the ancient castle, a menacing aura emanated from him, almost becoming tangible.
Emily sensed the danger radiating from him and clutched her handbag tightly, contemplating her chances of escaping from this man.
Unfortunately, before Emily could come up with a plan, the man in front of her stopped abruptly, and then turned around fiercely, glaring at her with eyes that seemed ready to devour her.
"I must have been blind to marry such a foolish woman like you. You're more trouble than you're worth. I should have married Deanna instead."
"Hah, so this is your true face."
Emily had initially been quite afraid of Raphael's anger. But hearing him compare her to that vile woman Deanna and saying he regretted marrying her ignited a deep-seated resentment that overshadowed her fear. "Let me tell you, it's too late for regrets now. Do you think you can just take my shares and discard me? I'm not that easy to fool!"
"You think you're hard to fool? Yet I fooled you. Do you really think I need your consent to divorce you after all the harm you've done to the Howard family?"
Raphael sneered, completely unfazed by Emily's threats.
His words struck a chord with Emily. She had caused trouble multiple times and even had three criminal records. If Raphael filed for divorce, she wouldn't be able to stop him.
Panic set in as Emily realized this. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed her mind, and she gritted her teeth. "I've indeed done things that harmed the Howard family, but I've also brought benefits. The only reason you got an invitation to this international business conference is because they saw I could get things done for them. Otherwise, with the Howard family not even ranking as a third-tier family, what right do you have to attend this conference?"
"What did you say?"
Raphael looked over in shock, disbelief written all over his face.
Seeing his reaction, Emily spoke again with pride. "I said, the only reason you're attending this international business conference is because of me!"
Raphael's expression changed instantly. He stared at Emily with dark eyes, making it impossible to discern his thoughts.
Emily felt uneasy under his intense gaze. Just as she was about to question him, Raphael suddenly grabbed her and started dragging her towards the parked car.
"Where are you taking me? Let go of me! I'm not going with you."
Emily struggled incessantly as Raphael's earlier expression had made her very uneasy. Despite her struggles, she couldn't break free from his grip.
Without explaining, Raphael dragged Emily to the car, opened the door, pushed her inside, and then got in himself, locking the doors.
Emily shrank to the other side of the car, looking at Raphael warily. "What exactly do you want?"
"I want to know what you meant by what you said earlier," Raphael demanded coldly.
Emily's eyes flickered as she deliberately played dumb. "I said a lot of things earlier. Which one are you asking about?"
"Emily!"
Raphael was infuriated by her attitude.
But Emily seemed to find some courage and glared back at him. "Why are you yelling? Do you think being loud makes you right?"
Raphael didn't want to engage in a pointless argument. He took a deep breath to calm his anger and asked, "I'm asking about your earlier statement that I got into this business conference because someone asked you to do something. What is this about? And who is this person?"
His piercing gaze left Emily no room to dodge the question.
Emily had no intention of hiding the truth. She knew Raphael was serious about divorcing her this time, not just trying to scare her as before. If they divorced, reclaiming her shares in the Jones family would be even harder, and her parents would never allow it. They would pressure her to apologize to Raphael. It was better to leverage this situation now to make Raphael hesitate about divorcing her.
"The person who instructed me-I don't know their exact identity-but their ability to get you an invitation to this business conference shows they are powerful, more so than Lance. That's why I agreed to help them. As for what I did, you must have guessed it already-it was targeting Deanna. From tonight's events, it seems our plan succeeded."
Emily's face lit up with a smug expression.
Unbeknownst to her, this expression only fueled Raphael's anger.
With a sharp slap, Emily's face was turned to the side. Her already slightly swollen cheek now visibly turned purple.
"Why didn't you discuss such a significant matter with me?!"
Raphael glared at Emily with eyes that seemed ready to devour her.
To him, Emily's actions were dragging the Howard family down with her!