CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

DAMIEN

My gaze never left Emilia throughout the meeting, and I kept wondering why the hell she was here. I'm sure she's appearing in my life on purpose to annoy me, but what does she stand to gain from seeing me unhinged? I let out a frustrated sigh before shifting my gaze to the financial manager, who is providing us with an overview of our Paris branch's finances. It appears to be doing well in comparison to the previous two years, when we suffered a huge loss and almost went bankrupt, but the increase in tourism has helped boost our number of guests this year.
When the financial manager finished his presentation and went to his seat, the head of design and advertising came up to give us a brief breakdown of some ideas their team came up with for the smart house project in New York, at least according to the meeting agenda.
"Welcome to the city of love and fashion! My name is Amy Justin, and I'm the Head of the design and advertising team in our Paris branch," she said, before turning to face Emilia, who gave me a quick smile before turning back to Miss Amy. "As you can all see, Miss Emilia, a world-renowned supermodel, is in our presence. My team and I decided that it would be best if she is featured in our smart home advertisements," she said.
"How would her being in the home advertising videos benefit us, to me it's just a waste of money hiring her, we could always hire a regular paid actor and still get the same results," one of the shareholders said, causing Emilia to glare at him, she had always been too sensitive and didn't know how to conceal her emotions, a smile broke on my face as I remembered when she almost got into an altercation with a woman because she called her a washed out model.
Amy replied, "Yes and No."
"Miss Amy, what do you mean by yes and no? That's a rather ambiguous response "I inquired as everyone's gaze was drawn to me; I never speak up in meetings because my personal assistant does all the talking and I just observe, so my speaking up now must have come as a surprise to them.
"Mr Kingston, it is a pleasure to meet you personally; you seek clarification as to what the difference is. If we hire a regular paid actor or Miss Emilia, and the answer is influence, we can introduce smart homes to more people with Miss Emilia because she is more famous than a regular paid actor "Miss Amy stated.
To be honest, even if Emilia and I don't get along, I would be willing to work with her to ensure the success of this project because Miss Amy is making a lot of sense using her instead of a random paid actor or actress.
"Hmm, you make a good point Miss Amy," the shareholder who asked the question said, and everyone's gaze returned to me, waiting for my response, because if I don't agree to this idea, it will never see the light of day.
"You can proceed with the contract with Miss Emily, Miss Amy, if we are done here and no one has anything else to say, we can end the meeting, Thank you everyone and have a nice day," I said, and everyone mumbled in agreement. As we concluded the meeting and everyone went their separate ways, Emilia stopped me from leaving by blocking the entrance, leaving only the two of us in the boardroom.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye to an old friend before you leave? Damien" Emilia said with a small smile, but her eyes told me otherwise, she was up to something.
"Why did you agree to work with me despite our history?" I asked directly, because I don't like to beat around the bush. I needed to know what she was up to and if it would affect me.
"Damien I didn't take this job because of you; I'm taking a break from modeling, and your head of design and advertising offered the contract to my company; the pay is good, so I agreed." Emilia said in a casual tone, but I didn't believe her; does she think I'm stupid enough to believe such a flimsy excuse? Another reason I knew she was lying was because she avoided my gaze immediately after she said it, a common sign that someone is lying.
"Seriously, Emilia, do you expect me to believe that nonsense? I know you better than you know yourself, and now I'll ask you why you're here again. And I expect the truth" I asked, my brow raised as I crossed my arms over my chest, my gaze never leaving hers.
She let out a sigh before returning her gaze to me, "Sometimes your ability to detect deception scares me. Yes, when I accepted the contract, I had ulterior motives "Emilia stated
"And what did you hope to gain from this contract?" I asked, "so I can see you again without making people suspicious of our relationship?"
"For the love of everything sane Emilia, you can't be coming and going as you please Emilia, you can't be saying things like this, I'm married now and I love my wife," I said, and a frown formed on her face at my declaration, I don't understand why she was upset?, if she loved me, she wouldn't have left.
"However, does she love you?" Emilia asked, taking a brown envelope from her bag and handing it to me, her face now emotionless.
"What exactly is this?" I asked, but she didn't respond, so I checked the contents of the envelope, which contained photos of Tamara with Shane, one of her brother's best friends.
"Did you spy on my wife?" My brow furrowed, but what irritated me the most was Emilia's lack of remorse for her actions; instead, she bore a proud expression, this could land her in jail if I chose to press charges.
"She's making a fool of you, and you're allowing it, the old Damien I knew and loved would never be duped by a woman, even if he loves her, I know this from experience," Emilia said, her annoyed gaze fixed on me.
"They're just friends, Emilia, stop exaggerating, he's a friend of her brother," I said as I took a step towards her to intimidate her. "And lets get things straight, if you keep following Tamara, you and I will have a problem," I said menacingly, she won't ruin my plans because she is jealous, I won't let her.
"Friends don't go on romantic dinners together; this guy Shane made a reservation at Mario's tonight and I'm sure he'll take her; aren't you suspicious of their relationship?"
"No, I'm not because I trust my wife Emilia; friends can have dinner together; it doesn't mean she's cheating on me."
"Damien, are you so blinded by love that you can't see she's making a fool of you? It's only a matter of time before the press gets a hold of this Damien, what will you do then? She will destroy your reputation and everything you have worked so hard for."
"Are you trying to threaten me, Emilia?" I questioned my anger, who the fuck does she thinks she is?
"No, Damien, I would never do that, I love you, I'm just trying to save you, she doesn't deserve you, she can't love you like I can."
"Emilia, I don't need your help or your love, Tamara and I can work out our problems together, my love for you died a long time ago after you left without saying anything," I said, hoping she'd get the hint and leave me alone, I can't have her ruining things for me like she had in the past, but as I was about to leave, the next thing that came out of her mouth stopped me as I turned to face her shocked and pissed.
"I know this marriage isn't real, it's just a ruse to keep the company because your grandfather threatened you," she said confidently. She has balls, I'll give her that, but she doesn't realize I'm not the old Damien she remembers.
"What are you talking about, Emilia?" I pretended I had no idea what she was talking about, but first and foremost, how the fuck did she find out about the contract?
"Don't play dumb with me, Damien; I have proof."
"If what you're saying is true, Emilia, do you think you can manipulate me to do your bidding with this information?" I questioned as I stalked towards her, my gaze never leaving hers, and watched as she took steps backwards until she was stopped by the table behind her.
"Damien, you're scaring me; why are you behaving this way toward me? I'm just trying to help you."
"Good, you should be scared, Emilia, you think you can come in here and do whatever you want, manipulation doesn't suit you love, leave that to people like me."
"I didn't do it to manipulate or threaten you, paranoid jerk," Emilia said, slightly raised voice.
"So, why did you come here if not to threaten or manipulate me, Emilia?"
"Answer me"
"I don't know, I'm sorry, I just thought," Emilia stammered.
"You just thought what Emilia"
"That if I showed you that she doesn't love you and that I am aware of the fake marriage, you will give me another chance."
"Hmm, let's say I give you another chance; would you do everything I tell you to do, no questions asked?"
"Yes," she says. "Hmm, would you give up modeling to marry me after I divorce Tamara?"
"I will do anything for you, Damien, because I love you." She responded immediately with her hurt gaze on me, and I watched her for a few minutes before responding to her declaration.
"Oh well, Emilia, I just have one thing to say to you: forget about anything happening between us because it's not going to happen, so leave while I'm still accommodating."
"But Damien, I beg you, I beg you, I love you, don't do this to me."
"Well you should've thought about this before you kept me with a broken heart, if you didn't leave you would've been in Tamara's place instead, I'm done talking and you better not try to use any of this against me because Emilia I promise you, if you try shit I will ruin you and no one will be able to salvage your reputation," I said as I left her standing in the boardroom, because I wasn't ready to deal with Tamara after what Emilia had showed me I went to a bar instead.