Chapter 3
Raymond's status was even higher than Emily had imagined.
Serenity gave Emily a satisfied look and said, "Come on, follow me inside."
Emily followed Serenity into the mansion, changed her shoes at the entrance, and walked into the living room.
As soon as Serenity sat down, she started grilling Emily about her and James.
Emily didn't hold back. The events of last night had caused such a stir that Serenity could easily find out, so there was no point in hiding it.
"We're done. He was only after me to win a bet. He never planned to marry me."
"What an idiot!" Serenity snapped.
Emily lowered her head and stayed quiet.
She knew Serenity was mad at her for not being able to win James over.
Serenity didn't care why James pursued Emily; she only blamed Emily for ruining the Phillips family's chance to climb up to the Smith family.
Seeing Emily remain silent, Serenity grew angrier. She stood up and slapped Emily across the face.
"You think James won't marry you, but Raymond will? What is the Carter family? Do you think they'd be interested in someone like you? I'm warning you, it doesn't matter why James pursued you; he's the best marriage prospect you can find. Otherwise, you'll have to follow my arrangements! Figure out what to do yourself!"
Follow her arrangements?
Just the thought of that old man made Emily feel sick.
The man’s youngest grandson was older than her. Marrying him? No way!
Emily gave Serenity a half-hearted response and turned to go upstairs to her room.
As soon as she closed the door, her body gave out, and she collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.
As tears silently fell, Emily told herself to hold on a little longer. Just a little longer, and she could escape Serenity's family.
She had already received a response from a company abroad and passed the initial interview.
As long as she passed the final interview, she could start working and get far away from this family.
Her phone kept ringing incessantly. Emily frowned and, despite her exhaustion, reached for her bag.
When she took out her phone, she saw that James had called her many times and sent dozens of WhatsApp voice messages.
She randomly clicked on one and heard James cursing her.
He called her a slut for seducing Raymond.
He sounded like a madman, probably using every curse word he knew.
Emily had no interest in listening to his insults one by one, so she deleted and blocked him with one click!
With the world suddenly quiet, she glanced at Raymond's contact in her friend list.
Raymond had added her contact when he dropped her off that morning.
Emily didn't bother him, turned off her phone, and hugged her pillow. Before long, she fell into a deep sleep.
In the following days, Emily was busy preparing for the final interview with the company abroad.
Because Raymond had dropped her off, Serenity stayed quiet for a while. However, when she saw that neither Raymond nor James had come to see Emily, she couldn't hold back any longer!
She started arranging blind dates for Emily again. But because many men who had previously coveted Emily's beauty had been turned away by Serenity using James as a shield, and then Emily was abandoned by James, Emily was now seen as damaged goods, making it hard to find a suitable match. Serenity had no choice but to take her to social events.
A beautiful woman, no matter where she goes, always becomes the center of attention.
Emily, meticulously dressed by Serenity, looked like a stunning rose blooming at the event.
Almost all the men’s eyes were on her, and her beauty became Serenity's tool for successful networking.
By the end of the event, Serenity had secured several cooperation invitations.
Emily, under Serenity's instructions, had added several men's contacts.
As the event was winding down, just when Emily thought this colorful social scene was finally coming to an end, Serenity pushed her towards a man.
"Mr. Parker, Emily is a good girl. Please take good care of her! No need to bring her back too early; the most important thing is that you have fun!"
Hearing this, Emily felt like she had fallen into an ice pit!
She had thought that with Raymond's deterrence, Serenity wouldn't target her for a while.
But unexpectedly, Serenity was so impatient that she directly treated her like a cheap commodity to be sold for profit when the blind dates didn't work out.
Before leaving, Serenity gave Emily a warning look.
Emily felt utterly hopeless. Her father had sold her to Serenity for money.
Now Serenity was selling her to other men for money.
"Ms. Johnson, you must be tired. Let's find a quiet place to rest!"
As soon as Serenity left, the man named Lawrence couldn't wait to take Emily away.
Without waiting for her response, he put his arm around her shoulder and started leading her out of the venue.
All around them were eyes watching the drama unfold, with many women looking at her with disdain.
Emily tried to push Lawrence's hand away, but he held her tightly, making it impossible to break free. She was about to be taken away.
In desperation, Emily cried out, "Mr. Parker..."
"What is it?" Holding such a beauty in his arms, Lawrence couldn't wait to see how she would behave in bed.
"Sorry, I drank a bit too much earlier and need to use the restroom."
Lawrence's eyes lit up, "Restroom? Sure, I'll go with you!"
He changed direction and started dragging Emily towards the restroom.
Emily guessed what Lawrence intended to do and was immediately terrified, breaking out in a cold sweat as he dragged her far away.
As they passed a row of private rooms, Emily didn't want to sit idly by. She noticed one room's door was unlocked, gritted her teeth, and kicked Lawrence, taking advantage of his momentary pain to push open the door and rush inside.
Emily closed the door behind her, leaning against it, pale and gasping for breath.
Once she calmed down a bit, she turned to apologize to the room's occupants, only to see a group of people staring at her with indescribable expressions.
Emily was speechless.
She looked at James sitting in the center and thought there couldn't be a more coincidental situation.
She was about to explain when James smirked.
The people sitting next to him were his friends, well aware of their situation.
Seeing her, they couldn't help but laugh.
"I told you she'd come running as soon as she heard James had a new girlfriend."
"Look at her outfit; she dressed exactly to James's taste!"
"James, what do you say?"
Emily then noticed a woman sitting next to James.
She was the complete opposite of Emily, pure and clean.
Everyone was watching James, waiting for his reaction.
James, with a cigarette in his mouth, casually blew out a smoke ring and turned to kiss the woman deeply.
Emily felt disgusted and turned to leave, only to bump into another man's chest.