Seraphina Quinn looked up, staring blankly into his eyes.
“And then?”
Damian Fairchild’s tone was mild.
“There is no ‘and then.’ At most, a night of intimacy.
After all, I have a family, and you’re unwilling to be a mistress.”
Seraphina Quinn had never considered being anyone’s mistress.
Even now, facing Damian Fairchild, she couldn’t help but be drawn to him.
But she knew a person had to have principles.
She pressed her lips together.
“You should go.”
Damian Fairchild handed her a business card.
“Seraphina Quinn, you underestimate your own beauty.
It’s your best weapon for making money.
Stop thinking about odd jobs all day and find some real work to do.”
Seraphina Quinn took the card.
It was for a famous film and television company in Aurelium—Sunrise Media.
‘Is Damian Fairchild telling me to…
become a star?
Does he want to be my backer?’
The entertainment industry isn’t short of beautiful, talented actresses with great skills.
What’s lacking is opportunity.
It all comes down to the backers behind the scenes.
“You want to sponsor me?”
Damian Fairchild replied, “Consider it a favor for building a cenotaph for me.
I’m just giving you a chance to audition.
Whether you can successfully sign with Sunrise Media depends on your own abilities.”
Seraphina Quinn had never considered a career in show business, but just as Damian Fairchild said, if she could successfully sign with Sunrise Media, her beauty would become her fastest way to make money.
Her son’s illness cost more than two hundred thousand a month.
The one million he had given her as a breakup fee wouldn’t last much longer.
With that in mind, Seraphina Quinn said, “You’re infuriating, and you demolished Quinn Manor, but I was the one who wronged you five years ago.
Now we’re even.
We don’t owe each other anything.”
Damian Fairchild grunted noncommittally and left without a backward glance.
Seraphina Quinn knew Damian Fairchild probably wouldn’t keep holding the events of five years ago over her head.
After all, that particular knot had been half-untied.
He had power, influence, and a family.
With him gone, their paths would most likely never cross again.
But the thought of their paths never crossing again, the thought of him waking up each morning with his lovely wife in his arms while she had nothing, sent a bitter chill through her heart.
She and he…
were no longer in the same world.
「The next day」
Seraphina Quinn had just gotten back to her rented apartment when Rhona Langley called.
Seraphina Quinn carefully replayed the events of last night.
At the critical moment, Rhona Langley had reined in her greed.
After learning that Damian Fairchild was also at Elysium, she had sent Seraphina to his room.
But even so, Rhona Langley had still used and schemed against her.
She didn’t want to answer.
When she didn’t answer, Rhona Langley and James Langley came to her door to apologize in person.
James Langley was covered in black and blue marks on his face and arms, as if he’d been beaten up or in a car accident.
Although Rhona Langley had no visible injuries, her complexion was terrible.
Rhona Langley was the first to speak.
“Miss Quinn, my cousin and I were blind.
We didn’t recognize a diamond in the rough.
If we’d known you were Mr.
Fairchild’s ex-wife, we wouldn’t have dared…
use you, not even if you beat us to death.”
James Langley quickly added his piece.
“That’s right, Miss Quinn!
If I had known you were someone important, I wouldn’t have dared to cross you even if I had nine lives.
You have no idea, that Gordon Warren was arrested first thing this morning.
The news is full of his scandals, and the Warren Family’s assets have been seized.
I looked into it—Mr.
Fairchild did it.”
He paused, hesitating before continuing.
“Rhona and I run a small business.
It wasn’t easy for us to get where we are today.
Our 3D medical printing technology has won major industry awards.
If Mr.
Fairchild really decides to retaliate, we’ll be completely finished…
Do you think…
could you possibly…”
After listening to their plea, Seraphina Quinn said impassively,
“It’s not me you fear.
And your apology isn’t sincere.
You fear power.
You’re bowing your heads and apologizing because a greater power is bearing down on you.
If I were just an ordinary woman, not Mr.
Fairchild’s ex-wife, would you be acting like this?”
Hearing this, James Langley and Rhona Langley knew this wouldn’t be resolved so easily.
At this, James Langley presented his backup plan.
“Miss Quinn, I was the one who encouraged Rhona to use you.
I’m the one who had impure motives.
How about this?
I’ll turn myself in to the police.
For the sake of Rhona’s daughter, could you please cut Rhona some slack and ask Mr.
Fairchild to spare her?”
Rhona Langley was a divorcée who had fought to build her career on her own.
The first time she’d resorted to crooked thinking, she had taken a huge fall.
Now, she was regretting it to her core.
After James Langley finished speaking, she quickly said to Seraphina Quinn,
“Miss Quinn, you know my daughter, Minnie, has a special condition.
If I go down too, I don’t know what will happen to her.
I’m begging you, for the sake of a struggling mother, can you please forgive me this one time?”
James Langley’s apology seemed sincere enough, and he was willing to turn himself in.
Seraphina Quinn was a mother too.
She understood Rhona Langley’s difficulties, so she agreed.
“I’ll…
try.”
Seraphina Quinn didn’t dare approach Damian Fairchild directly about this, so she contacted Seth Thorne instead.
After hearing her request, Seth Thorne relayed the matter to Damian Fairchild.
“Mr.
Fairchild, about Rhona Langley’s company…
should we still move against it?”
Damian Fairchild said, “You can leave her a way out, but she needs to be driven out of Aurelium.”
“Understood, Mr.
Fairchild.”
With that, Seth Thorne placed another document in front of Damian Fairchild.
“This is the investment contract for Sunrise Pictures.
The legal department has already reviewed it, and the terms are fine.
If you have no objections, finance can wire the funds this afternoon.”
Damian Fairchild didn’t look at the contract.
He picked up a golf club from the rack, weighed it in his hand, and then swung.
The ball went straight into the hole.
“Have finance arrange it.”
After sinking ten balls in a row, Damian Fairchild instructed Seth Thorne,
“Don’t let the people at Sunrise know about my relationship with Seraphina Quinn.
Everything should follow standard procedure.”
Seth Thorne responded respectfully, “Of course.” He paused.
“Mr.
Fairchild, there’s one more thing.
Miss Quinn’s aunt, Ms.
Sterling, has been asking about the Cathay Bank loan.
She wants to know when it will be approved and disbursed.”
Damian Fairchild frowned slightly.
After a few seconds of thought, he asked Seth Thorne, “Is she good to Seraphina Quinn?”
Seth Thorne replied, “Not particularly good, but not terribly bad either.
She…
seems to use Miss Quinn more than she cares for her, but she’s not completely heartless toward her.
When the Quinn Family went bankrupt, Ms.
Sterling did help out quite a bit.”
Damian Fairchild nodded.
“Go and give her a warning.
It’s not that Cathay Bank won’t approve their loan.
It’s that the project they’re contracted for has issues with corruption and cutting corners.
If they don’t clean that up, they’ll be the next Quinn Family.”
“Understood, Mr.
Fairchild.”
After Seth Thorne left, Damian Fairchild took a call.
It was from Fairchild in Kingsland.
Fairchild got straight to the point.
“I hear you’re keeping some disgraceful woman in Aurelium?”
Damian Fairchild’s eyes narrowed.
“Who’s been running their mouth in front of you?”
Fairchild snorted.
“I don’t care if it’s true or not, you need to handle it cleanly.
If you can’t bring yourself to do it, I’ll do it myself!”
Damian Fairchild’s expression changed.
“I know,” he said coldly.
After ending the call with Fairchild, Damian Fairchild immediately called Audrey Winslow’s phone and demanded in a cold voice,
“How did the old man in Kingsland find out about my private affairs here?
Did you open your big mouth?”