The three arrived at a reserved private room where the emergency meeting was held.

Although Blare holds the highest stock of the Emperio, she cannot ignore the concerns of the stockholders.

Lance stood outside while Rhieanne stood by the door inside. Blare roam her eyes and saw exactly 10 people who invested in her business.

"I apologize for being late." Blare's monotone voice filled the silent room.

She sat at the end of the long table and plastered a confident smile.

"Let's begin."

As soon as her words fell out, a bald man in his 50s sighs.

The bald man disgruntled. "Ms. Winterburn, I'm afraid that the money I invested will turn into dust."

Blare's confident smile did not falter. She gazed at the bald man with scrutiny. "Mr. Jacques, I assure you I have everything under control."

She softly sighs in distress as she continued to speak. "Which is why I think this meeting is very useless."

Another old man with a chubby physique angrily voiced his thoughts. "You're project will undoubtedly turn unsuccessful because of your scandals! Yet you're speaking as if you have your dirt under control!"

He mockingly added, "Right. It's impossible for a spoiled brat like you to ever run a business. Now I'm certain that I will sell my stocks."

Blare laughed in amusement, which stunned the chubby man.

"You seem to know me very well, Mr. Gilles. (chuckles) Very well, It's your stocks in the company. Naturally, you can handle it however you want."

The chubby old man - Mr. Gilles - smirked. He looked around the rest of the investors but noticed that none of them seems to care.

"Are we done?" A well-built man spoke as she eyed Blare.

Blare's eyes roamed again. Aside from the one who asked her with doubt and the other with enmity, the rest did not look enthusiastic.

She then turned her attention to the bald man, Mr. Jacques who noticed that the majority of the investors stayed silent and unconcerned.

"Are you also going to sell your stocks, Mr. Jacques?"

Jacques creased his brows in confusion. He answered with uncertainty. "N-No..."

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Blare tilts her head to the side and asked him again. "Are you sure?"

"Y-Yes."

Before Gilles could say anything, Blare announced, "Then, the meeting is adjourned. I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time."

Blare's tone sounded completely bored which angered Gilles. Added to his anger was the investors' departure. However, he did not get another chance to talk as Blare walked out with Rhieanne.

They swiftly left the room together with Lance.

Blare muttered while walking, "Lance, investigate them all. Some of them might sell it without a word."

Lance nodded, he took a taxi and starts preparing to investigate and hire a private detective.

Only Rhieanne and Blare hop on the car. Blare decided to take a room in a hotel with tight security.

While Rhieanne was driving, she occasionally peaks at Blare.

Blare noticed her gaze and asked, "What?"

"I noticed that the rest of the stockholders doesn't seem to care about the meeting... Yet, they still attended." Rhieanne replied.

"... It was a test." Blare said in an indifferent tone.

Rhieanne's look at her in confusion.

"Although you're good at persuading, you can't actually read all people huh." Blare stifled a laugh.

Rhieanne huffed and rolled her eyes. "I can't read business-driven people like you. So it would very much help me if you could explain."

Blare giggled and vaguely told, "There may be a lot of reasons. But mainly, I think its because the rest of them either didn't meet me personally, did not know if I was competent to handle the company... or both."

Rhieanne was quick to catch on. "If that's the case, then the meeting now is to get them to have a favourable impression to you."

"You got it."

Rhieanne snorted in response.

_________________

Blare reached the hotel while Rhieanne drove back in the apartment building.

After showering, her phone for business rang and showed an unknown caller ID. She let it rang a few more times before picking up the call and putting it on speakerphone.

Blare did not speak and waited for the other party to talk.

"Hello?"

A familiar voice of a man talked.

"Who are you?" She asked.

There was a short silence before the man answered, "Your brother, Harry."

Blare was startled for a moment but regained her calm. She apathetically said, "I have no brother."

Silence followed. Expecting no answer, Blare decided to end the call and block his phone number.

Before she could do so, the man blurted out, "Your little brother."

Blare's lips parted in surprise as she stared at her phone. She couldn't tell if the proud half brother of Lilith was joking or was actually serious.

"Hello?" Harry asked again.

Blare softly sighs. "Why are calling me?"

"Family dinner at the mansion tomorrow. 6:30 in the evening."

"I'm busy."

"... You have to come. We'll be waiting."

"I have no time----"

The other party ended the call. Blare snickered and crossed her arms.

She mumbled, "Why would I go?"

As if on cue, she remembered Lilith's last wish. She bit her lower lip then finally resigned as she sighed.

"Fine!"

Blare and Lilith did not like Harry and Matilda. But the original owner of the body wanted to have a civil relationship with them.

Maybe it was because of stubbornness that Lilith was reluctant yet willing to actually go at the family's dinner.

Since they share each other's emotions, Blare was able to tell whatever feelings Lilith might hold. Frankly, Blare did not feel enthusiastic when she heard about the family's dinner.

She thought, 'If they can't be reasoned with, then I won't force fixing whatever was broken in the first place... But if they've become civil, then that's a win-win situation for the family.'

Blare slept early that day to mentally and emotionally prepare herself for tomorrow.