The air in the dining hall had turned thick with tension, but Crescentia refused to let herself be swallowed by it.
"You're right," she finally said, her voice steady despite the fire burning in her chest. "My father is dead. But I would ask that you respect the dead."
Mira's eyes widened in disbelief.
'Did this girl just lecture me?' Her lips pressed into a thin line, insulted beyond words. She turned expectantly to Damian, waiting for him to reprimand Crescentia. But Damian? He was too busy cutting into his chicken to care.
"What makes you think you can speak to my mother like that?" a cold voice cut through the air.
Sebastian Lorenzo. Damian's elder brother. His glare was sharp, his displeasure obvious. His wife, seated beside him, looked completely disinterested, her expression vacant as if she wished she were anywhere but here.
Crescentia met his gaze. "I apologize if you're offended, but I won't sit still and watch you disrespect my family."
Sebastian's glare darkened. The hostility he felt toward her was clear, unfiltered.
"Will you look at that, Damian?" he scoffed. "You bring your girlfriend to our home for the first time, and she insults Mother, yet you sit there without saying a word?"
Damian finally lifted his gaze, unimpressed. "If you don't like what you're hearing, then cut off your ears for all I care."
Sebastian's jaw tensed, his face twisting with anger.
"That's enough." The grandmother's voice sliced through the tension like a knife. Though her tone was calm, it carried an unspoken authority that silenced everyone.
Crescentia stole a glance at Damian. He had warned her beforehand not to say anything that wasn't necessary, not to get involved in conflicts she didn't need to. But she had no regrets. Not when they had the audacity to call her father a criminal.
Her father had never spoken much about his business dealings, never shared details of his work, and she had never cared to ask. But from the way the Lorenzos were reacting, it was obvious they had been rivals.
'Now I just have to hope Damian won't deduct the rest of my payment for this.'
"This is unacceptable, Damian," Rafael hissed through gritted teeth. His eyes flickered to Crescentia, filled with barely concealed disdain.
Damian leaned back in his seat lazily, finally acknowledging his father's presence. "I never asked you to accept it." His lips curled slightly, a smirk forming as he watched Rafael's face darken with rage. "You had problems with Federico. Not me. So I don't need to follow your rules like some lost puppy."
Sebastian's expression twitched, his fingers tightening around his utensils until the metal slightly bent. Even though Damian hadn't called him out directly, the insult was clear.
"That does it." The grandmother exhaled and gestured for a servant to help her up. "I'm going to my room. If you all want to claw each other's heads off, feel free." With that, she left, disappearing down the hallway.
Silence fell over the dining table once again.
Crescentia could hear the faint clinking of silverware from the other end, but her own appetite had completely vanished. This was supposed to be a simple dinner—a minor inconvenience she had to endure so Damian would pay her what he owed. Instead, it was spiraling into something much worse.
Sebastian's voice broke the silence. "Are you even sure she's your girlfriend? Or did you just pay her to act like one to piss off Father?"
Crescentia felt her heart skip a beat. 'Does he already know?'
Damian didn't even flinch. He simply sighed. "I'm tired. Believe what you want. I don't care."
That answer only infuriated Sebastian further. His grip on his utensils tightened as his knuckles turned white.
"I only came here because Grandma wanted to meet my girlfriend," Damian added. "Since she's no longer here, I think it's time for us to leave."
"Wait," Rafael interrupted. "I need to speak to you in private. About business."
Damian gave his father a knowing look. There was no business Rafael wanted to discuss—this was just an excuse to leave Crescentia alone with his mother and siblings. To let them interrogate her, intimidate her.
He could have refused. He could have easily ignored his father's request and taken Crescentia home.
But instead, he smirked.
"Fine." He pushed back his chair and stood. "If you say so." With that, he walked off, leaving Crescentia behind.
Her stomach twisted as she turned back to the table. Mira, Sebastian, and Selene were all staring at her now, their glares heavy with judgment.
Mira spoke first, her voice laced with thinly veiled disgust. "How did you manage to seduce my son?"
Crescentia blinked, taken aback. "Excuse me?"
"Damian has never brought a woman home before. Not once. And now, suddenly, he brings you?" Mira practically sneered the last word, as if Crescentia was a cockroach that had crawled into her pristine home.
Crescentia inhaled sharply. "I don't understand what you're implying."
"You really don't know what your father did to us?" Selene finally spoke, her voice calm but sharp. She had been silent this entire time, making Crescentia almost forget she was there. "Or are you just pretending to be stupid?"
Crescentia's hands curled into fists under the table.
"Your father was a criminal," Selene continued, her lips curling in amusement. "And who knows? Maybe he crossed the wrong person and got himself killed."
Something inside Crescentia snapped.
She had tried to remain composed. She had tried to ignore them. But the way they kept speaking about her father, as if he were nothing more than a stain in their perfect world, made her blood boil.
She exhaled slowly and turned to Selene.
"You've been awfully quiet all night," she noted. "Was it because you were too scared of Damian to speak?"
Selene's expression darkened.
Crescentia tilted her head, her voice turning almost mocking. "Your family is wealthy—you can buy anything you want. But unfortunately, you can't seem to buy common sense, Selene."
Sebastian's chair scraped against the floor as he straightened. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" His voice was low, but filled with warning.
His wife, sitting beside him, didn't bother intervening. If anything, she looked exasperated, as if she had seen this behavior from him one too many times.
Crescentia met Sebastian's gaze with a calm stare. "Did I stutter?"
Selene clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms.
"Listen to me, you little brat," Mira snapped, her voice sharp with authority. "You had better leave this house and never come back. I don't know what you did to manipulate Damian into bringing you here, but whatever scheme you're plotting—it won't work."
Crescentia met Mira's glare without blinking.
"Believe me," she said flatly. "I don't want to see your faces either."