Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 162: Asking for a Commission

Chapter 162: Asking for a Commission

Matthew Taylor has always been clear about keeping his professional and personal life separate.

He knows there are numerous ways to repay Emma Hart for her kindness without jeopardizing the future of his company.

Speaking earnestly, Matthew Taylor raises his hand again, "Mr. Sterling, it’s a pleasure to work with you!"

Their hands, firmly clasped together, symbolize the success of their collaboration.

On the way back, Emma Hart walks ahead with her head held high, clearly pleased with herself, while Damien Sterling’s face breaks into a smile.

"Don’t get too cocky, Emma Hart," he warns.

"Shouldn’t you be thanking me?" she retorts.

"Thank you for what?" he probes.

"For playing a crucial role in your partnership with Taylor Corporation," Emma says, looking up at Damien with pride.

"What role?" Damien asks coldly.

"Oh, forget it! Such ingratitude!" Emma turns away, pretending to be angry as she walks ahead.

Despite the partnership with Taylor Corporation coming to fruition and Matthew Taylor’s sincere statement that it wasn’t because of Emma, Damien knows that without her bravery, the deal might have fallen short.

In that sense, Emma truly did play a key role.

Catching up to the visibly upset Emma, Damien pulls her into an embrace and kisses her forehead, saying, "Consider this your reward."

Emma reaches up to touch her forehead, replying disdainfully, "You think this is enough to appease me? This should hardly count as a reward. It’s more like an invasion of personal space! I’m letting you off easy by not suing you!"

Hearing this, Damien, far from deterred, kisses her forehead again.

"Isn’t it natural to do something for your man?"

Emma pushes away from his embrace and steps back, asking, "How much money do you stand to make from your partnership with Taylor Corporation?"

"Why are you interested in that?" he counters.

"Just tell me. How much?"

After a moment’s thought, Damien answers, "Roughly a billion dollars, if we can expand our reach in the future."

Emma is astonished, "That much!"

Emma Hart had no concept of a billion dollars. To her, such a number was as abstract as the universe itself.

"Just tell me, how many fried chickens can that buy?" she asked, her tone a mix of curiosity and jest.

Damien Sterling paused, eyeing Emma with a look of bemused seriousness.

The connection she made between fried chicken and a billion dollars was baffling to him.

Her question, albeit odd, left him pondering.

"That could feed you for dozens, even hundreds of lifetimes!" he replied, trying to match her light-hearted approach.

Emma felt her question might have been somewhat naive. "Let’s not dwell on this. How about you give me one-thousandth of it?" she pondered aloud.

Quickly realizing even that fraction amounted to a staggering sum, she corrected herself, "No, make that one ten-thousandth."

After a moment, even that seemed too much for her.

Finally, she proposed, "How about one millionth of a percent as my commission? That seems fair."

Damien had never encountered such a unique negotiation.

"Why have you become so sensitive about money all of a sudden?" he inquired, intrigued by her sudden financial acumen.

Emma looked down, her voice softening. "Sensitive? I’m merely asking for what I’ve earned through my efforts. It’s not too much to ask for my due share, is it?"

She thought about the debt she owed Damien, a sum she figured might take lifetimes to repay.

Surely, requesting some compensation for her role wasn’t unreasonable. After all, how else would she manage to repay him?

Their mission was successfully concluded, and Emma looked forward to some well-deserved rest.

She had anticipated returning to a villa filled with the aroma of Mrs. Harris’s cooking, only to find out Mrs. Harris had taken leave due to personal matters.

With Damien’s high standards, finding a suitable replacement had proved challenging. Deciding it wasn’t worth the hassle, Damien resolved to wait for Mrs. Harris’s return.

Looking towards the kitchen, Emma felt a pang of hunger.

"What are we having for dinner? Should we go out?" she asked, too tired to entertain the idea of venturing outside.

"Why not just order takeout?" she suggested, only to be met with Damien’s disdainful glance.

The thought of resorting to takeout, something he seldom enjoyed or desired, was less than appealing.

"You’re a woman; why don’t you cook something?" he retorted.

Emma shot back, "And why don’t you cook something?"

"Because you’re the woman!" he insisted.

"And you’re the man!" Emma countered, both of them settling back onto the couch, neither willing to make the next move.

Emma was genuinely exhausted.

Hours passed, and the man’s patience far exceeded Emma Hart’s.

Defeated and somewhat reluctantly, Emma looked at the man and asked, "So, what do you want to eat? You feudal landlord from the past!"

"What did you say?" Damien Sterling reached out to pull Emma Hart closer, but she had already dashed away.

He couldn’t fathom what went on in her mind daily, always coming up with the most bizarre words.

"It should be me asking you, what can you cook?"

"I..." she hesitated for a moment, "Never mind, I’ll figure something out as I go."

Emma mumbled to herself as she walked into the kitchen, "It’s the 21st century, and yet we’re still dealing with this gender differentiation. Aren’t you supposed to be a successor of 21st-century socialism? A big landlord! A great demon!"

She opened the refrigerator to find it well-stocked with a variety of foods.

Choosing some vegetables, she eventually settled on tomatoes.

Emma decided to make her specialty dish: scrambled eggs with tomatoes, which is also one of the simplest dishes to prepare.

She got the rice cooking and then started on her scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Soon enough, Emma brought out a large bowl of the dish, considering two people, she used five tomatoes and eight eggs.

Damien Sterling walked over and looked at the huge serving of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, "Do you think we are pigs?"

Emma scratched her head, "I didn’t realize it would be so much."

Damien frowned at the dish, which lacked both appeal and fragrance, hesitant to even taste it.

If it lacked looks, smell, and taste, it must be a complete culinary disaster.

His frown remained as he heard a sudden exclamation from the kitchen.

"What happened?" he asked anxiously.

Moments later, Emma came out with the rice, which was a mix too thick to be soup but too thin to be properly cooked rice.

She laughingly and guiltily placed the bowl in front of Damien Sterling, "Just make do with this!"

Damien swore it was the most indescribably incomparable meal he had ever encountered in his more than twenty years of life.

Emma tried to explain, "I’m not usually this bad at cooking. But I’m really tired today, which is why I wasn’t at my best."

"With this level of skill, what difference does it make if you were at your best?" Damien commented disdainfully.