Damian watched as the blonde woman, along with Mónica, stopped dragging her and it was Mónica who started dragging her.

"Dad, do you remember Susan? You met her when you went to pick me up from school several times," Mónica said, smiling as she pushed Susan in front of her.

"I remember her," Damian said, smiling at Susan.

"How are you?" Damian asked kindly.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Susan said, with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Did you come with your family?" Damian asked. Susan was around the same age as Mónica, about 25 years old, so it was strange for her to come to this kind of event.

"Uh... I came with my aunt," Susan said, with a somewhat rigid smile.

"My parents died," Susan said, seeing Mónica look at her vague words.

"What!?" Mónica exclaimed in astonishment.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Mónica said, looking at Susan.

"My mother died six years ago, my father started drinking and gambling, and he eventually died of a heart attack," Susan said sadly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you during those times," Mónica said, hugging Susan as her eyes turned red.

"Hm, it's okay," Susan said, shaking her head.

"At that time, our relationship became somewhat awkward, and I know it wasn't your fault," Susan said, smiling tearfully at Mónica.

"I distanced myself from you even though you tried to get closer to me, forgive me," Susan said.

"It's okay, I understand the reason, it must have been difficult for you too," Mónica said, smiling at her.

"You're too kind," Susan said, shaking her head.

"We've known each other for almost 20 years, I know you're also a kind woman," Mónica said, smiling as she wiped Susan's tears.

Damian watched the situation somewhat speechless, anything he said would be out of place since he didn't really know Susan that well.

He was just calm, not doing anything to anyone, why did they have to put him in this situation?

Still, he put on a friendly expression as he thought of something to change the mood.

"I'm sorry you see me in this kind of situation," Susan said, embarrassed as she looked at Damian.

"It's okay, seeing a beautiful woman cry is one of my guilty pleasures," Damian said, smiling at her before laughing at her shocked expression.

"Pff," Mónica couldn't bear it either and burst out laughing at Susan's expression.

"I thought you were more serious," Susan said, laughing softly after recovering.

"Not really," Damian said.

"By the way, have you heard anything from Emma?" Mónica asked.

"No, she went to London after school, and I haven't heard from her since then," Susan said, shaking her head.

"Hm," Mónica nodded before looking at her father.

"Dad, can I invite Susan to stay at our house?" Mónica asked, acting adorably.

Damian couldn't help but smile as he looked at Mónica, she reminded him of when she was little and asked for something in the same way.

"Of course, sweetheart, as long as Susan wants to," Damian said, smiling.

"I don't know, I'm staying with my aunt now, and I don't want to leave my brother alone. What if we do it another day?" Susan said, somewhat embarrassed to reject them.

"Come on, don't be so polite, if you can't, then it's fine," Mónica said, laughing as she playfully slapped her arm.

"Girls, I'll leave you to chat," Damian said, smiling at the two young women before walking towards Sophia, who had been left alone.

...

Tony walked with Pepper to the center of the hall before starting to dance with her among other people.

"Tony, everyone is looking at us," Pepper said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Are you uncomfortable?" Tony asked softly.

"No, it's just that dancing with my boss in a low-cut dress in front of my coworkers is not something I would want to do," Pepper said with a strained smile.

"I think you look beautiful," Tony said, smiling at her.

Pepper smiled as she danced gently with Tony.

"Damian came with Sophia and Mónica," Pepper said.

"Really? I didn't see them," Tony said, looking around a bit.

"You didn't even see Damian, what were you thinking?" Pepper asked with a playful smile.

"Hm, maybe there was a beautiful back occupying my thoughts," Tony said, smiling as he raised his hand from Pepper's waist and ran it over the skin of her back.

"Tony!" Pepper exclaimed quietly as she gently took Tony's hand and placed it back on her waist.

"There are people watching us," Pepper said, embarrassed.

"I could fire you if it makes you feel better," Tony joked with a smile.

"I don't think you'd survive a week without me," Pepper said, smiling.

"Maybe," Tony said, smiling as he admitted it and leaned a little closer to Pepper.

Their gazes met, and like two magnets, they started to draw closer.

Pepper also leaned a little closer to Tony, and just before their lips touched, Pepper quickly pulled back.

"How about we get some fresh air?" Pepper said, with a blush on her face.

"Yes, let's go outside," Tony said, nodding eagerly, wanting to continue what they were about to do.

Both walked to an empty balcony before they started flirting with each other again.

Gradually, they started to draw closer again as Pepper looked into Tony's eyes.

Finally, Pepper took the final step and pressed her lips against Tony's.

Pepper parted her lips from Tony's while keeping her eyes closed, took a deep breath, and looked at Tony.

"I want a drink," Pepper said.

"Sure," Tony nodded absentmindedly, still gazing at Pepper's lips.

"I want double olives," Pepper said, sighing.

"I'll be right back," Tony nodded as he absentmindedly walked away.

Tony walked to the bar and ordered two drinks.

At that moment, Christine approached him.

"Well, Tony Stark," Christine said, greeting him in a somewhat mocking tone.

"Oh, hey, Catherine?" Tony said with an awkward smile.

"Christine," she said, almost through gritted teeth.

"I knew there was a relationship with the C and the H," Tony said jokingly, not really caring that he couldn't remember her name.

"I just came to tell you that you're a liar, I almost believed that whole story," Christine said.

"I was away for a few months, in case you didn't know," Tony said, looking at Christine like she was crazy because he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Weren't you going to cancel the arms deal?" Christine asked mockingly.

"Do you know a town called Gulmira?" Christine asked as she searched for some photos in her purse and handed them to Tony.

Tony looked at the photos in astonishment, especially when he saw a slightly fat, bearded man.

"When are these from?" Tony asked with a serious voice.

"From yesterday," Christine said.

"I didn't order this," Tony said, furrowing his brow.

"Your company did," Christine said.

"It seems like I'm not my company," Tony murmured with a grave expression.

Tony began walking towards the exit of the venue while taking out his phone and sending a message to Damian, asking him to take care of Pepper and take her home.

It looks like it will be really busy that night

Christine followed Tony with curiosity as his reactions were quite unusual.

Tony walked around until he found Obadiah and approached him with a displeased expression.

"Tony, is something wrong?" Obadiah asked with his usual cheerful expression.

"Have you seen these photos? What is going on?" Tony asked angrily, feeling insulted that his own company would do this after what he had said.

"Come on, Tony, we can't be so naive," Obadiah said, trying to calm him down.

"We sell weapons, not toys."

"Naive? I was naive when I didn't thoroughly supervise the company after clearly stating that we wouldn't sell weapons anymore," Tony said furiously.

"I thought I could trust you to oversee everything," Tony said.

Obadiah looked at Tony and sighed, realizing that he can no longer keep up the act.

"Tony, who do you think tried to push you out of the company? I was the one who requested your replacement," Obadiah said, looking at Tony.

"If it weren't for Damian supporting you, you would have lost control," Obadiah calmly said.

"I did it to protect you, Tony," Obadiah said in a somewhat mocking tone before walking away.

Tony couldn't help but freeze upon hearing everything Obadiah said. He always thought of him as his most trusted partner, someone who could run the company in his absence, but it turned out to be another stab in the back.

Collecting himself, Tony searched for his car and drove home quickly.

While driving, he called Yinsen. They had been in occasional contact over the months, and now that he knew what was happening in Gulmira, he couldn't help but worry.

"Hello?" Tony said as the call connected.

"Hi, Tony," Yinsen said.

"Yinsen, I heard about what's happening in Gulmira," Tony said, feeling somewhat embarrassed about the situation.

"Yes," Yinsen sighed.

"I've been trying to find help, but even though there are people who want to assist me, they can't. The Ten Rings is a very powerful organization that primarily operates in Asia," Yinsen said.

"The ones in Afghanistan use the same name and appear to be a branch, so nobody dares to interfere too much," Yinsen said.

"Don't worry, I'll do something about it," Tony said before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Tony parked his car in the garage and began talking to Jarvis.

"Jarvis, is Mark 3 ready?" Tony asked as he sat down.

"It will be ready tomorrow," Jarvis replied.

"Good, give me something to do," Tony said as he started working on the armor.

...

Damian glanced at the message on his phone as he watched Tony leave the building.

He couldn't help but sigh as he walked over to Pepper.

After bidding farewell to Monica and Susan, he spent some time with Sophia.

"Hello, Pepper," Damian said with a smile.

"Hi, Damian," Pepper replied with a friendly smile.

"I see you were having a good time," Damian said mischievously.

"Oh my God, don't tell me everyone saw us," Pepper said, covering her cheeks with her hands, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, just as you were about to kiss, I broke a glass to get everyone's attention," Damian joked as he laughed.

"By the way, Pepper, there was an emergency and Tony had to leave. He asked me to take you home," Damian said, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

"An emergency? Is he okay?" Pepper asked, confused and furrowing her brow.

"Well, he's physically fine, but maybe not mentally. He received some bad news," Damian said.

"Should I go see him?" Pepper murmured to herself, wondering.

"Yes, you should go see him tomorrow. I'm sure he has to explain why he left out of nowhere and left you alone," Damian said, smiling at her.

"Then I'll wait for you to take me," Pepper said, nodding as her mind began to create scenarios for why Tony had left.

"Sophia is over there. If you want, you can sit next to her. I think we'll leave soon too," Damian said, smiling at Pepper.

"Alright," Pepper said, nodding.

Damian looked at her and couldn't help but shake his head with an ironic smile. Although Pepper didn't show it, he could sense that she was somewhat sad about the situation.

A while later, Monica finally approached Damian and told him she was ready to leave.

So Damian went to fetch Sophia and Pepper before leaving the building.

Damian had already sent a message to his AI to wait at the entrance.

When they stepped out, the limousine was already parked, and Damian opened the door for the three women to get in before getting in himself.

"Can you tell me your address?" Damian asked Pepper.

"Sure," Pepper said before providing him with the address.

A few minutes later, Damian dropped Pepper off at her doorstep and, after making sure she entered safely, he left.

The vehicle drove through less crowded areas before disappearing and reappearing at his house in New York.

The three of them got out of the car while chatting.

Sophia was recounting the interaction she had witnessed between Christine and Tony.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Tony will do something about it," Damian said.

"He looked quite serious," Sophia said.

"And how did it go with your friend?" Damian asked Monica.

"Good, we're going out together tomorrow," Monica said with a smile.

"That's great," Damian said, stroking her hair.

When they entered the house, they were greeted by the three little girls who didn't want to go to sleep without saying goodbye.

Carol and Ana also arrived to greet them.

Damian just smiled and embraced them.

"Did you do something interesting while I was away?" Damian asked, giving them kisses on the cheek.

"We played a game to see who could lift the cars in the garage," Alice said with a cute smile.

"Uh?"

"Pff," Carol burst into laughter at Damian's expression.

"In the end, we couldn't do it. We only lifted a little on one side," Ivy said, pouting.

Damian took several seconds to recover before smiling ironically at them.

"I see that my girls are very strong," Damian said, kissing them.

"You've greeted your father, it's time to sleep," Ana said to the girls. It was already quite late.

The girls pouted but obediently nodded.

"Come on, I'll tuck you into bed," Damian said, smiling at them as he walked to his room with the three girls in his arms.

"How did it go?" Carol asked with a smile when Damian left.

"Good, it wasn't bad to change the environment," Sophia said with a slight smile.

"I reunited with my friend again," Monica said.

"Did the press bother you?" Ana asked Sophia.

"No, but I actually met a journalist who asked me some questions," Sophia said, chuckling.

"That smile seems like the kind that will give Damian headaches," Carol said, laughing.

"Perhaps," Sophia said with a smile.

----

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