Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 133

Chapter 133: Joshua
“I have secured a chance,” Amelia excitedly said as she walked into Daniella’s office. “I spoke with Matteo and my grandfather about this, and they’ve agreed to sponsor the kids’ college education if they’re able to meet a certain set of standards.”

It had been longer than Amelia had planned before she next stepped into the orphanage. Originally, she had planned on working for the Hope for Scholars Foundation right after she had returned. However, Matteo had insisted she stay home and rest before jumping in to do work.

Since then, she had been rotting at home all day. A week was more than enough for most of her already-fading bruises to disappear, and by the time that week ended, Amelia wasn’t willing to stay home and do nothing any longer.

“College education?” Daniella repeated as she looked up from her laptop screen. Then, her eyes lit up. “That’s wonderful!”

“Isn’t it?” Amelia grinned.

It wasn’t hard work― those two people were very easy to convince and were more than eager to help. She just had to beg her grandfather not to let Emmeline and her parents know about this, lest they try to sabotage things again.

“They will be sending people to their high schools sometime next month,” Amelia said. “There’s a soccer competition happening, isn’t there?”

Daniella nodded. “Jason will be participating,” she said. “To be frank, there will be coaches there from various leading colleges as well. They’re scouting for fresh blood, and if he performs well, he could get chosen by them.”

Then, her face fell.

“I am sensing a ‘but’,” Amelia said, her heart falling as well.

“Well, the boys aren’t planning to attend college,” Daniella admitted. “They are almost eighteen― when they reach the age, they will be sent out of the orphanage. At that time, college tuition wouldn’t be something they can afford to think about.”

“I’ve read the documents,” Amelia said, frowning. “The funds from Hope for Scholars were supposed to at least fund their first semester of college. Just enough for them to get on their own two feet.”

“That’s only if there was money in the funds,” Daniella said with a sigh. “The resources have been running dry, and in an attempt to keep the children in the lower grades afloat, the older ones eventually have been cut from funding. Most of them don’t show up for classes anyway, and they were eventually dropped from college even before funding ceased.”

She continued, “Hope for Scholars initially started so that the children could get the chance to go to school and establish some useful hobbies that could help them later in life. It gets difficult when no one here wants to go to school after the way they were treated when they tried to better themselves.”

Those words rested heavily in Amelia’s chest even as she left the orphanage. She had sorted out some details of a possible scholarship, but without the children showing determination to perform well, it would be difficult to convince the investors to put in more money.

Amelia bit her lip. Emmeline had taken a dump in this place and left the remains for her to clean up. No wonder she had been so eager to pass off this charity organization to Amelia― it was in shambles! There was nothing to save if the people didn’t want to be saved.

Shaking her head, Amelia walked out and onto the streets. She needed to think of a better way to gather money for the foundation without depending on her grandfather or Matteo’s funds.

Right as she was deep in her thoughts, Amelia bumped shoulders with someone, causing her to stumble back due to the impact.

“I’m sorry―”

“You’re Amelia Kentwood, aren’t you?” the man asked, causing Amelia’s eyebrows to immediately furrow. Then, she winced, squinting at the man before she recognized him.

“Don’t you remember me?” he asked. “I saw you just last week! At your father’s place!”

The man eagerly reached forward and held Amelia’s hands, gripping them so tightly that she couldn’t shake him off.

“Wait a minute―” she tried to say, but was talked over by the man.

“I’ve been trying to meet with your father, but he has refused to see me all those times I visited,” the man continued. Malice tainted his words, causing Amelia to take a step back in fright, but the man merely walked with her whenever she tried to back off. “It’s truly different to be rich. I didn’t realize he could afford to have security personnel now.”

“Excuse me, but―” With a sharp tug, Amelia yanked her hands out of the man’s grip. The ring she wore — an engagement ring from Matteo — sliced his palm from the sharp movement, causing him to hiss out in pain. “Do I know you?”

The man cradled his injured palm, but after seeing how Amelia seemed more keen in entertaining him than her father did, he all but forgot about the small bleeding slit in his palm. Instead, he stepped forward again, making a move of wanting to hold Amelia’s hands, only to grasp onto nothing when she continued to keep a distance between them.

“You don’t know me?” the man asked. “Well,” he then rolled his eyes, “I suppose Michael would be less than willing to tell his daughter about me after all that has happened.”

“You’re related to my father,” Amelia said.

It was more of an observation than what she knew for a fact, considering how her father refused to tell her anything. Over the last week, whatever she asked related to this man was immediately shot down. In the end, Amelia was forced to draw her own conclusions.

“I am Michael’s younger brother, Joshua,” the man said, providing the last puzzle piece Amelia needed to complete the picture. “That makes me your uncle.”

“I have no uncle,” Amelia said, frowning. If her father refused so vehemently to tell her about his family, then it had to be for good reason. While she didn’t know what those reasons were, she was told to stay away.

She reached into her purse and pulled out a small band-aid and alcohol swipe she carried with her at all times. Pressing it into the man’s uninjured hand, she said, “So sorry about the cut. Please take this.”

Then, Amelia sidestepped him and prepared to leave.

The man eagerly looked down at his hands, but when his gaze landed on the first aid items, his face fell.

“Wait!” he yelled after her. Then, Joshua’s hand latched onto Amelia’s arm, holding her in place. “We’re not done talking!”