Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 157

Chapter 157: Let Results Speak
“Billions? You think too highly of yourself,” Caleb snarled. Matteo Montgomery was clearly exaggerating his own abilities to prove a point. Besides, of course Matteo Montgomery would refute his offer.

No matter how lucrative a partnership with Rutherworkes was, the social and financial capital Amelia would provide Matteo with after their marriage would far outclass it in the long run. He could only clap mockingly in response.

“Cut the act, Matteo. I know exactly what you’re playing at. You can pretend to be a devoted partner all you like, but you and I both know that if Amelia here weren’t a Hawthorne heiress, you would have traded her away in a flash.”

Matteo’s eyes narrowed with intense dislike. Scratch that, the dislike had now fermented into potent hatred. He wanted nothing more than to rub Caleb’s smug face into the carpet, but that would cause more trouble for the cleaning staff.

So he merely raised his eyebrow and retorted, “Save your imbecilic projections for the actual market and not on my relationship with Amelia.”

Amelia couldn’t help the brief smile that bloomed at his words. Matteo’s fervent defense of her was a balm to her aching heart. Caleb was definitely projecting indeed. He was trying to accuse Matteo of actions he himself had taken.

Truly, Amelia must have killed puppies in her past life to have been saddled with a husband like him.

But if she had not married Caleb, she would not have met Matteo. And that would have been a shame.

“Imbecilic projections―” Caleb gnashed his teeth before he caught sight of the computer screens and a mean grin crossed his face. Even to his untrained eyes, the results of Carlo’s statistical graph were completely different from those of his peers.

Matteo may have won with Amelia, but when it came to Carlo, he had betted on the wrong horse!

“We’ll see whose projections are faulty at the end of it.” Caleb smirked.

Amelia glanced at Matteo, and then at Carlo. There was no mistaking her worried gaze, but Matteo only looked at the screen with placid calm, before gazing back at his watch.

“Five more minutes,” he instructed, and the interns buried their faces deeper into their laptops.

Amelia’s heart began to race as she stared at the clock. Her palms were getting sweaty, and she wasn’t even the one being tested! Yet, her nerves had failed to get the memo, causing her entire body to tense up.

Matteo wrapped his hand around her own and squeezed. Amelia met his eyes and felt the anxiety clamped around her heart loosen, just the tiniest bit. If Matteo wasn’t worried, then she didn’t have any reason to worry either.

“Time’s up,” Matteo declared. “You’ll present your findings one at a time. Penelope Adler, you’ll present first.”

The woman he addressed seemed more like a girl, and there was no mistaking the paleness of her face. However, she sucked in a deep breath and still made her way to the front to begin her presentation.

It lasted barely five minutes, and then Matteo called the next one. Carlo was fidgeting in his seat with impatience. He wondered if Matteo Montgomery had deliberately chosen him to present last, as a form of prolonged torture for him and for his own twisted amusement.

He didn’t want to think the worst of someone Amelia had chosen, but how could he not? Matteo Montgomery had effectively advertised to everyone that Carlo was a bastard son!

Well, since it has come to this point. Carlo might as well go out with a bang. He looked at his report; if Matteo was going to humiliate him, he would stuff all the papers up his rich CEO ass or die trying.

Finally, it was his turn to present. Carlo cleared his throat as he went up to the front, only to be faced with a highly unsupportive audience. He could tell they were simply vultures lying in wait, simply waiting for him to fuck up.

Except for Amelia. She gave him two tiny thumbs up to encourage him, and a wellspring of courage coursed through him. He opened his mouth to speak, presenting his data. Matteo Montgomery’s face was blank, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Well. Fine then. Carlo would simply have to let Matteo know what he thought about his data. If it was based on his company, then X’el was fucked and Amelia should divorce him before it was too late― all he saw was a company that was going to nosedive into the red in a couple of years.

The investments they made did not net any positive returns, despite whatever pretty figures the tables had. Carlo could have wiped his ass on the cash wasted on whatever marketing plan they used and flushed it down the toilet bowl, and he would still net a better result.

So that’s what he said after he presented his findings. Despite the figures looking very pretty at first glance, it was nothing more than window dressing.

When he finished his report, the room was enveloped in a stunned silence.

Then Caleb clapped his hands. “Oh Matteo, now I see why you brought him on― you needed office entertainment! I take back everything I said about you. You’re very good at toying with the hearts and minds of people, aren’t you? Amelia, don’t be fooled by his kind actions!”

Amelia’s eyes were wide as she stared at Carlo, and then at Matteo, who ignored Caleb’s words.

“Thank you for your presentations. I will now be delivering my results.” Matteo opened his own document, and gasps of surprise filled the room.

His graph was the most similar to Carlo’s. “As you can see, only Carlo has managed to achieve any sort of similarity.”

“This is outrageous!” Caleb exclaimed, and the other interns agreed. “You just faked this, didn’t you?”

“When would I have faked this?” Matteo asked, “I was here the whole time, stopping you from disrespecting my fiancée.”