Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Don’t Worry
“What is it?” Dimitri asked.

He held the car door open still, waiting for Amelia to board, but she stood rooted to her spot. Horror bled through her face as she stared at her phone screen, and Matteo resisted the urge to just bend over to look at what it was that had caught her stupefied like that.

Thankfully, there wasn’t a need to. Amelia pivoted the phone slightly so that Matteo could see the contents without having to sneak around. As his eyes quickly scanned the short message, Amelia had already turned into a mess.

“I need to go see my dad!” she said. Then, horror scorched through her body from head to toe. She stared wide-eyed at Matteo. “Do you think it’s Emmeline? Maybe that’s what the call was about.”

“No,” Matteo said almost immediately, which made Amelia wrinkle her nose.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked. After all, Emmeline had no alibi.

“Because,” Matteo said, “it’s too obvious. She wouldn’t have dared. Especially not after her attempt at your life was botched in Lesterat. Your grandfather has his eyes peeled, making sure she doesn’t pull the same tricks again.”

“Dimitri is supposed to be here tonight,” Amelia muttered. “I saw him just now speaking to Carlo and some of the other kids who were selected to attend the event tonight.”

“We could check with him directly,” Matteo offered.

Amelia nodded. But at the same time, her fingers did not rest. She quickly dialed her father’s number and waited impatiently as the call beeped again and again. Finally, when it connected, she heaved out a sigh of relief.

“Dad!” she called, trying to keep her voice steady. She exchanged a glance with Matteo before her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “How are you feeling? Have you had dinner?”

“Millie!” came her father’s voice from the other end of the line. “I… Yes, I just had dinner. Dimitri left some dishes at home before he left for your event. How is it, my dear?”

Matteo, who could faintly hear bits of their conversation through the phone speaker, frowned. He said nothing, however, and waited for Amelia to reply.

“It went wonderful,” Amelia briefly said. “But that’s not the point.”

She couldn’t help but notice her father’s voice sounded much more exhausted than usual. It wasn’t that late yet. He shouldn’t have been getting ready for bed at this hour, so it couldn’t be that.

“I heard from Dimitri that you got injured?” she asked. If she didn’t, she doubted her father would tell her anything. He was more than happy to keep her in the dark if it meant she didn’t have to worry. The same went for her mother.

“That boy…” Michael trailed off with a pained chuckle. “Couldn’t keep a secret even if it killed him.”

“What happened?” Amelia asked.

“Nothing, Millie,” Michael Kentwood said. “I’m an old man. These old bones aren’t working as they used to, and sometimes I forget that.”

“Dad…”

“It’s just a bruise, sweetie,” he insisted. “It will go away in a couple of days. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Amelia’s lips parted, about to reply when Michael Kentwood spoke again.

“It’s getting late,” her father said from the other end of the line. “I’m heading to bed. Feeling a little under the weather tonight. Get home safe, Millie.”

Then, as though he was trying to escape, Michael Kentwood hung up the call before Amelia could even put in another word. She was met with the cold ringtone of a disconnected line, and Amelia slowly peeled her phone away from her ear to stare at her screen, flabbergasted.

“Totally not suspicious at all,” she muttered bitterly under her breath, scowling.

“Your father wouldn’t want you to worry,” Matteo gently said. “So why not ask the person who provided you the news?”

He gestured behind her, and as she turned around, Amelia was met with Ronan and Dimitri. The former waved enthusiastically while Dimitri merely nodded when he made eye contact with Amelia. Together, the two brothers quickly made their way over.

“Congratulations on your event, Amelia,” Ronan said once he was within arm’s reach. “I would’ve wished you earlier, but you seemed a little busy tailing your beloved cousin.”

Amelia made a face, but nevertheless, wore a smile. “Thank you, Ronan. I shall forgive you for your transgressions,” she said. “That was a horrible statement to make, to describe Emmeline as ‘beloved’.”

“I’m sure she was a doll,” he said, chuckling.

On the other hand, Dimitri was much more serious.

“Is this about Amelia’s father?” he asked, turning to Matteo rather than addressing Amelia directly.

She looked back and forth between Matteo and Dimitri confusedly. Matteo moved over, placing a hand on the small of her back. Leaning down, he said, “I dropped Ronan a message while you were on call with your father.”

Amelia nodded grimly, then met Dimitri’s eyes.

“I got your text,” she said. “If you’re here, how did you know my father’s injured?”

“There are security cameras installed at home,” Dimitri plainly said. “You saw them, didn’t you? When you stayed over.”

Amelia made an ‘o’ shape with her lips as she glanced at Ronan for confirmation. She, in fact, did not. Even if she had, the matter slipped her mind completely. However, it made sense to have cameras placed around the common areas of the apartment, especially since they had much to protect.

Dimitri pulled out his phone and tapped a few times. Then, he turned the phone so that Amelia could look at the screen. There her father was, sitting on the living room couch with the first aid box placed in front of him. A few of the supplies were out on the coffee table while he held a bag of ice to his head.

Amelia’s face paled at the sight of her father. The time stamp at the bottom right of the screen displayed the time the video was taken― right now. This was live footage.

“I was just looking when I noticed your father was searching for something around the house,” Dimitri explained. “When he neared the cameras, I saw this.”

With a pinch and a spread, the image enlarged to zoom closer into Michael Kentwood’s face. It wasn’t a state-of-the-art camera, but it zoomed in close enough that Amelia could see the giant bruise her father spotted on his face. There was a cut on his lip and a black eye, with splotches of discoloration peppering his cheek and a part of his forehead.

“He told me he tripped and fell,” Amelia murmured under her breath. “Not that I believed it.”

“Does it look like a simple fall to you?” Dimitri said, sighing. “He left the house in the afternoon. I didn’t catch him returning before I had to leave, but my guess is that he met that uncle of yours.”