Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 27

Pictures of You
“No shit! Lucy, let me see!” The women clamored at her, for a chance to take a look at her phone, but Lucy held it out to Amelia, pointing a delicately manicured finger at her screen.

“Isn’t this you? Unless you actually have a secret twin sister stashed away somewhere…”

Amelia grabbed at her phone, her eyes wide with shock. The picture was clearly taken from a distance, yet its quality was undeniable― it featured Amelia, staring down at her phone in an oversized T-shirt, the delicate features of her face illuminated by the light from her phone screen.

“This… this…” Amelia’s fingers shook. How could she have been so foolish to forget that there was someone that had been following them? Whoever it was, they must have camped outside Matteo’s house the entire night, waiting for them to emerge.

And Amelia foolishly went outside to wait for her taxi to arrive. She wanted to slam her head against the restroom wall. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

“Where is this picture from?” Amelia demanded.

“Beats me,” Lucy said with a cavalier shrug. “But it’s all over the gossip sites. Lady Vanity reported on it first, and now everyone knows!”

Amelia’s blood froze; Lady Vanity was a notorious gossip site that focused on the lives of the rich and famous, yet the only reason why they hadn’t been sued to oblivion was that apparently, they claimed that they only reported the truth.

Since they have never lied nor have they trespassed on private property, it was impossible for the people they gossiped about to sue them.

Amelia scrolled up. The article stated that their sources had seen Matteo Montgomery’s newest secretary leaving his house in the wee hours of the morning after they attended the charity auction together. Nothing they reported was wrong, but they had written it in such a way that readers would be hard-pressed to think that there was nothing going on between the two of them.

Amelia’s own phone began to buzz with notifications. She spotted frantic messages from her father, but there was someone more terrifying who was calling her.

It was Matteo. Amelia picked up the phone, her heart in her throat.

“Where are you? Come to my office now.”

“Yes,” Amelia replied faintly, and then quickly shoved her way out, mumbling half-hearted apologies. The woman blocking her way let out an outraged screech, but Amelia ignored it in favor of running back to his office.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she felt the judgemental eyes of her colleagues. There was no way out of this mess, she was going to get fired by Matteo for causing him undue trouble. If he kept her, his reputation would be tarnished― it would make him look like a pervert preying on his employees. The easy, and right, solution would be to terminate her employment.

Amelia hoped her pay would still be pro-rated. She needed any money she could get.

“I’m sorry. I was in the washroom,” Amelia said with an apologetic bow as she entered his office. She chanced a quick look at his face and gulped at the stormy look in his eyes. His face was blacker than a thundercloud.

Matteo Montgomery was livid.

“Did you see the article posted by Lady Vanity?”

Amelia nodded weakly and said a mental prayer for herself. “I’m sorry, Mr. Montgomery, this is all my fault. I should not have waited outside your house… I thought…”

“Yes, it was foolish of you to not wait for me to wake. Now, everyone in the city seems to believe we are having an affair, and that I’m taking advantage of you,” Matteo said severely. “And have you forgotten that you agreed to call me by my name when we are alone, Amelia?”

Amelia’s mouth fell open. Surely there were more important things for him to worry about!

“In that case… Matteo, am I getting fired?” Amelia asked, steeling herself for the blow.

“Of course not,” Matteo retorted almost immediately. “You were not the one that waited outside my home for hours to snap an incriminating photo, so why should you have to shoulder the consequences? I will have the police and my lawyers punish whoever was responsible for this. I just wanted to ask how you were feeling.”

“I am fine,” Amelia said automatically, even if she would rather lie down in front of a moving bulldozer at that very moment. “If I’m not fired, can I go back to work?”

Then came a knock on the door.

“Just in time,” Matteo muttered, and the door opened to reveal a boyishly handsome man with messy dark brown hair, and a pair of stunning green eyes framed with wire-rim glasses. He would have looked nerdy, if not for the fact that his body was muscled.

“Matteo, what is the meaning of this?” The stranger demanded the moment the door slammed shut. “I go on one holiday and I find out you’ve been sleeping with my replacement? Seriously Matteo, could you not restrain yourself?”

Amelia’s eyes widened. His replacement… this must be Ronan!

“I am not sleeping with her,” Matteo said with a roll of his eyes. “Lady Vanity is reporting garbage as usual.”

Ronan narrowed his eyes and then glanced at Amelia, who nodded in agreement.

“There’s nothing between Mr. Montgomery and I,” she insisted.

“Then was the photo doctored?” Ronan asked hopefully. “If so, that’ll make our lawyers a lot richer.”

“Unfortunately, the photo is real. Amelia did stay over at my place for the night,” Matteo said, and Ronan groaned into his hands. “I’m surprised you cut your vacation time short. There’s no need for you to do that― we have the lawyers and the media. This thing will blow over soon enough if we keep our heads down.”

“And I’m a flying pig― did you hear the nonsense that came out of your mouth?” Ronan demanded. “How could I not fly back when my boss is so intent on screwing things up?” He lamented, turning to Amelia. “Do you think things will blow over?”

Amelia blinked, surprised at the sudden address. “It might, but not without a lot of backlash first,” she replied hesitantly. “Mr. Montgomery’s reputation will suffer.”

And the least said about her own, the better. Once the media dug into her past marriage, she was going to be known as a gold-digging slut!