My Billionaire Husband

The venue suddenly quieted down. Jesse, who was standing behind Rachel, nodded covertly at Martin. “With Jesse’s help, I’ll definitely become a partner,” he thought with a sigh of relief.

With an expectant attitude, Martin straightened his clothes, adjusted his tie, and readied himself for what was about to happen.

William was so nervous that his hands were sweating; if they lost this bid today, the Ford family would be finished for sure.

But after what Leo did yesterday, their success rate had most likely plummeted to zero.

Rachel announced with a professional smile on her face, “After heavy consideration, Ms. Henderson finally chose one company as our future partner. It is…”

Everyone waited for the decision with bated breath. Martin was already getting out of his seat leisurely.

“Virgil Corporation representing the Ford family!” Rachel said after a pause. “Let’s give them all a warm round of applause.”

“…”

There were no voices, no whispers, and no certainly rounds of applause; only a baffling silence filled the room.

Like pretty much everyone else in attendance, Martin was frozen in place like a statue.

How the hell did they manage to pull this off?

William was shocked as well, though his surprise was offset by growing relief.

Caroline and Rebecca looked like they’d both just seen a ghost.

Leo, on the other hand, was smiling confidently, as if everything had gone according to plan.

“Time to take the stage, Dad,” Leo said, patting William’s hand.

William snapped out of his daze. “We… We did it,” he stammered.

He walked up to the stage and shook hands with Rachel, suddenly looking 10 years younger.

“No, I refuse to accept this!” Below the stage, Martin shot to his feet, his face flushed in anger. “This is unfair! How could they possibly be considered legitimate winners?”

“Indeed. Miss Ward, is there some kind of mistake?” Jesse asked as sweat trickled down his forehead. “I prepared a candidate list and handed it over to Ms. Henderson yesterday,” he thought. “I even strongly recommended Vesper Corporation for the bid. The Ford family was not even on my list. How could they be the winners?”

Rachel’s gaze turned cold and her tone was firm. “This is Ms. Henderson’s final decision. Are you questioning her judgement?”

“No, how could I…” Jesse looked terrified.

Rachel cast another cold glance at Martin and said, “She didn’t select Vesper Corporation because you failed to meet the criteria, of course. What’s so mystifying about that decision? If you spout nonsense like that again, you’ll be expecting a lawyer’s letter from us soon. Defamation is something we take very seriously!”

“A lawyer’s letter?!” Martin broke out in cold sweat.

Beauty could certainly do that. Even though Vesper Corporation was itself a large company, it was nowhere near Atlas Beauty’s level of influence.

The door swung open, and in marched a group of police officers.

The officers were led by a feisty female officer with short hair

She flashed her badge, her sharp eyes scanning the room. “I’m Sandra Johnson from the Emerdale Police Department. Which individual here is Martin Bailey?”

The arrival of the officers put everyone on edge. Not even Rachel, who was in charge with today’s event, had expected the authorities to make an appearance.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

Frightened, Martin stood up on shaky feet. “That’s… That’s me. Is something wrong?”

Sandra came over to Martin and handcuffed him instantly. “Martin Bailey, you’re under arrest on suspicion of money laundering and fraud. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

“What?” Martin panicked. “Surely this is some kind of misunderstanding, Officer. I didn’t do anything wrong…”

“Like I said, you have the right to remain silent. Please escort Mr. Bailey out of the building.”

The crowd was already shocked when the Ford’s won the bid; now a veil of shadows engulfed them as Martin was taken away.

None were foolish enough to believe it was merely coincidence that Martin lost the bid and got arrested on the same day. Someone was clearly protecting the Fords.

With that in mind, many attendees no longer had any desire to linger around. They each left in quick succession.

Rachel looked back at Jesse and said, “Ms. Henderson is waiting for you.”

Jesse’s heart skipped a beat. He asked nervously, “May I ask why?”

Rachel sneered. “Ms. Henderson doesn’t like Vesper Corporation very much, but you’ve been assisting them, whether it was intentional or otherwise. What do you think?”

Jesse’s face paled immediately.

Rachel turned around and handed some documents to William. “This is the contract outlining our collaboration. Please give it a thorough review. If you agree with everything, please sign here.”

“Sure, sure.” William took the contract gratefully and studied it. After he confirmed the details, he signed his name.

He then returned a signed copy to Rachel and said, “Miss Ward, thank you so much. Will you please ask Ms. Henderson if it’s okay to have dinner tonight, to celebrate our new business partnership?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ford. Ms. Henderson is very busy these days.” Rachel declined with an apologetic smile. Then, she looked at Leo who had been sitting calmly under the stage, and said, “You may thank Mr. Cohen instead, if you need to thank someone.”

William, Rebecca, and Caroline all fixed their eyes on Leo at the same time.

“We look forward to working with you.” Rachel shook hands with William and left, leaving the three of them perplexed.

“Tell me, Leo,” William said in a serious tone. “How did you manage to pull this off?”

Caroline and Rebecca had not recovered from the shock yet, as they would rather die than believe that Leo was responsible for their good fortune.

Leo shrugged and said, “Ms. Henderson must have been touched by my little sob story.”

“…”

Caroline and Rebecca blushed in anger at that pointed remark.

They were the ones who’d mocked him for that same story earlier. Now that Leo had won the bid for them, they were forced to eat their words.

But that was not important now.

William laughed heartily; his face radiant with joy. “Well done, Leo. I was right about you all along.”

Then he said to Rebecca, “Go and book a family dinner at that restaurant we all enjoy. This is a big day for us. We must celebrate such moments of levity.”

“Okay, okay…” Rebecca forced a smile and took out her phone, ready to book a table.

“Well, I’ll pass,” Leo said. “I’m persona non grata, remember? Caroline and Rebecca made that pretty clear yesterday. So, I should take my leave.”

With that, he strode out of the venue while Caroline and Rebecca glared daggers at him.

“Damn you, Leo,” Caroline thought. “You’re doing this on purpose! We-”

A hard slap on her cheek quickly ended Caroline’s thoughts. She looked up and saw the look of fury on William’s face.

“You foolish girl,” William roared. “What have you done? Who are you to say that Leo is no longer part of the family?”