My Billionaire Husband

Lydia stared at the screen of her laptop; her heart filled with sudden nervousness.

What Leo said was from the bottom of his heart but it induced overwhelming satire.

“Did I hear it wrong? Tell a story? Are we in kindergarten or something?”

“Are you hoping to move Mr. Watson with some piece of plagiarized fiction?”

“Since when has the Ford family reached the point when they needed to resort to the likes of this?”

The crowd convulsed with laughter. Martin himself even teared up a bit, and he slammed the table with his fist, “This can’t get any more tragically humorous. This is the first time I’ve seen someone actually attempt a story during an auction.”

“That shameless son of a bitch!” Caroline’s face turned purple, thinking that Leo had just decided to throw their efforts completely under the bus.

Rebecca looked aghast too, but she did not say anything since the bidding was still ongoing.

Jesse was livid at this point. “Enough of this nonsense! You’re ruining the entire event!”

The crowd’s responses were varied. Some of them were ridiculing Leo, while others, such as Jesse and Martin, were gloating at the Fords’ impending humiliation. There were also those who were furious at Leo for sidetracking the event.

Leo, on the other hand, remained calm and composed. He knew he had to finish this. He had to say what he had come to say, because he knew she was watching.

“Five years ago, due to a set of complicated circumstances, this man hurt someone. A woman. A good woman. A stranger.” Leo paused for a moment. “The woman suffered a painful fate because of what he did, and he still carries that guilt with him to this very day. Oh, yes. He felt guilty, so much so that he made a promise to himself. He vowed to cherish and love this woman for the rest of his life, if he ever managed to meet her again.”

“But the issue was, they didn’t know each other. The world is a vast place, after all. It was difficult if not impossible, to find their way back to each other. The man knew this, of course. And for years, it had been the source of his pain and anguish. The guilt became a shackle in his heart, which eventually turned into deep and persistent fear. He feared never getting the chance to tell the woman how he felt; how he still feels about her. He feared for this woman, who had undoubtedly suffered greatly due to his actions. But the man didn’t give up. He turned that fear into motivation. And that motivation has fueled him for the past five years, as he’d told himself repeatedly that he would meet her again someday!”

“Five years later, he returned. And luck was on his side, because he managed to track down the woman. When he finally came face-to-face with her, he was surprised to learn that she’d given birth to a child. His child.”

Leo’s voice trembled at the end, his calm facade shattering under the weight of his own words.

“She didn’t give the child a last name, because she hoped that her terrible husband would come back one day and finally take responsibility for his actions. That child is an angel, and she deserves a real father in her life.”

“It wasn’t until now that he finally realized how great this woman was. He will never be able to repay the debt he owes her.”

“Right now, I want to sincerely say ‘Sorry’ on behalf of that incompetent bastard!”

Leo turned to the camera and said in a trembling voice, “I’m so sorry for everything!”

No one noticed the teardrop that slowly dripped down his cheek as he bent forward.

The room fell into a dead silence as people looked at each other.

Caroline widened her eyes and muttered, “Why do I feel like… he’s giving a personal anecdote?”

Rebecca’s scoffed disdainfully, “That’s impossible. No woman is willing to have a child with such a deadbeat.”

“To her, the child is her angel,” Leo continued. “But for the man, both the woman and the child are his angels.”

“He will protect you,” Leo said. “Even… even at the cost of his own life!”

Inside her office, Lydia closed the lid of her laptop, her body trembling as her emotions overwhelmed her. It didn’t take long before she lowered her head and started sobbing, her hands yanking at her hair as she cried.

She stubbornly tried to stifle her sobs, despite knowing how futile her efforts were.

“Bastard! I can’t believe that you’re just saying these things!”

She was only 22 years old when they met each other five years ago!

Back then, she was kidnapped along with Leo and ended up losing her virginity to him.

She didn’t discover that she was pregnant until the traumatic ordeal was over.

Nobody knew how much she’d panicked back then. She’d wanted to get an abortion, but didn’t have the heart to follow through with it in the end.

In addition, her company was getting on the right track at that time, and it became the darkest and loneliest time of her life. She had no one to rely on but herself.

She had nightmares, countless nightmares. And often, she’d found herself weeping alone in the middle of the night. There were even times when she’d passed out in her office, because her pregnant body couldn’t endure the stress of her job.

Her daughter was her angel, her everything.

This was the real story behind the new perfume ‘Angel’. It referred to Lydia’s daughter, Emilia.

Back to the bidding venue, Jesse snorted. “Are you done talking?”

“Yes.” Leo had regained his composure.

“Then, what the hell are you still doing up there?” Jesse shouted.

The others also came to their senses and leaped to it.

“It’s not a bad piece of fiction… I think you can make some pocket money by telling it on the street!”

“Man, he had to resort to spouting that drivel just to gain some sympathy. What is this, a TED Talk?”Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“…”

Amidst the sarcasm, Leo slowly stepped off the stage.

“What a shame,” Caroline said with a grim expression, thinking, “Our family made history by actually recounting the plot of some love drama in a serious business competition. We’re going to be the biggest laughingstock in Emerdale after this.”

Suddenly, Martin walked over and mocked, “Hey, Mrs. Ford, why did you ask such a good-for-nothing to take the stage? Could it be that you already knew you wouldn’t win, so you decided to go out with a bang?”

Rebecca’s face was as black as coal. She glared hard at Leo and also regretted of her decision to let him handle the presentation earlier.

She had imagined that Leo would give some ropey overview of their proposal at most, but she would never have expected that he would resort to something this ridiculous.

Jesse went to the stage and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s call it a day. All of your proposals, with one obvious exception, are well prepared.”

The whole audience roared with laughter, thinking, “Gee, I wonder who he’s referring to?”

“I’ve already shortlisted the candidates who have passed the initial review and I will print it out later for Ms. Henderson to read. She’ll announce the final winner at 2 p. m. tomorrow afternoon.”

After the bidding was over, the attendees left one after another.

Leo was about to leave too but was stopped by Caroline at the entrance of the International Commerce Center. “Leo, stop your ass right there!”

Leo paused and turned around. “Is there anything else?”

She sneered in fury, “That’s easy for you to say. Look at what you’ve done. We didn’t get shortlisted because of you. You can bet that I’ll tell dad about this. You really are the scourge of our family!”

Leo shrugged and said, “Whatever.”

Caroline was rendered speechless by nonplussed response.

“Caroline, never mind him. He’s dead to us now.” Rebecca looked coldly at Leo, then pulled her daughter into a car and they left soon.

The car whooshed past and a huge cloud of dust rose in its wake. Leo took a few steps to avoid getting sullied.

As the day darkened, the wind grew colder.

Just as Leo was about to hail a taxi, another car stopped right in front of him.

The window rolled down to reveal a beautiful yet cold face.

Although they had met earlier, Leo was still entranced by her beauty.

“Lydia?” he asked in surprise.

“Dad,” A cute little girl craned her head in the back seat and called Leo intimately.

“Get in the car,” Lydia said coldly.

“Where are we going?” Leo’s heart was beating like a drum.

Lydia opened her red lips and said out the word that he had been longing to hear. “Home.”