SWNOVELS Chapter 24
"Matthew, how very bold of you to be here?!" Charlie's face turned sinister at once when he ordered, "Seize him!"
"Hold on!" The plump-looking guy suddenly spoke, "Isn't this Miss Cunningham's husband? Since he's here to attend the dinner too, he should be invited in together with us!" "Hey, is there something wrong with your mind to allow him in?"
"Hmm, you don't understand this, do you? Try to imagine how exciting it will be to see her husband offering her to us himself!"
"I'm impressed by how dirty that idea of yours is. You're right, we should let her husband in!"
"Ha ha ha, it seems like we can't commence the dinner without her husband, huh."
"The night is getting more and more interesting..."
The Cunninghams stared at each other, disgusted by how shameless the eight bosses were.
"In this case, just let him go into the ballroom together with us!" Eric waved his hand and announced.
With a disdainful look, Charlie remarked, "Dear brother-in-law of mine, did you hear that? You have to help Sasha to review all the bosses here and select the best one out of them for her!"
Everyone burst out laughing as they eyed Matthew contemptuously, who ignored the rest of them and headed straight to Sasha, looking composed.
"Matthew, d-do you have any idea what you just said?!" Helen questioned him furiously. "Do you know what's the purpose of this dinner you're asking Sasha to attend?"
Matthew nodded his head, signaling that he knew what the dinner was for.
"Why do you still allow her to go anyway?" Exasperated, Helen cursed, "You really let me down. You're not a useless crap but an outright coward! Do you still consider yourself as a man?!" Disappointment was written all over Sasha's face at the same time.
"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to her. I promised Sasha that I wouldn't let her go through anymore suffering and I'll surely honor it!" Matthew said in a soft voice.
"D-Doesn't this fall under the same category too?" James criticized angrily, "Don't you know she's about to suffer the greatest humiliation of all her life?!"
Matthew glued his eyes on Sasha and muttered, "Sasha, please believe me!"
"Believe you? It was you who caused her to fall under this predicament. Why should she believe you?" Demi doubted.
Sasha, whose face reddened in agitation, declared through gritted teeth after some contemplation, "Fine, I'll believe you this time!"
"Sasha..." Helen grew anxious.
"That's enough!" Looking determined, Sasha said, "Since we can no longer run away from this trap tonight, I should go in and fight for a chance to survive. The worst case scenario is to die fighting!" Then, they stepped into the ballroom where a banquet had been arranged by the Cunninghams. Sasha and her family were seated at the main table with Eric, which was a rare opportunity. "Ladies and gentleman, I guess everyone already has an idea of the reason we've gathered here tonight." With a smile, he continued, "Without further ado, let's begin the auction!"
"Mr. Cunningham, I have a project worth 30 million this year..." The plump-looking man was the first to speak.
"Fatso, do you think you can have Miss Cunningham's first night with just 30 million? Mr. Cunningham, I have a project worth 50 million!"
"I have one which is valued at 60 million!"
"70 million..."
"80 million!"
Amidst the continuous mayhem, the projects offered by the bosses got increasingly higher in value with the highest being a project which was valued at 150 million. The Cunninghams were elated to hear those offers, thinking about the huge fortune they could earn from those contracts. Carlson Group was terminating all the contracts with the Cunninghams. So what? The money they could earn from the bosses here was a lot more than what Carlson Group could offer.
At the same time, Sasha and her family were looking ominous. Helen sounded frustrated when she confronted Matthew, "You useless piece of crap! Do you want us to suffer all the humiliation here?"
James chided in, "You're the most useless person I've ever come across so far! If you still see yourself as a man, just shoulder the responsibility for the mistake you've made, so that your wife can be spared from such disgrace!"
Sasha stared at Matthew with her eyes brimming with despair.
"Don't worry, they will get their retribution!" Matthew said.
Helen echoed in a shrill voice, "Retribution? Matthew, are you waiting for God to give you a hand?"
"Ha ha ha, Matthew, I don't suppose God's help will arrive in time!" Charlie edged closer to him and whispered, "It's too late trying to change anything now. Mr. Hamilton has successfully bidded Sasha's company with a project valued at 150 million. Matthew, why don't you send Sasha over to Mr. Hamilton's place personally?"
All at once, James and Helen burst into tears. Was their daughter really going to be humiliated in this way? With her teeth gritted, Sasha made up her mind to take her own life if she was to be violated by
anyone.
"150 million?" Suddenly, Matthew rose to his feet and doubted with a chuckle, "Can you afford it?"
"How dare you speak so rudely!" Eric blasted angrily, "Who gives you the permission to talk?"
"Mr. Hamilton is a very successful businessman in the healthcare industry in Eastcliff; 150 million is just peanuts to him!" Jason tried very hard to butter Mr. Hamilton up by commenting. "All the projects offered by Mr. Hamilton are at least worth 100 million. How dare you doubt his wealth?"
"Hmph, why are we even wasting our time trying to explain this to him? He's just a useless guy who can't even fork out 150 bucks. How does he have any concept of what 150 million is worth?!" "Matthew, here's a chance for you-send Sasha to Mr. Hamilton's place personally later, and we'll reward you a sum of three hundred thousand so that you can use it for your sister's treatment!"
Both James and Helen, whose faces looked as pale as sheets of paper, couldn't believe that Matthew was bringing even more embarrassment to himself. Looking unperturbed, Matthew spoke softly, "Mr. Hamilton, if I'm not mistaken, you have already become bankrupt!"
Everyone went dumbfounded for a while before they started to roar with laughter.
"I have become bankrupt?" Mr. Hamilton let loose a guffaw and asked, "Why don't I know about this? When did it happen?"
Matthew checked his phone before he announced, "Eight minutes ago!" Once again, his statement started a round of uproarious laughter among them.
"This must be the funniest joke I've ever heard in my entire life!”
"Oh, I can't take it anymore. Matthew, could you please stop being so hilarious? Are you a fool?"
"He went bankrupt eight minutes ago. How precise is that? Matthew, do you see yourself as God who can decide on anyone's fate as you wish?
While the faces of James and Helen reddened with embarrassment, Demi muttered under her breath through gritted teeth, "What a clown!"
Without speaking a word, Matthew tapped on his phone and shared his screen with the television next to him to display a news broadcast. "You're watching Eastcliff News. Hamilton Pharmaceuticals is reported to be facing a debt crisis at the moment and the company has now started the liquidation process..."
Everyone went stupefied as they clearly heard the announcement from the television.
"C-Could the news be fake?"
"I don't think so. This is the local financial news broadcast and the anchorman has been hosting the news for five years."
"Goodness gracious, has Mr. Hamilton really become bankrupt?"
Looking flabbergasted, Mr. Hamilton hastily fished out his phone but he soon received a call before he could even dial a number. "Hamilton, what kind of big shot have you offended? Why are we being sabotaged all of a sudden? The person behind this exposed a lot of scandals about our company to the public out of the blue, and he even gathered all our creditors to ask us for repayment all at once! Do you know that our company has been destroyed?! Our family is finished!" A woman's agonized voice was heard very clearly by everyone present.
"T-This is Mrs. Hamilton's voice..." One of the bosses looked horrified as he asked, "Mr. Hamilton, h-have you really become bankrupt?"