Chapter 138

Matteo took no notice of them, nor did he have any intention of engaging in pleasantries. He calmly shifted his gaze elsewhere. Matteo was the man Freya loved. She had fallen headlong into this, and after so many years, still couldn’t break free. All these years, despite how Matteo had treated her niece, if Jason had no grievances with him, that would have been impossible. However, even if he had grievances, what could he do? The Miller family couldn’t do anything to Matteo.

Now that Matteo had arrived, Jason, as the host, could only raise his glass and stand up, saying, “I didn’t expect President Wilson to come. If there’s anything lacking in our hospitality, I hope you’ll forgive us.”

Upon hearing this, Matteo also picked up his glass, stood up, and clinked it with Jason’s, saying, “You’re too polite, President Miller.” He addressed Jason as “President Miller” rather than “uncle.” As soon as Matteo spoke, everyone took note of this. It was clear that he didn’t want to acknowledge the Miller family. Freya had already known this. Now, she didn’t care anymore, nor did she need him to acknowledge her family. She knew he was here because of Old Lady Wilson’s wishes. She coldly said to him, “We appreciate Grandma’s goodwill. If you have something to do, you can leave.” His staying here would only ruin the atmosphere.

Matteo replied: “No hurry.” Freya furrowed her brows, not knowing what he meant. But Matteo didn’t continue speaking to her. Instead, he looked toward Nolan and spoke to him, saying, “Recently, our company developed a new feature that can make our products completely invisible and prevent any radar detection. I’m not sure if Mr. Nolan would be interested in learning more about it?”

“Any radar?”

Nolan paused, looking over with a serious expression. “What do you mean?”

Matteo didn’t seem worried about revealing too much about the technology and continued discussing the details with Nolan. Freya hadn’t expected Matteo to discuss such matters with her teacher. From their conversation, it was clear that Matteo was highly knowledgeable about AI technology. Since Nolan was interested, it wasn’t surprising that Freya and Johnny would be curious as well. At first, they were just listening casually. But as the conversation went on, they even forgot to eat. At the beginning, Jason had wanted to remind them to eat while listening, but seeing how seriously they were listening, afraid they might miss something, he decided not to say anything more.

For the most part, only Freya and a few others were familiar with Matteo. And even though they weren’t particularly happy about his arrival, none of them showed it. In such a situation, Matteo should have felt awkward, but instead, he managed to turn it into his own turf. Of course, tonight’s main focus was Old Lady Miller. Matteo wouldn’t overshadow her.

After a few minutes, he said, “If Mr. Nolan wants to continue learning more, perhaps we can schedule another time to discuss in detail?”

Nolan replied, “That works.”

Matteo nodded, then turned to Freya and asked, “Are you heading back tonight?”

Freya was still processing what he and Nolan had just discussed. When she heard him suddenly speak to her, she paused for a moment before responding, “I’m not going back.”

Matteo nodded and said, “Got it.” Then he stood up and added, “I’ll come back later to pick up Isabella.” It was clear he was about to leave.

Freya coldly replied, “Got it.”

Matteo didn’t say anything further, walking over to Old Lady Miller. “Old Lady, I still have some matters to attend to. I’ll leave first.”

Old Lady Miller didn’t stand up and replied in a cold tone, “Take care, no need to see me off.”

Matteo wasn’t angry about Old Lady Miller’s indifference. He glanced at Jason, nodded as a casual greeting, and then turned to leave the banquet hall. As he walked out of the hotel door, Harry, who had just gotten out of the car, paused. Matteo quickly got into the car and left. Harry watched from the car but didn’t move.

After the banquet, Nolan and Johnny left together. Isabella had eaten too many snacks that day. After dinner started, she only picked at a few bites of the food before losing her appetite. She then went upstairs to play video games. When most of the guests had left, Freya went upstairs to find her.

Isabella took off her headphones when she saw her mother return. “Mom, are you done with your work?”

“Mm.” Freya recalled what Isabella had said before leaving and said, “Your dad said he would pick you up tonight. You should call him and ask when he will be here.”

Isabella’s face lit up as she thought about playing with Aunt Raven tomorrow. “Okay!” She quickly dialed the number, and it was answered soon after. After a while, Isabella hung up the phone and said to Freya, “Dad said he’ll be here in 15 minutes.”

“Okay, I know.” Freya then said, “Pack your things. We’ll go downstairs to wait for your dad.”

Isabella was about to ask her to help with packing, as she usually did. But seeing that her mom didn’t seem in the best mood, she stopped herself from asking. When the time was right, Freya took Isabella downstairs.

In the elevator, Isabella shook her mom’s hand and said, “Mom.”

Freya looked down at her. “Hmm?”

“Mom, you’ve been saying less recently.”

Isabella had noticed that her mom didn’t call her every day like before and wasn’t always asking about where she was going.