Chapter 136: Chapter 136

Camille hesitated, unsure how to answer.

But if she lied, he would know immediately and become suspicious of her.

“It’s… it’s Michael,” she said. “He wants to talk.”

“Ah,” Christian’s lips curled into a knowing smile. “Well, go ahead. You should take it.”

She stared at him.

“Have you forgotten your mission already?” he chuckled. “You need to get closer to him, don’t you? Go on. Don’t let me stop you.”

Trying to appear calm, she picked up her phone and stepped away from the table.

She had a bad feeling about this. Why on earth did it feel like Christian already knew that this was going to happen?

Was she being too paranoid again?

She found a quiet corner near the entrance and dialed Michael’s number.

He answered almost immediately.

“Camille,” Michael said, his voice different than usual. It sounded urgent and filled with a mixture of confusion and desperation. “How did you know about the man at the airport?”

Wow. He sure didn’t waste any time getting straight to the point.

Camille swallowed hard. “Noah, please… I can’t talk about it right now. It’s complicated.”

“I need to know, Camille. This is important,” he continued, his tone becoming more insistent. Now that she thought about it, it was the most emotional she had ever heard him. “How did you find out that information?”

Her mind raced. She had to come up with a plausible excuse that wouldn’t get her in trouble.

“I… I overheard something at the company,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. “I walked by some executives talking in the hallway. That’s all.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Camille could almost feel Michael’s skepticism even though she couldn’t physically see him.

“Are you sure about this?” he said quietly. “This is serious. If there’s more, you need to tell me, Camille.”

“Noah, please. I already told you. I just… overheard it, and I thought you should know, obviously. That’s all.”

Michael let out a sigh, the frustration evident in his voice. He didn’t seem to believe her completely, but he knew that she wouldn’t elaborate any more than that.

“All right,” he conceded. “Thanks for telling me. Just… be careful, okay?”

“I will,” she whispered. “You too.”

She ended the call and took a deep breath to calm herself before returning to the table.

Christian watched her intently, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

“Everything okay?” he asked, his tone deceptively mild.

She nodded, forcing a smile. “Yes, everything’s fine.”

He leaned back in his chair, swirling his wine glass. “Oh really?”

“He’s just… dealing with some things,” she said vaguely.

He nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied her. “I see. Well, that’s to be expected under the circumstances.”

“Yes…”

“I read about it earlier, the articles about him and his brother arresting a man at the airport. It seems they think he is the real culprit, which is quite interesting.”

Camille stiffened slightly.

There it was. She needed to be careful now.

But what should she do in such a situation?

Should she lie, or tell the truth?

But if she lied and faked her reaction, Christian would know immediately. He was no idiot, and she could not afford to underestimate him.

She had to find a way out of this.

“…That’s what I’m confused about,” she said slowly.

He raised an elegant eyebrow. “What exactly is causing your confusion?”

“It just seems like things are moving too fast for me to come to a conclusion,” she said carefully. “There are a lot of things that confuse me about the case, but Michael is my friend. I don’t think he did it. He doesn’t have a good relationship with his father though, so I’m worried if he’s under suspicion at home as well.”

“Interesting,” Christian murmured. “So you don’t think he did it? Even though it was you who told me that he had a strained relationship with his sister?”

Christian’s words felt like a stab in the heart. She stared at him incredulously. “No matter how strained a relationship between siblings is, they usually don’t resort to murder!” she protested.

He smiled coldly. “How do you know that? There have been previous cases of murder between siblings due to greed and jealousy, you know.”

“It doesn’t usually happen. Only in very rare cases,” she argued. “Patricia, for example, would never do something like that to you, would she?”

Suddenly, Christian laughed, causing Camille to stop her tirade for a very brief moment.

It was a little jarring, but whenever they talked about his sister, he always sounded a little genuine and not at all mocking.

Of course, Christian cared about Patricia, but in a slightly different way than normal siblings. Usually, he didn’t care about Patricia and let her do whatever she wanted.

But if she was in danger, he would help her without hesitation and without expecting anything in return.

However, whenever he was asked how he felt about Patricia, he would simply say, “We are not close. We are only family by blood and nothing more.”

In the past, Camille had thought that despite his cold personality, Christian cared about Patricia like a secretly doting older brother.

But she was wrong.

“You’re right, though. It’s hard to imagine a tiny Patricia waving a knife at me,” Christian commented with amusement.

Camille shook her head. “Well, yes. Again, Michael would never do anything to hurt his sister. He cares for her no matter what.”

“Then who do you suppose did it?” Christian leaned back in his seat, amusement dancing in his eyes. “If it wasn’t Michael McGregor.”

“I…” Camille swallowed. This felt like a trick question. “The other suspect is Grady, but I don’t think he did it either. He claimed in the articles that he was just following orders from Michael, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think he was forced to say that. After all, the police can be bribed.”

“So you’re saying that Michael McGregor is innocent, and that Grady Thompson is lying,” Christian interjected with a knowing smile. “Okay then. But what about this new perpetrator? How did they find this guy all of a sudden? Seems like quite a coincidence, doesn’t it?”

She shook her head, trying to keep her composure. “Michael is very resourceful. Besides, he has his brother by his side. I guess their efforts paid off.”

He shrugged. “How do you know they didn’t just pick some random guy at the airport to use as a scapegoat for the mess that they made?”

She looked at him, confused. “Why would he do that? It doesn’t make any sense. The police would find out immediately.”

Christian shrugged. “But you just said it yourself. The police can be bribed.”

Her lips formed a thin line. “Michael is not that kind of person. He is not a killer.”

‘But you are,’ she thought silently.