Chapter 84
I did something wrong, so naturally I had to cooperate with Michael.
As Michael stared at me, my fingers slowly moved down along his waist. But just then, my phone in my bag suddenly rang loudly.
It instantly caught both our attention.
"Don't answer it." With things heating up, there was no way Michael would let me take the call.
"It's my mom," I said helplessly. I had set a special ringtone for my mom's calls.
At this time of day, my mom wouldn't call me for no reason. If she was calling, it meant she really had something important to say.
Michael reluctantly let me go, but his intense gaze remained on me. When I answered the phone, Lucy immediately asked from the other end.
"Nancy, how have you been lately? Has anyone been bullying you?"
The voice was loud enough that Michael heard it too.
He sat down beside me, resting his chin on my shoulder. We were in an intimate position, but he didn't say anything, just listened to Lucy's conversation with me.
"Mom, I'm living at the Johnson Mansion. How could anyone bully me?" I said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Mainly because Michael was so petty - if I said something he didn't like, he'd give me trouble later.
After hearing my words, Lucy thought for a moment and said, "Nancy, your wedding with Michael is coming up soon. Why don't you move back home, or to one of your own properties? Before the wedding, you and Michael should spend some time apart."
I totally agreed with Lucy, but Michael was starting to get unhappy.
He nuzzled against me, expressing his unwillingness.
I quickly pushed him away, using my eyes to signal him not to move around.
"Nancy." Seeing I hadn't responded, Lucy called my name again.
"Mom, I understand. I'll tell Amelia and move out. I actually have an apartment near the Johnson Group. I'll move there - it'll be close to work too."
Lucy didn't ask much more, just asked if anyone had been sending me photos recently.
I was afraid Lucy would worry, so I said directly: "Don't worry, Mom. Michael is helping me investigate. With him around, he definitely won't let anything bad happen to me."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Michael smile when I said that.
After hanging up, Michael immediately clung to me.
"I haven't forgotten about a certain man getting angry with me earlier!" I pursed my lips, crossed my arms over my chest, looking upset.
But Michael didn't apologize unconditionally. Instead, he said seriously, "If you ever do something like that again that puts you in danger, I'll still be angry."
I coughed twice.
That kind of thing wasn't likely to keep happening anyway.
"Fine, Mr. Johnson. I'll be more careful from now on, okay?"
I didn't have much at the Johnson Mansion. I packed a small suitcase, and Tom came to pick it up.
Michael naturally didn't want me to leave, but since this was my mom's idea, he couldn't really object.
Amelia, on the other hand, held my hand when I was leaving, looking reluctant to let me go.
I naturally put on a show of being reluctant to leave them, too.
As for how much of it was real and how much was fake, that was hard to say.
After all... I had lived at the Johnson Mansion for a while, but I hadn't actually seen much of Amelia.
Michael personally drove me home. Tom was already waiting there, and the place had been cleaned spotlessly, everything arranged according to my preferences.
"Ms. Smith, we've detained that cleaning worker. Do you want to question her yourself about the details?"
With Michael beside me, I didn't try to hide anything from him. Instead, I nodded.
Even though we live in a society ruled by law, when my life was being threatened, I naturally had to take action.
Michael and I went to see the cleaning worker together.
The cleaning worker wasn't surprised to see me - she had obviously already guessed.
I crouched down in front of her. "Natalia Ruth, I've looked into you. You have a son with leukemia who's hospitalized and about to have surgery, right? And your bank account received funds from overseas - one million dollars. Not enough to cover your son's surgery and recovery."
When I mentioned her son's situation, Natalia's expression changed.
"I did it. It has nothing to do with my son. Don't go after my son!"
She said through gritted teeth.
"You don't know this, but that money is dirty. It's probably already been frozen by now."
We were able to freeze it so quickly because we provided evidence to the police.
Natalia's face went pale. "That's impossible!"
"Whether it's possible or not, you can check your mobile banking in a bit and see for yourself. I have no reason to lie to you."
My voice was cold. Natalia was tied to a chair and suddenly began struggling violently.
"I don't believe you. Let me see my phone."
Of course, I couldn't let her see her phone right now.
"You only have one choice. Tell me everything you know. If the information is valuable, I can have the Johnson Group's charity foundation cover your son's medical treatment!"
This was my last bit of kindness.
Of course, that was only if the information she gave me was useful enough.
But unfortunately, Natalia knew nothing. She only had contact with a man in black who asked her to take some recent photos of me.
I sighed.
"No! You promised to help my son." Seeing me turn to leave, Natalia screamed.
"But I'm very unsatisfied with the information you gave me."
Tom took Natalia away. Today's events would be treated as if they never happened.
Michael had been by my side the whole time. Seeing he seemed about to comfort me, I immediately said: "Don't worry, I'm fine. The person behind this will show up sooner or later. It just makes me really unhappy to think someone is watching me!"
Michael held my hand. Tom drove, not daring to glance at the back seat even once.
When we got out of the car, I received some good news.
It was about John.
John had taken the bait.
The investment advisor I had introduced him to earlier had finally convinced John to invest after persistent effort. But he was smarter than Susan - he didn't put all his money in, deciding to see the results first.
"That's fine, just keep stringing him along."
After hanging up, I told Michael about John.
"I'll probably be meeting with John quite a bit from now on. Mr. Johnson, please don't overthink it. I really have no feelings for him anymore. It's just that he used to treat me like a fool, so I have to get back at him."
I leaned against Michael, trying to use physical contact to let him know I loved him.
Giving Michael advance notice, Michael was clearly pleased.
"Okay!"
When John asked to meet again, I once more gave Michael advance notice.
This time, Michael was quite generous.
"Go ahead. If you need any help, just call me. I'll be waiting for you at the Johnson Group."