Chapter 221

The taste of blood spread from the tip of her tongue and slid down her throat, stirring up a metallic taste.

Olivia's brows furrowed slightly, pain rippling through her eyes.

Michael propped himself up with one hand beside her cheek, lifting his head slightly, his nose still touching hers.

His breathing was rapid, warm breath falling on Olivia's skin, creating a layer of moisture.

"Oli, stop it." Michael pinched Olivia's jawline with two fingers, his fingertips gently rubbing her face. "Take back what you just said. Be good."

Olivia pressed her tongue against her cheek, the metallic taste still churning in her mouth.

She turned her head away, not wanting to look at him.

But Michael grabbed her chin, forcibly turning her face back, making Olivia look at him. "Take it back."

The harder his attitude, the less willing Olivia became.

Michael was the one tangled up with so many people, yet he insisted on playing the devoted lover in front of her. Why didn't she even have the right to call them "strangers"?

"Michael," Olivia stared at him, "am I wrong? In your heart, aren't I just a money-grubbing woman who would seduce Cruz to enjoy the honor and wealth of the Johnson family?"

The bedsheet beside Olivia's cheek made a harsh rustling sound.

Michael's fingers curled, the sheet folding into layers of creases under his fingertips. "I didn't." he said.

His accusatory questions were still echoing in her ears, yet he could say this so calmly.

Sometimes Olivia really felt she couldn't see through Michael.

"Wasn't it you who just questioned me?" she asked, staring at Michael.

Michael sighed and finally rolled off her.

The soft mattress sank deeply, then slowly bounced back, as if trying to push Olivia off the bed.

She tried to get up, but Michael pressed her shoulder and pushed her back down.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket, tapped the screen and scrolled for a moment, then held the lit screen in front of Olivia's eyes.

It was a screenshot of a chat log analyzing an account ID, between Michael and Amelia.

"A hacker who can do this without leaving any trace—besides me, it's hard to find a second person."

"And I'm quite sure this person is the same one who posted that blog through a hidden ID account last time."

Olivia's brows knitted together, unease rising in her heart. She looked at him with a frown. "You suspect Aaron and Fallon are working together?"

Michael turned off the screen, pressed his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

He turned his face slightly, listening carefully for a moment, making sure there was no sound outside the door, then lowered his voice, "The intimate photos of you and Cruz were sent to my phone last night through a mysterious ID."

"I used people from the dark web, couldn't trace this ID, and finally had no choice but to let Amelia look at it."

"She's so close to Aaron, she wouldn't frame him for no reason, would she?"

What Aaron said shocked Olivia so much that she had already forgotten about their conflict. She lowered her head, brows tightly furrowed. "No way. Aaron just broke free from Liam. Before that, he and Fallon barely even met. Why would he team up with Fallon?"

Olivia thought for a moment, then grabbed Michael's wrist, the coolness of her fingertips gradually spreading through his skin. "Could there be some misunderstanding? I know Aaron. He would never team up with Fallon to do something like this."

Michael frowned slightly, his eyelids drooping as he glanced at Olivia's hand with a light laugh. "Know him? You know the Aaron from three years ago. Do you know the Aaron of today?"

His calm statement was like a thunderbolt dropping into Olivia's heart, instantly stirring up ripples.

Her hand slowly slipped from his wrist. Olivia's throat moved as she asked tentatively in a soft voice, "What do you mean by that?"

Olivia grew agitated, not only her voice rising but also raising her hand to point toward the door. "Are you saying that the Aaron now isn't the same person as three years ago?"

She naturally wouldn't have thought of this before, but now with two real and fake Fallons, she felt anything was possible.

"Keep your voice down." Michael grabbed Olivia's wrist, gently holding her hand in his palm, his fingertips playing across her palm a few times.

His voice was very soft, like coaxing a child. "That's not what I meant. But you've been apart from him for three years. What he's been through these three years, what changes he's had—are you sure you know all of it?"

"I..." Olivia opened her mouth, but swallowed back the words that reached her throat.

She didn't know.

Didn't know anything.

"Forget these three years. If you really knew Aaron as well as you think you do, when he suddenly returned to the country and then disappeared for so many years, why didn't you know where to look for him?"

Olivia's lips moved, her gaze gradually dimming.

She discovered with surprise that Michael was right.

Three years ago, when Aaron disappeared, Olivia had thought about looking for him.

But after searching everywhere, she realized it wasn't that she didn't want to find him—she simply didn't know where to look for him.

Her understanding of Aaron seemed to be just that limited.

Apart from studying with their teacher, going home, and working on designs with fellow students, Olivia actually wasn't clear about Aaron's private life.

Back then, Olivia had blamed herself.

Felt it was because she didn't care enough about Aaron that she knew so little about him.

But now...

Olivia looked at Michael, her brows tightly knitted together, her voice taking on a hoarseness she hadn't even noticed. "So, you were deliberately putting on a show for Aaron just now?"

Michael neither confirmed nor denied, pursing his lips, his eyelids drooping slightly, taking on a somewhat aggrieved flush. "Oli, how could I not even trust you?"

As he spoke, he held Olivia's hand.

But her fingertips trembled softly and drew back.

Though it was just a small movement, Michael immediately sensed something was wrong.

Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Olivia. "Oli, is there something you want to ask me?"

There was.

She wanted to ask about those women downstairs at the Johnson Group yesterday.

And she wanted to ask who that woman was that he spent a fortune buying diamonds for.

But facing Michael's sincere eyes, those questions seemed stuck in her throat, impossible to voice.

After a long while, Olivia lowered her head, avoiding his gaze, and inconspicuously pulled her hand back to her lap, squeezing it a couple times, asking softly, "So what do you plan to do?"

Since Michael had already sensed something was off about Aaron, he must have a way to deal with it.

In matters like this, Olivia still trusted him.

"I want to first confirm when exactly they teamed up—was it after coming to the Johnson family, or before coming to the Johnson family."

Though Michael didn't spell it out completely, Olivia broke out in a cold sweat.