Chapter 228

Chapter 228

Aaron raised an eyebrow, a flash of joy crossing his eyes.

Before he could speak, Olivia jumped in to explain: "About your case of being held captive by Liam, the police will still need your cooperation."

"If you leave, the case will probably get delayed again."

She glanced sideways at him. Aaron's expression visibly darkened.

He probably hadn't expected Olivia to use this excuse to make him stay.

"Of course," Olivia continued, "this is your case after all. If you really want to leave, you can, but you'll need to inform the police yourself so they don't waste time looking for you and cause unnecessary trouble for others."

She stared at Aaron, her voice slow and deliberate: "Aaron, what do you say?"

After a moment of eye contact, Aaron slowly stood up, a fierce look clouding his eyes.

Olivia had never seen such an expression in his eyes before.

He stared at Olivia for a while before the fierceness gradually faded, and a faint, detached smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Oli, you've changed quite a bit in three years."

"If it were before, you wouldn't have talked to me like this. Before, you would..."

"If it were before," Olivia cut him off firmly, "you wouldn't be saying these things to me either."

Aaron's words stuck in his throat, his expression ugly.

He opened his mouth, but in the end couldn't say anything to refuse. He responded dully: "Since you put it that way, I'll stay for now."

Then he turned around and angrily pulled out his chair.

The metal scraped across the floor with a harsh sound, expressing his displeasure.

Olivia acted as if she couldn't hear it and instructed Byron: "While Mr. Hill is here, you must stay with him at all times and protect him. Make sure nothing goes wrong."

Byron exchanged a glance with Michael. Seeing the latter's relaxed expression and smiling eyes, he immediately responded to Olivia: "Yes, Ms. Smith, don't worry."

He stayed close to Aaron and escorted him back to his room.

Only Olivia and Michael remained in the dining room.

Michael reached out to hold her hand, but Olivia turned aside to avoid him.

She shot him a sharp look and pulled out a chair to sit down.

Michael gave an awkward laugh. Like a child who'd done something wrong, he pulled up a chair and sat next to Olivia: "Even if I hadn't said anything just now, you wouldn't have let him go, right?"

Olivia glanced over at him. Seeing his smiling face, more than half of her burning anger immediately subsided.

But she was still annoyed by his impulsiveness earlier.

She let out a long breath and turned to face Michael: "Do you know where he took Cruz last night?"

Michael shook his head.

"Cruz wouldn't even come out this morning. From the looks of it, he's either scared or shocked by something."

"How could Aaron, someone who was held captive for three years, have the ability to shock Cruz like that?"

Olivia analyzed out loud: "This means what's behind him is huge, and might even completely overturn the Johnson family and your control over the Johnson Group."

She looked at Michael with furrowed brows.

But he seemed completely unbothered, his eyes curved in a smile, staring at her without blinking.

Olivia got annoyed and slapped his shoulder twice: "I'm talking about serious matters here. What are you smiling about?"

Michael moved his chair closer to her, propped his chin on one hand, and looked at her intently: "Are you worried about me right now?"

At a time like this, only he could act like nothing mattered and say such things to her.

Olivia didn't want to deal with him and stood up to leave, but he caught her wrist and pulled her into his arms.

His arm wrapped around her waist. Michael looked up at her teasingly: "You're already planning for me before you've even married into the family."

"Aren't you afraid they'll tease you about this later?"

Olivia lightly pushed him with her fist.

After pushing a few times, Michael didn't budge.

Her lips pressed together slightly, a blush rising on her cheeks. She said quietly: "Then I just won't marry you, okay?"

Michael's eyes widened. His hand on her waist tightened suddenly, and he called out as if facing a great threat: "That won't do! If you don't marry me, who else are you planning to marry?"

His eyes were full of deep feeling as he asked seriously.

But when the question reached Olivia's ears, it took on a different flavor.

Was Michael so sure she had no way out?

Did he think that besides marrying him, she had no other path to take?

A surge of anger rose from her heart.

Olivia stood up abruptly, the hand on Michael's shoulder pushing back hard.

Michael hadn't expected her to suddenly stand up. Already somewhat off-balance, this push nearly made him fall.

He steadied himself and looked at Olivia with furrowed brows. Seeing the thin layer of anger in her eyes, his heart trembled slightly: "What's wrong?"

Michael straightened his chair and reached out to hold Olivia's hand, but she dodged.

She bit her lip lightly and looked at Michael, her heart churning.

What made him so confident?

Just because she didn't say anything, did he think he could fool her like she was an idiot?

Olivia took a deep breath: "There's something I want to ask you."

Seeing her expression was off, Michael also lowered his gaze and looked at her carefully: "What is it?"

"You..."

"Mr. Johnson."

Before Olivia could ask her question, Remy rushed in from outside in a panic: "You need to come quickly."

Her breathing was unsteady, her face tense, with sweat on her forehead. She completely failed to notice the strange atmosphere in the dining room and said on her own: "That person in the backyard cottage suddenly started making a scene, throwing things and hitting people, insisting on coming out. We can barely hold her back."

Olivia and Michael exchanged a glance and both headed outside.

Since the real Fallon had moved into the backyard cottage, she'd been very quiet and had never caused any disturbance.

But for some reason today, she suddenly went wild.

By the time Olivia and the others reached the backyard cottage, Fallon was standing at the top of the stairs, holding up a white jade vase in one hand while pointing at the group of people at the bottom of the stairs with the other, shouting incoherently: "Don't come near! Don't think you can take my son away!"

Looking at the mess on the floor, no one dared approach.

They tried to calm Fallon from across the stairs: "Please put the thing down first, don't hurt yourself."

"Yes, let's talk this through. Please put it down first, okay?"

Someone tried to move closer while her attention was distracted.

But as soon as they took one step forward, Fallon cried out and threw the vase down.

The vase fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, fragments scattering everywhere.

Everyone instinctively dodged to the side.

Fallon seized this opportunity, hunched her back, grunted, and rushed straight down from the top of the stairs in a sprint.

She moved very quickly, like a hunting leopard. Before anyone could react, she'd already rushed down the stairs, reached the door, and collided with someone coming in.