Chapter 81 Innocently Implicated
When I arrived, Samuel was already waiting in the private room.
"Sorry I'm late."
I exchanged pleasantries with him politely. Samuel just smiled and said he'd only just arrived himself.
After sitting down.
I got straight to the point.
"So? Any progress?"
Not long ago, through my mom's old phone, I accidentally caught glimpses of clues about what really happened back then.
That's why I started suspecting the real cause of the car accident.
Melissa suggested I get Samuel to investigate.
So much time had passed, I couldn't help but ask him about his current progress.
I vaguely remember that when I was young, the Rosewood family's life wasn't bad either.
Mom was the lady of the Rosewood family. Her personal phone was a different one, which was completely destroyed in the car accident explosion.
The phone I got through Sabrina was the one Mom used for work. So there wasn't much information I could get from it.
I could only try to investigate.
Meeting my expectant gaze, Samuel's eyes flickered, looking very uncomfortable.
I couldn't help but frown slightly. "Is there some difficulty?"
Samuel smiled, lowering his eyes to avoid my gaze. "I heard the coffee here is good, their extraction technique is top-notch in the industry. Want to try some?"
He unnaturally changed the subject.
I wanted to keep pressing him.
But then I thought, since Samuel took the initiative to meet, he must be planning to tell me something.
Otherwise he should be avoiding me.
"Alright, I was too impatient."
I took the out he gave me.
Samuel's shoulders relaxed slightly, clearly relieved.
My doubts grew deeper.
What exactly did Samuel find out?
That would make him this conflicted.
Samuel quickly collected himself and spoke casually, "How was yesterday's competition? Did it go smoothly?"
"Not bad, there was a small incident, but I still won first place."
Thinking of Sabrina shooting herself in the foot, I felt satisfied.
But my brain automatically replayed the scene of Sabrina fooling Michael, and instantly my chest felt tight again.
Such terrible acting - could my brothers really not see through it?
"Small incident?" Samuel raised an eyebrow.
I nodded and told him everything that happened yesterday in detail.
Some things shouldn't be bottled up inside - saying them out loud actually feels better.
Besides, Samuel and I used to be close friends who talked about everything, and now he's helping me investigate what happened back then, so naturally there's no need to hide anything.
After listening, Samuel's smile faded considerably, his expression thoughtful.
Does he want to help me get revenge?
I quickly said, "Don't worry, I can handle it."
If he helped and made things worse, it wouldn't be easy to clean up.
Samuel is a steady person, he should understand what I mean.
Hearing me say this, Samuel didn't push further.
He just sighed deeply, his tone sympathetic. "Catherine, maybe you could try relying on me too?"
I laughed it off lightly. "Then first tell me what you've found out?"
Samuel's expression froze. He moved his lips but couldn't get a word out for a long time.
Just when I thought he wouldn't say anything and was about to chat about something else to ease into it.
Samuel suddenly looked at me seriously. "What's your relationship with Nicholas like?"
"Last time I saw you, you two seemed to be neighbors."
"When I asked you before, you were vague about it. Can you give me a straight answer now?"
I was stunned. "Why are you asking this?"
Something flashed in my mind, and I instinctively gripped my skirt tighter. "Does what happened back then have something to do with Nicholas?"
Samuel nodded, then shook his head.
I looked at him blankly.
"You answer me first."
I tried to figure out Samuel's intention.
He probably wanted to gauge his words based on my relationship with Nicholas.
To get the complete truth without any reservations, I could only say...
"Just friends."
"Nicholas and I are just ordinary friends, you can speak freely."
I denied any feelings between Nicholas and me.
Everyone weighs pros and cons when facing situations, and I'm no exception.
Besides, nothing is settled yet, and we really are just ordinary friends.
Samuel kept staring at my face.
As if trying to judge whether I was lying.
After a long while, Samuel sat up straight and looked directly at me. "You need to prepare yourself mentally for what I'm about to say."
I nodded, signaling him to continue.
"I'm sure you know Nicholas's background better than I do, so I won't go into too much detail."
Samuel spoke slowly and deliberately.
I didn't dare miss a single word of what came next.
"According to the information I found, the Harrington family was too high-profile twenty years ago and attracted countless enemies."
"And the Harrington family not only didn't know how to keep a low profile, but publicly flaunted Nicholas's talents."
Ordinary people hate geniuses the most.
Especially those who already had grudges against the Harrington family, right?
They staked out the place and found a time when the young genius Nicholas was out alone, hired hitmen planning to eliminate this future heir of the Harrington family.
Unfortunately, my parents and I happened to run into Nicholas being chased that year.
Several cars crashed in a chain collision.
Causing the sensational car accident.
Our family's car was the same model as the one Nicholas was in that day. The hitmen got the wrong car.
Nicholas escaped by chance.
But my parents and Herman, who was protecting me, left this world forever.
After finishing, Samuel looked regretful.
"Catherine, don't be too sad. Your parents in heaven would want you to be healthy and happy, not blinded by hatred."
He paused, then added, "After all, it's been so long since what happened back then, and this information might not be completely accurate."
"Don't worry yet, I'll have people continue to follow up and verify."
"For now, all I can tell you is that you were probably innocently caught up in this car accident. As for whether someone deliberately arranged it and took advantage of the situation, that's still unknown."
Seeing my expression was off, Samuel kept saying something to comfort me.
My mind went completely blank. I could only see his lips moving constantly, but couldn't hear a single word.
I had almost fallen in love with Nicholas.
Now someone was telling me that my parents very likely died because of him.
Even I, in my past life, was indirectly killed by him.
Because if there had been no car accident, Sabrina wouldn't have been adopted by the Rosewood family, no one would have forced me to do clinical trials for her sake, to be Sabrina's drug experiment guinea pig.
If none of that had happened, I wouldn't have died.
Living a second life, I thought I clearly knew who my enemy was.
But now it seems I was too naive.
My mind went completely blank, totally crashed.
I closed my eyes, trying hard to calm down.
I looked at the very worried Samuel in front of me. "I have something else today, let's talk another time."