Chapter 264

Max fiddled with his phone, a ripple of emotion flickering in his eyes. With a few swipes, he found Brielle’s number and called her.

Brielle, leaning on her cane, had just reached the bottom of the stairs when her phone rang. Though she had switched phones, her number remained unchanged, and she pressed the answer button.

“Where are you?” Max’s voice was deep, a hint of gravity behind it. Brielle paused, almost instinctively lying. “Just resting at home.”

He sat on the couch, his eyelashes drooping slightly, a tight sensation crossing his heart. “Which home?”

“Pearl Estate. I’ve been here resting since I got back from Premier Palace.”

“You haven’t gone out?”

Brielle couldn’t grasp why he was prying so much, so she simply went along. “Yeah.”

With her cane, she entered the elevator and stopped at her apartment door. Taking out her keys, she unlocked the door.

A man sat on the spacious couch, the breeze from the window causing the curtains to flutter.

accentuating his aloof demeanor. The coolness from his presence seemed to permeate the entire space.

Brielle’s steps faltered, and she instinctively took a few steps back. Once she saw who it was. warmth surged through her.

Max. How did he have the keys to this place?

She pursed her lips and silently switched on the lights.

Max twirled the phone in his hand, spinning it lightly on his fingertips.

Brielle felt a tingle in her scalp and stopped on the other side of the room, swallowing hard. “Mr.

Dorsey.”

Max didn’t respond, his fingertips still casually twirling the phone.

Brielle’s heart pounded, sensing her lie had been exposed. She quickly attempted to cover it up. “I just went out to grab some groceries, got held up at the store.”

Her hands were clearly empty.

“How long were you gone?”

“Half an hour.”

She answered without hesitation and heard Max let out a soft chuckle. Just minutes ago, he lied to his father for her, and now she was lying to him.

Brielle couldn’t meet his gaze, feeling as it the air in the room was thinning, almost unable to breathe.

“Brielle, last question for you, think carefully before you answer. Where were you this afternoon?”

It she didn’t tell the truth, what was the point of all this? He needed her honesty.

Sweat pooled in Brielle’s palms around the handle of her cane, her lips pressed tight, her heart. racing.

She had a feeling that if she lied to Max now, they might never see each other again.

But should she mention Spencer?

She already knew from the hotel manager that Max would handle Spencer’s disappearance. If he found out Spencer’s location, he would surely bring Spencer back. At that point, what leverage would she have to negotiate with Ryan? Without her bargaining chip, Mark’s life would be in danger.

She couldn’t afford to gamble.

Brielle’s eyelashes trembled, the excuses she had rehearsed a thousand times in her mind now. felt utterly powerless. She wished she could answer his questions openly, but the gap between them was as vast as a chasm.

The orphan girl who was lucky enough to read a few more books, only glimpsed the fleeting. dreams of affluence in Beaconsfield. Yet that was far from enough to sit at an equal level with him. Life was a relay race, but she had naively treated it like a sprint.

Max was always someone she had to stand on tiptoes and stretch her neck to reach. How could she naively believe he would abandon his family for her?

In the face of reality, her affection was too insignificant. The real barrier wasn’t external but her own insecurity when she felt affection for someone.

However, at this moment. Brielle didn’t understand why it was only in front of Max that her pride seemed meaningless.

She clenched her cane, feeling a dryness in her mouth like a fish gasping on a cutting board. Avoiding his gaze, she lowered her lashes. “This afternoon, I went out to lunch with Aubree. I lied because I didn’t want you to worry about my leg injury. I’m sorry.”

Although she had been to a Dorsey International hotel, the manager had no need to report such a minor matter, unless Max actively sought out her whereabouts, but with Spencer’s situation at hand, he would not be distracted by tracking her movements. So Brielle was sure Max didn’t know she had been to the hotel.

She had thought that after her explanation, Max’s demeanor would soften, but it didn’t. The temperature in the room dropped even more, and the air seemed even thinner. Her neck felt as if it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, her face turning red.

Max had risen to his feet, stepped in front of her, and tilted her chin up. Brielle was forced to look at him.

“Brielle, I must be crazy, to-

He paused, perhaps unsure of what he was about to say. Lie after lie, she managed to keep at straight face. What did she take him for?