Chapter 407
Camilla and Carol’s conversation with Mike’s subordinates was going nowhere.
Men who constantly operated on the razor’s edge of the law were naturally paranoid. Even at a legitimate business summit, they guarded their interactions with extreme caution.
The two women had introduced themselves and laid the flattery on thick, but they still walked away without so much as a phone number.
As the summit neared its end, Camilla and Carol stepped out of the banquet hall, feeling entirely deflated.
Clearly, infiltrating the enemy’s inner circle wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
They were chatting as they approached their car when Camilla suddenly felt a burning stare fixed on her.
She glanced over her shoulder and locked eyes with Barnard, who was sitting in a wheelchair.
Without missing a beat or slowing her stride, she slipped into the car next to Carol.
For the entire drive, Carol wore a deeply troubled expression.
Considering her father’s whereabouts were on the line, Camilla was just as anxious.
But her exterior remained remarkably composed.
“Do you have a plan?” Carol asked.
Camilla replied smoothly, “Since we can’t get through to them directly, we need to find someone who already has an in. Barnard saw me earlier. Knowing him, he’s going to reach out. I can just meet up with him and feel him out for information p>
She didn’t expect Barnard to be an insider, but he was Calvin’s son. Whatever scraps he could pry from his father would still be more than what she and Carol had managed to dig up.
“But… he’s your ex-husband. And after everything they p>
Recalling the sheer hell the Carter family had put Camilla through, Carol couldn’t hide her worry.
Camilla said, “It’s fine. I can handle myself. It’s just a conversation. Nothing’s going to happen p>
She knew how Barnard operated.
He was full of malicious ideas, but he was inherently a coward. If he tried to pull anything, it would be through deceit, not direct confrontation.
Not to mention, he was a double-amputee in a foreign city. There was virtually nothing he could physically do to her.
“I know you’re desperate to find my dad, but maybe we should brainstorm another angle,” Carol urged softly.
Camilla countered, “I just think this is a shortcut we shouldn’t ignore. If he contacts me, I’ll use him. If he doesn’t, we drop it p>
As it turned out, Camilla’s read on Barnard was spot-on.
That very night, an unknown number flashed on her screen. When she answered, Barnard’s voice echoed through the speaker.
But unlike his usual arrogant, self-satisfied tone, he sounded unsettlingly bleak. His very first words were, “You finally picked up, Camilla p>
Feigning complete ignorance, she played along. “Barnard? Is that you p>
“Surprised? You saw me today, didn’t you? I figured you would’ve guessed I’d track you down,” he retorted.
His voice was icy, laced with a toxic bitterness as he pressed on. “You must be gloating right now, huh?
Thrilled, even?
After all the hell I put you through, seeing me end up like this… it must feel like perfect karma, doesn’t it p>
Camilla couldn’t see him through the phone, but she could practically picture the deranged, twisted look on his face just from the timbre of his voice.
Knowing she needed him for intel, she resisted the urge to shut him down completely. Instead, she kept her tone deliberately stiff. “You’re overthinking it. I might despise you sometimes, but I don’t revel in other people’s tragedies.
If that’s all, I’m hanging up. Focus on your recovery p>
“Wait!” Barnard blurted out, a panicked edge to his voice. “Camilla, you don’t look down on me just because I lost my legs, do you p>
“We’ve known each other for years. Don’t you know who I am by now? I don’t judge people by their physical state. But Barnard, that doesn’t mean there’s anything left between us.
My disdain for you has absolutely nothing to do with your legs. You p>
“Let’s meet up,” he interrupted, his tone suddenly desperate, bordering on manic excitement.
He knew it. He knew she wasn’t that shallow. She wouldn’t think less of him just because he was in a wheelchair.
Not like Davina p>
His mind immediately flashed to his agonizing days trapped in the hospital with Davina. Even if she didn’t complain out loud, every time he asked for something, a flash of profound irritation would cross her face.
Her attitude made it impossible for him to reconcile the woman in front of him with the sweet, caring girl from his memories.
It fueled his explosive temper.
Any lingering affection he had for Davina was rapidly disintegrating under her clumsy, exasperated attempts at caregiving.
The relentless humiliation of the past few weeks had left him desperate to prove his worth.
And with every miserable hour that passed, he found himself obsessing over the flawless, attentive care Camilla used to give him.