Chapter 435

“Bishop, I can’t hang out today. I’ve got to head back to Apex.” Claire fiddled with the card Bishop had slipped into her hand, not sure if she was supposed to laugh or sigh. Bishop was really treating her like a little kid.

“Just keep the card. When you get back, go shopping with your friends, blow off some steam.” Bishop knew she had college entrance exams coming up. There was no way he could keep her here.

“I’d feel rude refusing, so I won’t.” Claire tucked the card away without fuss.

The Churchill family never lacked for money. No matter their age, all the men loved handing out cards for pocket money. Claire was used to it by now. Even her New Year’s money came in the form of bank cards.

“If you ever run out, come find me.” Bishop didn’t bring up Karla, but Claire could guess what this was about. He and Karla were close, and Bishop just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings. He probably thought Claire would blame Karla for what happened, so he was trying to make it up to her.

But how could she blame Karla for inviting her out?

Karla hadn’t even gotten to see Claire that morning. She’d been called to the police station at the crack of dawn. The police had found a lead, and she needed to help with the investigation. As soon as she left the station, she heard a paparazzi had nearly broken into Oakley’s hospital room. She had barely caught her breath before rushing off to the hospital again.

Oakley was awake now. After all the chaos with the reporters, he still couldn’t get proper rest. Now he was having breakfast.

“Karla, sorry for all the hassle.” Oakley felt a pang of guilt when he saw the dark circles under Karla’s eyes.

“As long as you get it. You just focus on getting better. Osborn already said it, you’ll go back to filming when you’re healed p>

Oakley was a bit surprised. Osborn usually loved clashing with another director in the industry. With this accident postponing filming, he figured Osborn might be thinking about replacing him.

“You think you’re still some newbie they can just swap out?” Karla looked at him. “You had an accident on Osborn’s set and almost lost your life. It’s bad enough they haven’t compensated you. Do you think they’d actually dare to kick you off the project p>

It finally clicked for Oakley. He wasn’t that no-name actor at the bottom anymore. He

was an award winner now. Incidents like this needed an explanation, not a

replacement. No director would just swap him out now.

“Did they figure out what happened?” he asked.

“There’s a lead.” Karla didn’t share more details since the police were still investigating and nothing could be made public yet.

Oakley changed the subject. “Karla, how’s your niece p>

“If it wasn’t for her, I might not be alive. Even if had survived, if a bystander got hurt, it’d be a major scandal at this stage in my career.” The title of Best Actor was an honor, but it was also a cage. If someone like him hurt a pedestrian, the press would have a field day. His career would be over. No one would care if it was an accident. People were just waiting for a shot to drag him down and take his spot.

“If you want to thank her in person, you might have to wait.” Karla didn’t hide the truth from Oakley. “She’s in her last year of high school and was only here for the competition She’s heading back to Apex soon.

“She must be pretty smart,” Oakley said, sounding genuinely impressed. Math competitions were a big deal, and the fact Claire had done well said a lot.

“Think she’ll come back to Cabinda after exams?” He wanted to say thank you face- to-face, and even if it had to wait, he wasn’t about to just forget about it.

“She’ll definitely come back once exams are done. If everything goes according to plan, she’ll be here for college too p>

Oakley smiled a little, relief in his expression. He’d have plenty of chances to thank her in person later.