Silly Bride

Chapter 150

at all if someone really wants to track your movements. What baffles me is how he even managed to find out about the two vials of samples that are inside your briefcase.”“Correct.” Winnie’s eyes narrowed to a slit. “How exactly was this person able to nail down my movements undetected is something worth questioning in itself.”“You don’t say. An unseen enemy is definitely a bigger threat than one in the open. Since neither of us has any idea who that person is nor where he is holed up at, that’s pretty scary to me.” Josiah then hypothesized, “Could it be someone who is opposed to you from within Garland Group itself?”Winnie shook her head. “I can’t be sure, but we should be able to trace it back to wherever the trail leads us.”“Huh?” Josiah was somewhat surprised. “By the way you describe it, it seems you already got a hold of the situation. Have you already set a trap for that person? Didn’t you have no clue whatsoever to work with, for starters? How did you manage to figure that out?”Brimming with confidence, Winnie chuckled. “What happened back at the airport seems to have been staged beforehand, and whoever set that up was just waiting for me to show up at the boarding gate. While everything was going down, I noticed that someone was filming me. Instead of a phone that other people would normally use, a professional-grade camera was employed. Therefore, by looking into the high-resolution video feeds that are being broadcast online, we should be able to pick some bits and pieces as to who the culprit might be.”“That’s brilliant!” Josiah was simply blown away. “You’re just unbelievably sharp. It’s no wonder you were able to snag the whole of Garland Group by simply pretending to be mentally impaired.”Winnie fell silent before she broke into a guffaw. “Is that supposed to be a compliment or a dig at me?”“A compliment, of course,” replied Josiah cheerfully. “Considering how amazing you are, I’m actually kind of worried the hospital that my family runs could wind up being named after you in less than a few days.”Winnie laughed, tickled by Josiah’s words. “Relax. I don’t have any interest in the healthcare industry, at least for now.”The pair continued their banter, and the tense atmosphere within the car quickly diffused into a chirpy one.That was when Josiah tried to channel the conversation back on track. “What happens next? When is the next scheduled flight, and should I drop you off at the airport right now?”“There’s no need for that.” Winnie loosened up and leaned back in her seat. “I’ve already looked it up. There aren’t any more direct flights scheduled for today. A transit flight would require double the travel time and is also inefficient cost-wise.”“What then?”“I’m getting the folks from the other side to come over. They’ll be arriving on a direct flight.”Josiah acknowledged that with a nod. “I was thinking about arranging for you to fly on my private plane, but it looks like that won’t be necessary anymore.”“Yeah. They’ll be flying in on a chartered flight themselves and should have taken off already, so I guess that’s pretty much settled.”“Then where should we go now?”“Back to Garland Group. I still have some stuff to sort out there.”“Will do, Ms. Garland!” Josiah breathed in and remarked in jest, “Seems to me that whenever I’m not fulfilling my primary responsibilities as a doctor, I’m always on the road, chauffeuring either Xavier or yourself around.”“Shall I award you a plaque for being such a good Samaritan so that you may have it on display at the hospital?”Half an hour later, the scurrilous news revolving around Winnie exploded online when the pair was still on the road.At that time, Winnie was napping in the car while Josiah was still behind the wheel. Neither of them was aware of the events that were in motion. It was only when Louis texted Winnie that she got wind of it.Louis gave her a rundown of the situation, with a screencap of the trending news itself appended underneath.In addition, he also inserted a comment of his own: Mr. Fairchild already knows about this.Xavier’s call came in before Winnie was able to view the image Louis had just sent her.As much as she wanted to check out how the media report was framed first, Xavier kept calling her, that she could not decline his calls, even if she wanted to.Even Josiah could not stand it, either.“For the love of god, please pick it up, Ms. Garland. It’s Xavier, isn’t it? It’s so noisy I’m losing my focus driving.”Left with no recourse, Winnie had to answer.Xavier did not sound like a happy camper. “How dare you lie to me, Dumbo! Didn’t you say you were going to visit your granny? What were you doing at the airport in the Northern District, and where were you planning to go?”Winnie was momentarily dumbstruck. “My dear Mr. Fairchild, are you sure you’re not missing the point? Why would I want to lie to you?”“Aha, you’ve finally admitted to it! You were intending to leave me, just as I thought! Tell me where you are right now. I’ll pick you up.”“That won’t be necessary. I’m currently with Josiah.”“What? You’ve hooked up with my friend? Haven’t I been treating you well enough?”“Oh, give me a break.” Winnie was almost fraying at the seams. “He came down to bail me out from the police station because—”“Really? To think that you still have the temerity to say that to my face? Why did you choose to call him instead of me? Why is it that the first man you think of reaching out to isn’t me but some other guy?”He’s not well right now, so I can’t get into it with him. I just can’t! Holding her forehead, Winnie silently repeated that to herself until Xavier was done talking.“All right, I got it. I’ll come straight over to your office, so just stay put and wait for me there. Don’t go anywhere else, okay?”“Splendid! I’ll be right here waiting!”Ending the call gave Winnie some measure of relief.She then regarded Josiah in the seat in front of her. “I’m sorry. I may have to ask you to turn around and drive me over to Garland Group instead.”Glancing up at her through the rearview mirror, Josiah pursed his lips. “You don’t have to stand on liberties with me. Just revert to that time when you called me Bad Specky and swung your fists at me often. That’ll do just fine.”Winnie’s brows pinched in response to that. “I was merely trying to scare you back then. When have I ever actually hit you?”“Oh, are you sure you didn’t? There was that one time when I brought you to visit Old Mr. Fairchild, remember? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about what happened in the elevator lobby?”“It’s your fault for pissing me off first.”“Can’t blame me for that, because you were absolutely loco back then. Nearly everyone wanted to make fun of you.”“Are you sick in the head?”“How is that sick?” Josiah laughed. “With Xavier being in the state he’s in right now, I somehow think you’ve become more patient with him than you were previously. Seems to me you don’t actually dislike him as much as you think you do.”“Is that so?” Winnie could not restrain herself from chuckling softly at the mention of that. “Don’t you think he’s more fun to be around the way he is right now?”“Yeah.” Josiah then stole another glance at Winnie through the rearview mirror. “Being as nutty as you were, you were pretty fun to be around, too.”With that, Josiah stomped down on the gas pedal because he suddenly felt