Silly Bride

Chapter 168

how you described it,” Nate replied firmly.Rufus let out a bark of exasperated laughter. “That woman really did have a trick or two up her sleeve. She told you a part of the truth right at the start, then reeled you in and twisted you around her little finger with a web of lies and half-truths. How ingenious. What an impressive scheme!”He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “There’s evidence of her drug usage. It’s all with Winnie. We have all the proof you could want, including the police report you lodged about Winnie bringing illegal drugs out of the country. Yulissa was the one who gave those drugs, which were failed products from her grandfather’s research. There were more than ten vials in total. On the night of Garland Group’s fifteenth-anniversary celebration, she wanted to harm Xavier and Winnie. In the end, she injected all of the drugs into Xavier.”“Granddad, her grandfather—” Nate tried to explain, but Rufus cut him off.“Shut up and listen to what I have to say first. Those drugs have severely affected Xavier’s nervous system, and we have no way of knowing whether there’ll be any other side effects in the future. Because of those drugs, he’s showing signs of cognitive impairment and mania.”“I’m not, Grandpa,” Xavier protested.“You say you’re not, yet you drove hundreds of kilometers from Baykeep all the way to Nate’s house in the dead of night while speeding the entire journey, didn’t you? Are you crazy? And let me ask you this. Do you still remember the day Yulissa died?”Xavier frowned. “I don’t remember it. My last memory of her is from five years ago. Are you sure something like that really happened? I checked, and there were no homicides downtown the day Garland Group celebrated their fifteenth anniversary.”“That’s because I blocked all publication of the news. Let me ask you another question. Is that wife of yours, Winnie Garland, an idiot?”Xavier’s expression darkened instantly after getting asked that question by Rufus in front of everyone.However, since the person who posed that question was his grandfather, he did not lash out. Instead, he pursed his lips.“Winnie may not be as intelligent as the average person, but I won’t tolerate anyone calling her an idiot to my face. Since you’re my grandfather, all the more reason you shouldn’t say that about your granddaughter-in-law.”Judging from Xavier’s expression and tone, it did not sound as though he was joking in the slightest.Even Nate could not help furrowing his brows when he heard that.Rufus promptly looked at Nate and asked, “How about you? Do you think she’s an idiot?”Nate remained silent. However, the look of disbelief on his face as he glanced toward Xavier said it all. Haha! If Winnie is an idiot, everyone in this world must be mentally challenged. How could she possibly be an idiot? Has Xavier really lost his mind?Nate did not buy it. “Yulissa said you gifted her a set of diamond jewelry. Do you remember that?”“I never gave her any diamond jewelry, and I don’t know how she died. If you dare to trouble Winnie again because of this matter, I won’t let you get away with it!”Meanwhile, Winnie had finished sorting through the relevant materials on her phone while they were arguing.She held out her phone to Nate. “Here’s the information on Yulissa and the drugs I delivered to Yartran. You can go through it. If there’s anything you’re confused about, I can explain. Many details of what happened aren’t recorded, but they’re etched in my mind. That includes how Yulissa pushed me off the mountain, how she pleaded with Josiah to treat her, and how she orchestrated the kidnapping and losing a finger.”Nate took the phone. As he went through everything carefully, Beatrice glanced at it too.“Look, Nate! Yulissa is a drug addict. How did she trick you before this? Pull up your previous chats with her and show them to me.”Staring at the ironclad evidence, Nate was silent for a long time.After waiting for a while, Rufus started getting a little impatient. “Well, everything’s clear now, right? Nate, the most important thing now is to cure Xavier. We don’t need you to do anything, but we hope you don’t cause any more trouble for him and his wife.”However, Xavier was not about to let things slide just like that. “Wait a minute! You have to apologize to Winnie.”“An apology is due, of course. That’s only fair.” Beatrice patted Nate on the back and said, “Nate, you must see now that you did make a mistake first in this matter. Hence, you should apologize to Winnie, shouldn’t you?”Nate still did not respond. Frowning, he muttered to himself, “She lied to me. It turns out she was lying to me this whole time. Why? Is it because I didn’t treat her well enough?”Beatrice could not help feeling upset when she saw how miserable he was. “Oh, you… Why are you such a fool for love? She exploited that weakness of yours. Don’t be sad, my dear. It’s not worth it for someone like her.”After comforting Nate, Beatrice looked at Winnie.“Winnie, as you can see, Yulissa pulled the wool over his eyes. So, could you forgive him for what happened?” she asked earnestly.“Aunt Beatrice! Nate hasn’t even apologized yet! Isn’t it too early to be talking about forgiveness?” Xavier piped up,