Silly Bride

Chapter 233

latter to feel embarrassed.Winnie could only rein in her temper throughout the ride.Ultimately, she decided to shut her eyes and get some rest to avoid looking at anyone.Jacinta stopped stirring a ruckus as long as Winnie did not pay Xavier any attention.Suddenly, pin-drop silence filled the air in the car.The absence of sound lasted until their vehicle was forced to come to a halt.Mason, who was driving the car, slammed his foot against the brake pedal at once. “Ms. Garland, someone is blocking the road ahead. All of you get down. The rest of you prepare yourselves.”“Understood!” Mason’s subordinates replied simultaneously.Winnie had opened her eyes the moment Mason hit the brakes. She craned her neck a little to peek ahead. When she did that, the car blocking the road in front of them suddenly honked.The next moment, a man wearing a face mask and baseball cap poked his head out of the car window.Winnie narrowed her eyes and swiftly recognized that person.“Don’t worry. He’s one of us,” she announced to everyone inside the car, then whispered something next to Xavier’s ear.Xavier knitted his brows after listening to her, but he still opened the car door for her chivalrously.Seeing that Winnie and Xavier were about to get out of the car together, Jacinta quickly grabbed Winnie’s arm and uttered anxiously, “Where are you going, Winnie?”Winnie hurriedly consoled her, “I’m going down to take a look. It’ll be fine. That person is one of us. I’ll be right back. There won’t be any danger.”“Okay.” Only then did Jacinta let go of Winnie’s arm. “Be careful, then.”Winnie nodded. “I will.”With that, she hopped out of the car with Xavier trailing closely behind her.However, instead of moving forward, he stood beside the car and waited for her while helping her keep an eye on the surroundings.Winnie strode toward the car in front of her.Before she even reached the vehicle, the door to the passenger seat was pushed open by someone inside the car, hinting at her to be their guest.Quickly, she got into the car.“Captain Bennett, what are you doing here at this hour? Isn’t it risky for you to do this?” Winnie asked Christopher, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.Even though he was wearing a face mask at that moment, she could still sense the faint hint of a smile dancing in his eyes.“It is a little inconvenient for me. That’s why I’m dressed like this. Although Zyon was not a significant figure, Harold will not let you all off the hook so easily after you killed so many of their members. I’m here to escort you all. All of you must leave Lightspring at once.”“Yes, you’re absolutely right. We should indeed leave this place after pulling off the rescue mission, but Rachel is very sick. We need to send her to a hospital now. Otherwise, I’m not sure how long she can survive.”“All right,” Christopher assented. “I’ll bring you all to the hospital now. You two follow my car while those mercenaries you hired should go on their separate way so as to not attract attention with our large numbers. I received news about Zyon’s fate earlier. Thank you for helping me to eliminate this huge trouble. Otherwise, the years of hard work by the organization would have gone down the drain.”“I’m glad that your effort is not wasted.” At the mention of Zyon, Winnie recalled Jacinta’s frightened appearance earlier. She frowned slightly and changed the topic of their conversation. “I’ll go and call them over. You should move your car. You’ve really scared us just now.”Christopher chuckled. “Do you get scared so easily? I doubt that.”Winnie grinned at him in silence and got out of the car.Rachel was swiftly transferred to Christopher’s car. After Winnie informed Mason of a few important matters, she got into Christopher’s car too.Christopher drove the car at high speed the entire way. Before long, they arrived in a different city, and the vehicle eventually stopped in front of a hospital.The hospital seemed to be relatively huge, but the larger the hospital they visited, the more worried Winnie felt. “Isn’t this hospital too conspicuous? Will Harold’s men track us down here?” Christopher replied confidently, “They won’t. This is General Kane’s territory. This place is different from the shambolic Lightspring. Harold wouldn’t dare to pursue you all the way here.”“Okay. I can rest assured if you say that,” Winnie said while supporting Rachel. “You should hurry up and leave. We can handle the rest.”Christopher grunted. Then he pondered briefly before saying to Xavier, “Keep her safe.”Xavier was momentarily stunned. With a frown, he said, “I know that without needing you to remind me.”That should have marked the end of the conversation, but Jacinta suddenly leaned forward and suggested, “Captain Bennett, can you stay here to protect Winnie? This place is too dangerous. I can only feel at ease if you’re here to keep her safe.”Xavier was rendered speechless, and his expression darkened at once.A frown marred Winnie’s forehead as well as she said, “Granny, what are you saying? I don’t need Captain Bennett’s protection. Besides, he has other important matters to attend to. I’ll go back with all of you right after I bring Rachel to see the doctor.”With that, Winnie gestured to Xavier for him to handle Rachel while she went to help Jacinta get out of the car.After that, all of them entered the hospital. Rachel’s condition was severe, so she was admitted straight to the intensive care unit.Winnie’s head ached because of the turns of events. Under such circumstances, Rachel would not be fit to be transferred out or travel long distances. The only thing they could do at that moment was to remain in the local hospital for Rachel to receive medical treatment.They had no choice but to wait for her condition to improve and for her to be transferred back to the regular ward before they could arrange for Rachel to return to the country.Seeing that Winnie was worried about Rachel, Xavier could not help but step forward to comfort her, “She will get better. Worse come to worst, we’ll stay here for a few more days and send Granny back to the country first.”“Yeah. There isn’t a better way for now.” Winnie pinched the space between her brows. “Actually, I’m also a little concerned about Granny’s condition. She’s been acting weird on our way here.”“Indeed.” Xavier had noticed Jacinta’s unusual behavior too.Something about her felt off the moment she suddenly fired a shot at Zyon. Judging by her demeanor at that time, I think her killing intent was not motivated by anger or hatred. It seemed more likely to me that she was trying to shut Zyon up. After all, dead men tell no tale. Does that mean…Xavier ruminated briefly before asking Winnie, “What do you think of the things Zyon mentioned before his death?”“What thing?” Winnie looked up at him. “Are you referring to Zyon claiming himself to be Granny’s grandson?” She furrowed her brows. “That’s impossible. I’ve checked his chest, but there wasn’t any birthmark as described by Granny.”“Then could it be that Granny remembered wrongly? After all, this is a matter from so many years ago. Besides, based on the current situation, it seems that Granny can be very emotional under certain circumstances, so there could be a possibility for her to misremember an important matter or be confused.”“No way…” The frown on Winnie’s face deepened. “Is there still any doubt about Zyon being your Uncle Stuart’s trueborn son?”“If you put it that way…” Xavier paused for a few seconds. “Indeed, there isn’t any doubt. Zyon is definitely my Uncle Stuart’s biological son.”“Okay. Now is not the time to discuss this issue. Since we’re at a hospital, I should just let a doctor examine Granny’s condition and prescribe her some anxiolytics.”Xavier found a hotel nearby the hospital.Winnie and Jacinta stayed in the same room, while Xavier occupied a separate room by himself.At night, after taking her medicine, Jacinta went to lie on the bed.Winnie waited for Jacinta to fall asleep before going to the next room to find Xavier because she had to discuss matters related to their return to the country with him.Unexpectedly, the electricity supply in the room was disrupted halfway through their conversation.Xavier opened the window and looked out. He realized theirs was not the only room affected by the blackout. Apparently, the whole hotel and the buildings opposite the hotel experienced a power failure. The only facility that remained lit was the nearby hospital.Winnie immediately called the front desk to enquire about the situation.Only then was she informed that power outage was very common in that area, and if they needed illumination, they could light the candles available in each room.The receptionist was telling the truth because right after Winnie entered the room, she noticed candles and lighters placed in every prominent corner of the room.She had been under the assumption that the candles were to set the mood inside the room. Little did she expect they were allocated for lighting purposes.After hanging up the call, she took out her phone to switch on the torchlight function of her device.However, her phone was damaged during the day when the car exploded. The device could still be used for communication purposes, but the flashlight function was impaired.At that sight, Xavier placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Sit here. Let me handle it.”Soon, all the candles inside the room were lit, and the room was bright again.Meanwhile, Jacinta, inside the room next door, had also lighted the candles.She had drifted off after taking her medicine, but her nightmare had haunted her slumber.She dreamed of Zyon, covered in blood, seeking her out to claim her life. She ran for her life, but no matter how hard she tried to escape, she could not move an inch forward as she continued to run in place.By the time she woke up with a jolt, her body was drenched in sweat.The pitch-black surroundings following the blackout instilled fear in her heart, prompting her to get off the bed and stumbled in the dark to illuminate the candles.Staring at the flickering candlelight, she involuntarily took a walk down the memory lane.Back then, Jacinta was still living in a small mountain village very far away from Avenport.She was young