Silly Bride

Chapter 305

Christopher back and I believe that too. However, it happened outside the borders. The organization would have to think about every step carefully since even the tiniest detail could have a huge impact. That’s why I want to do this myself. Often, it’s much more efficient doing things personally than to rely on an organization. Yet, I was too anxious and ignored your feelings. I’m sorry, Winnie. I’ve been acting too selfishly toward you in the past few days.”“I understand, Lisanne.” Winnie held her hand. “This is just human nature. You don’t have to apologize to me. We’re good friends, after all.”“No.” Lisanne was not someone to take advantage of relationships. “I want to apologize to you. I said something quite hurtful at Yartranthe the other day. I don’t regret it. Regarding the incident at the research center, I don’t regret helping you at all.”“I know.” Winnie smiled. “I know that you said that in a fit of rage.”“You don’t need to look for Lucas. Just tell him to deploy more men to Manchernius.”“It’s fine. I’ve already decided.” Winnie chose to stick with her decision. “All of you are telling me to stay hidden but that doesn’t solve the root problem. I don’t want to keep being hung up on something so uncertain, so I want it to end quickly. Well, it looks like luring Harold out is the best solution. After all, he was the only one left other than us back then. As it’s highly possible that he has taken Christopher’s corpse away, the most direct method is to look for him.”“No, Winnie. That’s too dangerous.”“I admit that it’s quite risky. However, instead of waiting for him to appear one day, I’d rather take the initiative. At least, I can gain some control.”Lisanne had already regained her rationality by then. After mulling over it, she thought that what Winnie said made sense.“I need to discuss with Lucas first.”Winnie nodded. “Let’s go.”Just when both of them were about to leave, the two phones on Winnie’s desk rang at the same time.The phone connected to the internal line would only ring when she was in the office. Furthermore, all the calls would be filtered by the secretary’s office first.It was quite rare for both of her phones to ring simultaneously.Just when she was about to answer the call, someone pounded on her office door abruptly.As the knocks sounded extremely urgent, Winnie immediately responded, “Come in!”Jasmine and a security guard rushed in instantly.“Bad news, Ms. Garland!” reported Jasmine anxiously, her brows knitted in a frown. “Something happened downstairs.”“What happened? Be clear.”Jasmine took a tablet from the security guard’s hands and played a video for Winnie. “A man held our receptionist hostage. Look.” “Why?” Winnie grabbed the tablet and asked, “Have you called the police?”“Not yet. He said that he’ll kill the hostage if we called the police. He has already disconnected the receptionist’s phone.”The man in the video was in black and wearing a black cap too.The cap was pulled over his face, concealing it when viewed from the surveillance cameras.However, Winnie noticed that he shielded the receptionist’s neck with his thumb even when wielding the knife. Since it seemed like he did not have the intention to harm the receptionist, she guessed that he had other motives.She asked Jasmine, “What does he want? Did he ask for anything?”“Yeah!” Jasmine stared at Winnie worriedly and replied, “He said that he’s looking for you. Since his clothes were so disheveled and he did not have an appointment, the receptionist refused to let him come up. He continued to be insistent, so the receptionist summoned the security guards over. In a fit of panic, he whipped out a knife and took her hostage.”“Looking for me? Are you sure?”“Yes!”“Okay, I’ll go down.”“Wait, Winnie!” Lisanne pulled her back. Taking in a deep breath, she said, “Don’t go. What if he’s Harold?”“He’s definitely not Harold,” affirmed Winnie. “He’s quite skinny and Harold’s much bigger.”“Are you sure? Is it possible that you didn’t recognize him because of the surveillance footage’s angle?”“No way. Harold’s figure is quite similar to Xavier’s. There’s no way I’ll be mistaken.”Lisanne was still worried. “Let’s observe how things go first. Why don’t we call the police first?”“Yeah, Ms. Garland,” agreed Jasmine. “Let’s call the police.”Thinking that it was necessary to call the police, Winnie nodded. Just when she was about to speak, she caught a glimpse of a circular scar on the man’s hand.It was an injury caused by a cigarette burn. If her memory did not fail her, Mason had a similar scar on his hand too.She immediately changed her mind. “Don’t call the police first. I know that man.”Then, she turned her head around and told Lisanne, “Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon.”She instructed Jasmine, “Follow me down with the security guard.”“But Ms. Garland…” Jasmine asked anxiously, “Are we really not calling the police?”“No!”Two minutes later, Winnie, Jasmine, and the security guard arrived at the lobby on the ground floor.As it was still office hours, there were not a lot of people in the lobby.There were only a few security guards with two receptionists working on their shifts.When Winnie walked closer and took a clearer look, she was sure that the person was Mason.She strode toward him with a frown and declared, “I’m here. Let her go!”Mason glanced upward but did