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“Frankly speaking, I have no idea.” Josiah frowned. “Look, why don’t you try approaching this from a
different angle? This is the age of big data, so it isn’t difficult 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.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWinnie 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.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
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 that he was quite beside
himself.
Winnie found the change in Xavier’s personality to be amusing because they are a couple, and the
reason why she would tease him or even yell at him is that she cares for him. Then what about me,
Josiah Houghton? Have I also fallen for Winnie? But she’s my best friend’s woman!
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