âWhat?â Rufus gasped with surprise before he said with certainty, âImpossible! Thatâs absurd! I sent someone to check on them decades ago and found them dead. All of them! How can a dead person be coming after you? Whatâs going on here? Did someone come up to you and say something? Why didnât they look for me? Did you get scammed?ââNo.â Winnie explained, âNo one is scamming us. We were the ones who found out everything. Every detail written on that document is real, Grandpa Rufus. Did you really have a son with her?âRufus had no plans to keep it a secret any longer by that point.âThatâs right. A long time ago, my private plane crashed on a mountain, and I broke my leg. A family of farmers saved me. Iâd already married Xavierâs grandmother and had Xavierâs father by then. In that era, communications were outdated in the mountains. It was difficult for me to contact the outside world, so I planned to thank that family once I recovered. Yet that family used despicable means to make me sleep with their daughter. I wasnât aware their daughter had already gotten pregnant with my child after that one time. When the family came looking for me, I immediately gave them some money and sent them away. I thought that was the end of it. However, a year later, that family came looking for me with the child in tow. They wanted more money, claiming the child was my son. I was furious. Not only did they drug their daughter, but they even used a child as a bargaining chip for money. They claimed their daughter had gotten married and didnât want the child. I took the child from them in a fit of anger and chased them away. After that, I tried searching for them, but all I got was news of their death. So many years had passed, and that family never came looking for me again. Thus Iâm not sure why youâre bringing this up today.âRufusâ narrative was about the same as the information Winnie found, but he never mentioned the childâs identity.âGrandpa Rufus, is the child you mentioned in your story Xavierâs second uncle, Stuart Fairchild?â Winnie asked.âYes!â Rufus frowned. âItâs him. Heâs the illegitimate child I had out of wedlock!âHe sighed. âThatâs one of the reasons why Iâm biased against Stuartâs family.
Greed and pettiness were engraved in their bones just like that family.âWinnie agreed. âYeah, they are indeed greedy.â With furrowed brows, Winnie looked at Rufus and questioned, âCan I ask you one more question, Grandpa Rufus?ââSure.ââAll right. If that woman reappeared in front of you after all these years, would you still be able to recognize her?ââNo.â Rufus didnât even pause to think before answering, âIt had been so long ago. Iâd only seen her from afar a few times when I was recovering from my broken leg at their home. Despite the incident that happened between us after, I didnât get a good look at her.âSo thatâs how it is. Winnieâs gaze darkened. âNo wonder you didnât recognize her.ââWhat do you mean, Winnie?â Rufus stared at Winnie with a perplexed look. âAre you saying Iâve already met Stuartâs mother? But isnât she dead?âWinnie forced a smile. âTo be honest, I hope sheâs not who we suspect she is. We were nearly done with our investigation, but a crucial piece of evidence was destroyed in a fire. We need some hair samples from you and Stuart for a DNA test. After all, a DNA test doesnât lie.â Catching the sad look on Winnieâs face, an uneasy feeling rose within Rufus.
âWinnie, tell me who you are referring to.âWinnie paused in contemplation before answering, âMy granny.ââWhat?â Disbelief consumed Rufus. âHow is that possible? How can there even be such a coincidence?âWinnie said, âActually, there have always been clues. Itâs just that none of us had ever thought to run such a thorough investigation. Granny had wanted to find her grandchild in the Fairchild family at first. In fact, not just her grandchild. She wanted to look for her son too. Grandpa Rufus, can you help us get some hair samples from Stuart? I already got Grannyâs.ââSure!â Rufus was still in shock. âYou donât have to run a paternity test for Stuart and me. Iâd done it decades ago. I even stored a sample of his blood in the hospital. It should still be usable if you use it now.ââThatâs great! We were still scratching our heads on how to get some hair samples from Stuart, but now it looks like this is no longer an issue. Iâll return to the hospital now,â Josiah said excitedly.He tacked on, âWhat about you, Winnie? Are you coming with me?âWinnie nodded. âLetâs go.âSeeing they were about to leave, Rufus added, âIâll authorize you to take Stuartâs blood, but I wonât be going with you. I need some time to straighten out this mess too.âWinnie and Josiah rushed to the hospital.Running a DNA test would take at least three hours, so the two had no choice but to wait outside the laboratory.Winnie wasnât in the mood to talk during the wait. She decided to start digging through Jacintaâs phone.Winnie could tell that something was wrong when she noticed that the phone had no data whatsoever. Every piece of information in that phone had been erased. There wasnât even one contact saved on it.To verify her doubts, she urgently called her number with Jacintaâs phone. Realization dawned upon her.The phone wasnât the one Jacinta frequently used, and the number was also not Jacintaâs usual number.âHow can this be?â Winnie stared down at the string of unfamiliar numbers on her phone. âHow careless of me!
Granny had two phones that looked alike! I thought just taking her phone was enough. She tricked me!
I canât believe I let my guard down!â she exclaimed.âWhatâs wrong? What do you mean by letting your guard down?â Josiah saw Winnieâs strange reaction and instantly peered over her phone.Nevertheless, Winnie didnât spare a moment to answer Josiahâs questions.She was already calling Maryâs number.However, the line kept trilling, and no one picked up the call.Hearing the continuous trilling of the line, Winnie muttered, âCome on, pick up!âJosiah finally realized something was wrong. âWhatâs wrong? Did something happen to your granny?ââYes, most likely!â Winnie shot to her feet. âI need to return immediately!ââAre you not going to wait for the result?ââThis canât wait!ââIâll accompany you.âThe two hurriedly raced back to Aqua Moana.Winnie glanced around the house and found Mary lying unconscious behind the couch on the floor with blood on her forehead.There were signs of a struggle, and Jacinta was nowhere in sight.She actually fled after hurting Maryâ¦