Jacinta stared at Winnie for a while before urgently saying, âAll right. Iâll make the choice. Winnie, I donât want Stuart to find out that I shot Zyon. Iâll tell you everything. He sent me something, and I saved it on my phone. Iâll show it to you now.âAs Jacinta said that she moved to grab her phone.Winnie quietly watched Jacinta as disappointment seeped into her heart.Even now, Grannyâs still lying to me. I have the phone that she used to contact Stuart, yet sheâs now coming up with such a lousy lie about how she kept the thing Stuart sent to her in her other phone. Sheâs just making excuses so that she can tell Stuart about the situation, isnât she?Nevertheless, Winnie continued to stare at Jacinta without reacting.Josiah, who was at the side, noticed what Jacinta was going to do.He promptly alerted Winnie to Jacintaâs actions in a low voice. âDo you trust your granny? I think itâs very likely that sheâs going to report the situation to Stuart. We should stop her, or else things will go south. If you canât do this, Iâll get her phone instead.ââItâs fine.â Winnie stretched out her arm to stop Josiah. âLetâs take a gamble again.ââButâââTrust me, Josiah. I wonât mess things up,â Winnie interrupted before Josiah could finish his sentence. Despite her reassurance, he still felt that Jacinta was going to mess it up.However, it felt as if Winnie had everything under control with the kind of tone and expression she had. Josiah furrowed his brows, and in the end, he chose to trust Winnie.âAll right.â Josiah took a step back. âI hope your granny wonât let you down this time.âThey were not loud, but they were not too soft either.Nevertheless, Jacinta did not register anything they said, for she was in a rush to tell her son about the situation.She knew that calling would not work, for she would have to wait for him to pick up the call. That was time she did not have.Therefore, she chose to send a text, for text messages were convenient, and all she needed was for him to read the message.Her message read: Iâve been exposed. Hurry up and leave!Josiah and Winnie saw what Jacinta typed.Just as Josiah was about to snatch Jacintaâs phone from Jacinta, Winnie grabbed his arm.Josiah whipped his head around to look at Winnie in shock and confusion.âWhat are you doing? Why are you stopping me?â he questioned, desperate to hear a reasonable explanation from Winnie.Before Winnie could say anything, Jacinta smacked her phone. âWhatâs going on? Why canât I send the message? Is the signal here bad? What is this lousy place? I canât even use my phone.âAs she spoke, she dialed Stuartâs number.Yet, the automated voice told her she could not make any more calls.âWhatâs going on? Why canât I make any calls?â Jacinta stared at her phone with wide eyes. âI just paid a hundred a few days ago. Thereâs no way Iâd already spent everything!ââThatâs because I stopped your phone service,â Winnie declared in disappointment as she looked at the panicking Jacinta. âWhen I found out that you had two phones and had been secretly contacting Stuart, I stopped the phone service of this phone right away. Granny, I was still hoping you would show me the thing you mentioned with the other phone instead of telling Stuart about the situation. You lied to me.â âIt was you.â Jacinta finally realized what was going on upon hearing Winnieâs words. âNo wonder I couldnât make any calls on my way here. It kept telling me that I was outside of the coverage range, so I thought that it was because the signal in the outskirts was bad.
It was you, Winnie? Why did you do this?ââWhy did I do this?â Winnie snapped her brows together.
âDonât you know why Iâm doing this? Youâve done something wrong, Granny! You canât keep doing this!
You and Stuart have to pay for what youâve done!âRight as Winnie said that, she took out her phone to make a call.The call went through swiftly, and Winnie uttered the order to the person on the other end of the line in front of Jacinta, âMove in and keep Stuart exactly where he is.ââWhat are you doing, Winnie?â Jacinta finally realized what was going on; not only did Winnie have her under control, but she could even easily capture Stuart.In the next second, Jacinta grabbed Winnieâs arm and pleaded, âLet him go, Winnie! Zyonâs already gone! Your uncle had to attend his sonâs funeral, and youâre going to send him to jail now? Heâs not a young man anymore. His life would be ruined if he were to go to jail now. He wonât have a future anymore!ââGranny,â Winnie started as she stared at her grandmother before steeling herself and flinging Jacintaâs hand away. âYouâve already given up on your morals. Are a few years of jail time harsher than the loss of a life? When Stuart kills Xavier, are you going to tell me that Stuartâs loss of freedom is far more grave than the loss of Xavierâs life? Granny, itâs time to stop!ââBut, Winnie, heâs the one and only kin of mine left in this world. Please! Please have mercy on him!â As Jacinta spoke, she went down on her knees before Winnie.As she bawled, she choked out, âYouâre a good kid, Winnie, and I didnât want to make you upset. Thatâs why I was planning to stop. I didnât want you to be hurt so I wanted to stop and just ask Stuart to run. At the end of the day, heâs my son, and youâre my granddaughter. My heart aches for you, but my heart also aches for him. Iâve taken care of you for so many years and given you so much love. Yet, Iâve never done what a mother should do since the day I gave birth to my son. This is what I owe him. Iâve done far too little for him. Winnie, please let him go for my sake. Please! Itâs just for this time. This will be the last time!âIt felt as if a hand was wrapped tightly around Winnieâs heart as Winnie looked at her grandmother, who had tear streaks down her face.After a moment of silence, she firmly replied, âNo.âJacinta was devastated to hear that answer, but she soon changed her target and crawled over to beg Rufus.âPlease let Stuart go! Heâs your son too! Iâm not here for anything else but this. Iâm begging you to give him the last bit of love as his father. Give him what we owe him, and Iâll leave this place with him. I swear weâll never return. Weâll never step foot into Avenport again and never ever appear in your line of sight. Please!â