âPlease get up, Granny!â As Winnie could not bear to see Jacinta kneel in front of her and Rufus and plead for Stuartâs sake, she went forward to help Jacinta up.However, Jacinta forcefully pushed her away as she was still upset with Winnie.The force of her push was so strong that Winnie staggered for a moment.After regaining her footing, she took a deep breath and said, âItâs pointless to do this, Granny. Attempted murder is a criminal offence, and the state will be the one prosecuting it. No one has the right to forgive the perpetrator. Please stop your unnecessary struggle and come home with me right now. Just donât meddle with the rest of the matters anymore.âWinnie came forward once again and grabbed Jacintaâs arm.Jacinta, however, struggled once again. âNo, you canât do this! You canât do this to me and Stuart! Both of you are too cruel!âWhen Rufus saw that Jacinta was kicking and struggling with all her might, to the point of hurting Winnie, he signaled for his men to stop her.Upon noticing help was on the way, Winnie instantly pulled down the curtains nearby. She grabbed a letter opener and cut the curtain into long strips before quickly tying Jacintaâs hands and legs.She did not utter a single word while she was tying up Jacinta.It was unnecessary for her to give any additional instructions since there were men who had directly helped her in carrying Jacinta to the car.Just when Winnie opened the car door and got into the driverâs seat, Josiah hurried outside after her.Seeing that she was not in a stable condition, Josiah ran to her and wanted to offer to drive the car for her.
However, he didnât expect Winnie to speed away before he could even say a word to her.Josiah hurriedly drove to catch up with her.Initially, Winnieâs car was going really fast, and that caused Josiah, who was following closely behind her, to feel nervous and scared.Yet, after driving for a dozen kilometers, Winnieâs car suddenly came to a halt.Josiah quickly pulled over behind her car and stepped out to have a look.Just when he was about to knock on Winnieâs car window, the latter had already gotten out of her car.âWhatâs wrong?â As he noticed Winnieâs reddened eyes and her tense, gloomy aura surrounding her body, Josiah couldnât help but worry about her.Propping her hands on the guardrails by the side of the road in frustration, Winnie closed her eyes tightly and said, âSheâs been begging me for the entire journey! Iâve never seen her like this before! Even when we had complications in the past, she has never cried like this, ever!âAs she spoke, Winnie could not help but kick the guardrail. âShe made me feel like I was a cold-blooded person. But I didnât do anything wrong. I didnât!ââYouâre right, Winnie. You didnât do anything wrong.â Josiah gently patted Winnieâs shoulder.
âYouâre being responsible toward your grandmother. I think she will understand your intentions and difficulties after a while. Let me drive your car later. Iâm concerned about how this will affect you if this keeps going on. You can drive my car.ââNo, itâs okay.â Winnie took a deep breath and continued, âI came out just to get some fresh air. Eventually, we must face the inevitable. Iâll take Granny home in a bit. You should head back to the hospital. Please safeguard the two soil samples I sent you since they will be used as evidence in court. Also, you need to make another copy of the DNA test result.ââDonât worry about it.â Josiah nodded. âLeave everything to me. There wonât be any problems. If you still have conflicted thoughts inside your heart, you should convince her to turn herself in. However, if you really canât persuade her, just wait for Xavier to return and let him file a police report instead. We canât put off Stuartâs issue much longer now.â âI know.â Winnie massaged her temples before opening her car door.
âLetâs go.âBoth cars started their engines one after the other and drove in opposite directions at the next intersection.Winnie brought Jacinta directly back to Aqua Moana.No matter how hard Jacinta tried to plead with Winnie, the latter remained unmoved.After that, Jacinta realized it was practically useless to beg Winnie, so she began to verbally abuse Winnie instead, humiliating the latter by saying that she was cold-blooded and ruthless.At first, Winnie was upset and angry by Jacintaâs insults. However, she became numb after a while.Under such circumstances, Winnie knew there was no way she could persuade Jacinta to surrender herself to the police.Jacinta decided to ignore Winnie, refusing to eat or drink.Later on, she found a good chance to strike. While Winnie got up to take Xavierâs phone call, Jacinta managed to retrieve a fruit knife from the drawer of the coffee table.It was a spare fruit knife she had prepared previously, and no one except herself knew where it was stored.Taking advantage of Winnieâs lack of attention, Jacinta used the knife to cut the cloth that had bound her hands.The cloth that bound her legs had no use after her hands were untied.Jacinta intended to sneak off discreetly at first, but because the living room was so tiny, Winnie noticed her as soon as she stood up.Knowing that Winnie would definitely stop her from leaving, Jacinta had no choice but to place the fruit knife on her neck.Attempting to threaten Winnie with suicide, Jacinta said, âWinnie, since we are related, donât be so cruel to me, okay? Iâm serious. Let me and my son go, and we will never appear in front of you again. If you insist on forcing me to stay here, then I shall die in front of you.ââPlease donât do this, Granny!â Winnie put down her phone immediately. âEven if you agreed to do so, Stuart might not agree to it. If he manages to escape, his crimes will become even more heinous. As I said, both of you should just surrender to the police, and the court will give you a lighter sentence.ââNo! My son canât go to prison!â Jacinta yelled furiously. âAt the end of the day, youâre refusing to let him go, right? You just donât want to let him go! Youâre trying to force me to end my life now!âJacinta was unusually emotional at that moment. Having finished speaking, she slit her neck immediately with the knife without allowing herself any time to calm down.Within mere seconds, blood spewed everywhere.Winnie was stunned for a moment before she snapped back to her senses and rushed forward to cover Jacintaâs neck tightly.âGranny! Please donât move, Granny, I beg of you! Iâm taking you to the hospital now!âAs she looked at her bloodstained hands, her heart shuddered.Immediately, Winnie sent Jacinta to the hospital.Since they were able to stop the bleeding in time, Jacinta was quickly rescued. Yet, as soon as Jacinta woke up, she created a commotion, forcing the doctor to sedate her.After Jacinta had fallen asleep, Winnie rested at the side of the bed as she kept an eye on her grandmother.As exhaustion inundated Winnie, she quickly fell into a slumber.She woke up around one or two oâclock in the morning and gazed at her grandmother, who was fast asleep in front of her. As she recalled the heartwarming moments she had shared with her grandmother, Winnie couldnât help but shed tears quietly.When Winnie woke up again, she didnât know what time it was. She could only see a faint sliver of light outside the window, but it was still dark within the ward.Even without turning her head around, she could sense someone was standing behind her at that moment.Whoâs that? Why is that person standing quietly behind me?Winnie clutched the special necklace around her neck warily as she slowly turned around.