Chapter 269: Silly Bride Chapter 269

“Not telling me, are you?” Winnie licked her molars. “Then why did you call me?”“I didn’t!” Yulissa’s ability to lie through her teeth was masterful. “I simply picked up a phone. When I saw it kept ringing, I got curious and returned the call.”“Hah.” Winnie was amused. “Are you going to tell me you don’t recognize the words ‘Josiah Houghton’ saved as the caller ID?”“I do.” Yulissa seemed to be in a good mood. “But how would I know you’d be the one to pick up the phone? What, are you angry? Panicking, even?”“Cease your nonsense!” Glancing at Nate, Winnie spoke. “You took my lover’s phone. How can I not be panicking when I’m suspecting there’s a chance you may have hurt him?”“Ah, I see.” A smile formed on Yulissa’s face. “Who’s your lover, then? Is it Xavier? Or Christopher? They seem to be together right now. Who would you choose if I asked you to pick one of them?”A brief silence ensued before Winnie glanced at Nate and asked with amusement, “Why should I have to choose?”Her answer shocked Yulissa somewhat. “Oh? Are you telling me you want both? You can’t have your cake and eat it too, you know. There’s no such good thing in this world.”“Yulissa White.” Winnie’s voice turned cold.

“Don’t judge me using your standards. I don’t want to waste my time talking nonsense to you anymore.

Nate is currently in my possession. My gun is pointing straight at his head right now. If you don’t want anything to happen to him, I suggest you behave yourself. Don’t get any ideas about Xavier, and don’t give me a perverted multiple-choice question again. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll get is his corpse after I blow his brains out.”If Winnie weren’t talking to Yulissa at the moment, Nate, with his explosive personality, definitely wouldn’t have tolerated Winnie’s words.However, at that moment, he was curious to witness Yulissa’s reaction. He wanted to know if the woman he loved deeply really cared about him or not.Hence, he couldn’t help but speak up. He was so nervous that even his voice was trembling slightly. “I don’t want to die, Yulissa. Winnie’s not joking right now. Please stop fighting with her, okay?

Just allow them to do what they want and let us return to our own everyday life, okay? If you continue to irritate her, she really will kill me.”After Nate finished talking, Yulissa actually fell silent, and that scared him.He felt as though his heart had plummeted to his feet.Taking in how disappointed he looked, Winnie couldn’t help but be amused. This is what Yulissa is truly like. I wonder what Nate was expecting.Additionally, she didn’t mind adding fuel to the fire. “What’s the matter, Yulissa? Are you afraid now? If you want him—”Yulissa directly cut her off, having no patience to listen to Winnie’s remaining words. “Afraid? Hahaha! Did I hear that wrong, Winnie? You said I’m afraid? Which one of your eyes saw that I’m afraid? Let me tell you something. If you want to take Nate’s life, go ahead if you have the guts to pull the trigger. I won’t beg you for his life, and I most certainly won’t feel afraid because of this.”It seemed as though Yulissa had been triggered by the usage of the word “afraid.” The instant she finished speaking, she hung up the phone.When Winnie called her again, she found out the phone had been turned off.With no other choice, she ordered Josiah to drive faster.Then she turned to Nate, who was utterly dumbfounded, with nary an expression on his face.At that moment, he felt as though his heart had been plunged into icy waters. He never thought Yulissa would abandon him so unhesitatingly. But I love her so much! I did so many things for her!“Why?” Nate stared at Winnie, somewhat dazed. “Why? What did I do wrong? Why did she treat me like this? Why!”She raised her eyebrow. “I’m in no position to answer your question. It’s better if you ask her yourself. Although, I can answer the questions you asked before the phone call.”“Really?” His mind was still blank, like a white canvas. “What did I ask earlier? I’ve already forgotten about it.”Winnie recalled the questions and replied, “You asked me what a woman would do if she loved a man and if she’ll use him. You also asked if the woman would be dismissive when talking with the man.”“Oh. What’s your answer?”“The answer is that she won’t. If someone’s in love, regardless of their gender, they definitely won’t use the other or treat the other perfunctorily. Clearly, you didn’t, considering you weren’t even willing to utter a single bad thing about her. However, she has been using you and treating you with disinterest all the while. She doesn’t care about you at all. I think it’s time for you to wake up from your one-sided love.”Winnie had intentionally asked that question during the phone call earlier because she knew Yulissa didn’t give a d*mn about Nate’s survival.She did that to crush his psychological defenses and turn him against Yulissa.It was evident Yulissa’s answer deeply wounded Nate.When he heard Winnie’s answer, his eyes turned red as he repeated the same sentence. “Why? Why is she treating me like this? I don’t understand.”“I told you. You need to ask her that yourself.” She leaned toward him slowly and uttered one word at a time, “We can take you to her on the condition that you tell us everything you know, including any plans that she may have. Your appearance has already delayed us a lot. I’m not sure if they’ll still be there when we arrive at the meeting spot.”With a sorrowful expression, Nate stared at Winnie.He was feeling utterly awful at that moment, which brought on his desire to vent, to confide his feelings in someone. In fact, he even wanted to take revenge on the cold-

hearted woman he once loved.After staying silent for a while, he spilled the beans. “I don’t know what she’s planning, but when I came to obstruct your journey, she was already on her way to your rendevous point with Xavier. Perhaps she even arrived before Xavier and the others. While I don’t know what she’ll do next, I do know she has made preparations beforehand. At first, I didn’t know why she asked me to stop you. However, later on, I heard her talking to someone. I don’t know who she was speaking with, but I did hear her calling him Mr. Horton. I also heard her promising him to keep you here. That’s all I know, Winnie. What else do you want to know?”Narrowing her eyes, Winnie sneered, “That Mr. Horton is trying to kill me, and it seems like Yulissa isn’t planning to let me leave here alive.”Meanwhile, Yulissa was standing on the rooftop of the highest building in Yeringham.She had already arrived there a few days ago to familiarize herself with the place and prepare her trap.All that was left for her to do was wait for Xavier and the others to step into it.Not a lot of mercenaries had joined Xavier in his current journey. Aside from Mason and Greta, there were only two others. Those who headed upstairs at the time were Xavier, Christopher, Jacinta, and Riley.Aside from Xavier, everyone was suffering some form of injury. Both Jacinta and Riley couldn’t move easily due to injured legs. Christopher had plenty of laceration wounds on his body, so he wasn’t as mobile as he used to be.That was why Xavier, Mason, and the other two mercenaries were tasked with helping the three injured people reach the rooftop.As for Greta, she was waiting downstairs for Winnie to arrive.Nothing seemed odd to them on their way up, which was why none of them expected Yulissa to be waiting for them with a few mercenaries of her own and to be locked on the rooftop.Combining that with Yulissa and her men’s well-prepared ambush, it was no wonder Mason and the other two armed mercenaries were swiftly restrained.When Xavier realized what was going on, only the injured members of his group were left.“Yulissa?” Xavier furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Yulissa. “How did you find us here?

What are you trying to do?”Her line of sight speedily swept past him before landing on Riley.“Grandpa!”

The moment she saw her grandfather, her eyes reddened. “I’ve finally found you. We’ve finally escaped from that hellish place. Let’s go, Grandpa!”As she spoke, she attempted to approach Riley.Xavier knew Yulissa’s appearance could only spell trouble, so before she could get any closer, he stood in front of Riley and blocked her path.Gazing intently at her, he uttered with furrowed eyebrows, “Where are you planning to take Professor White? We’re about to return to the country. If you don’t provide an explanation, I won’t let you take him away.”It had been a very long time since Riley last saw his granddaughter, which was why he very much didn’t want his reunion with her to be hindered by Xavier.“Xavier.” Riley pleaded to Xavier, “Please don’t be like this. Just let Yulissa come closer. It’s been years since we last met each other. Please, won’t you pity this old man?”Turning back to the old man, Xavier explained, “I understand how you feel, but you should know that she’s no longer the person she used to be, Professor White. You can’t even imagine the kind of person she has become. I don’t feel safe entrusting you to her.”Yulissa was angered upon hearing him badmouthing her in front of Riley. “Shut your mouth, Xavier! Stop sowing discord between us! He is my dear grandfather, and I am his beloved granddaughter! Who do you think you are? What right do you have to stop me from leaving with my grandfather? You will return him to me right now! Otherwise, don’t blame me for the things I’ll do to your people!”Xavier eyed her for a few silent seconds. Ultimately, he didn’t cave in despite her threat. “Then tell me where you’re bringing Professor White first. Is it back to the country?”Instead of immediately answering his question, she glanced at Riley. Then, she retorted, “What does it matter to you where we’re going? I’ll say it again—I just want my grandfather! Hand him to me now!”He frowned.

“Then let’s cut to the chase. I’ll be bringing Professor White back to the country. If you don’t plan on returning there, then I won’t hand him over to you. Where can you bring Professor White, anyway?

Manchernius? Venria? Loang? You know what those countries are like. Your grandfather’s an old man now. Do you really want to bring him with you as you run around the world?”“It’s better than being thrown into prison!” Staring at him with disbelief, Yulissa argued, “Do you want my grandfather to go back only to be sent to prison? As you said, my grandfather is old now. If he goes back and gets sentenced to prison, do you think he can live long enough to leave?”“First off, whether he’s sentenced to imprisonment or not isn’t up to you. Secondly, shouldn’t you respect what Professor White thinks?”“What do you mean by that? Are you joking with me right now? Are you trying to tell me my grandfather wants to go to prison?”“Why don’t you listen to what Professor White has to say first?”It was then Riley understood what was going on. They’re arguing about where I should end up in the future.He gazed at Yulissa, tears running down his wrinkled face. “I’m tired, Yulissa. In the years I was trapped here, I was forced to do many immoral things. Commit atrocities, even. Never once did I stop thinking about going back home for the past five years. I want to return to my country, back to our home together with you. I’ll happily do it, even if it means I have to go to prison. As they say, one will always long for home, no matter how far away one goes. Eventually, we need to return to our homeland. If I were twenty years younger, I’d probably run from one place to another with you. However, I’m old now.

I don’t want to go anywhere else. If I had to die, I’d rather die in the homeland I was born and grew up in. I know you’ve been helping the police since your return this time, Yulissa. In your case, you can still make up for your mistakes. I’ve thought about what I could do, and I think I can volunteer in a drug rehabilitation center in the future to atone for the sins I’ve committed in the past. Also, our home country didn’t give up on us, Yulissa. Christopher was sent by our country to save us. That’s why you should return with me. You’re still young. There is still plenty of time for you to start a new life.

Everything that happened here is unrecorded. As long as we don’t mention anything about it after we return, no one will know what happened. You can still live in our house and lead a peaceful, honest life.”“No!” As Yulissa shook her head, tears burst out of her eyes. “We can’t go back anymore, Grandpa. We can’t travel back in time.”“I know. Don’t cry, my dear.” Riley wiped his tears away. “I know things won’t go back to how they used to be, but we can’t continue to make mistakes either. We need to get back on the right path.”“No, there’s no path left. There’s nothing left. We lost our home, Grandpa.

You lost your social status, and I lost the man I love. I have nothing left.” Sobbing miserably, she abruptly pulled out a gun and aimed it at Xavier. “Return my grandfather to me!”“Yulissa!” In response to her action, Riley promptly took two steps forward toward her. “Don’t be like that. Put your gun away quickly. We don’t have to do this.”“Why not? This isn’t Chanaea, Grandpa. People won’t listen unless there’s a weapon involved!” Taking in a deep breath, she warned, “Since you insist on stopping me, I will have to kill you, Xavier.”Then, with bloodshot eyes, she aimed the barrel in Xavier’s direction and pulled the trigger.However, Xavier fired his gun before she could. He had already prepared to retaliate when she revealed her gun earlier.Meanwhile, gunshots were heard from Mason and the others’ side. It seemed like they had started a firefight with Yulissa’s mercenaries after snatching the latter’s guns.