Love's Change of Heart

Chapter 743 You Don't Have a Choice  

The skies had been clear in the cemetery earlier, but several clouds began to roll in and eventually blocked out the rays of sunshine.

The atmosphere around them started to feel rather tense as the skies turned dark.

Everyone held their breath for a moment as they awaited Lachlan's response.

It felt as if their lives were in his hands at that moment, and everyone was so afraid that they dared not to breathe.

Lachlan let out a soft chuckle.

"Oh.So, I should thank you, then?"

Joseph pressed his lips together as his eyes glinted with a hint of malice.

Time seemed to have frozen at that moment.

Joseph had brought a large group of people over, but more than half of them were dead after being attacked by Lachlan’s underlings.

Joseph knew that he had no chance of victory in this situation.

The only reason he was even able to have a conversation with Lachlan then was simply because he had Charlotte in his hands.

Lachlan took a step forward before speaking in a monotonous voice, "The greatest achievement you've made today is probably to have removed Philip's existence entirely, right? But are you sure those are his ashes in there?"

Joseph's face fell at that moment.

"Did you do something to the ashes?"

"No.There weren't any ashes in there, to begin with," Lachlan replied.

At that moment, Lachlan's mother shuffled out with Philip by her side while holding onto his arm.

Even though Philip was using a walking stick and walking at a slow pace, he still looked full of vigor and strength.He looked like a man who could easily survive another few years.

Charlotte was the first to cry out in joy, "Grandpa Philip!"

Joseph was so furious that all he could do was laugh.

"You guys sure did put on a show.It seems like I'm the one who's caught up with no escape now."

Then, he turned to look at Charles for a while.

"Charles...I hadn't expected you to set up this whole trap with them.I can't believe you used your precious daughter as bait.You're really—"

Philip sighed at Joseph's words.

"It's done, Joseph.Aren't you going to step down and come back to us now?"

"Come back? Why would I come back? I was kicked out of the family for years.When did you guys ever give me a chance to come back?"

Joseph pulled Charlotte over before pressing his gun against her temple.

"Well, since we've gotten to this point, I might as well finish this act for you guys.If I die here today, I'll make sure Charlotte dies with me,"he announced.

Charlotte began to wail in panic, "Uncle Joseph—"

Charles growled at Joseph, "Joseph! You watched Charlotte grow up.You'd have to be a devil to kill someone so close to you!"

Joseph responded with a heartless laugh.

"Do I look like I care? I'm practically a dead man now, anyway."

"Let her go, and we'll let you leave Jamesdon," Lachlan announced.

Joseph seemingly didn't expect Lachlan to come up with such a suggestion.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment as he pondered whether Lachlan would abide by his words.

"You don't have any other choice," Lachlan added.

"Fine," Joseph replied after a split second.

After Joseph left along with Charlotte, the rest of his men were arrested.

The Woodleys heaved a sigh of relief after things were settled.

"Everyone must've been shocked by this series of events.Fortunately, everyone's safe and sound now. novelebook.com The Woodley Family will not allow that traitor to get away So easily.We'll ensure that things are handled in a way that gives everyone total peace of mind.It's getting late; I think you all should head home to get some rest."

Philip's words were gentle but firm, making anyone in the family with opposing opinions have no choice but to drop their complaints for the time being.

They went along with his orders and hurried off.

Everyone was too stunned after all that had happened—no one was in the right mind to properly analyze the details of the situation.

Since Philip promised to handle things with Joseph, everyone figured they should sit back and wait to see how things turned out.

Leanna turned to look at Aidan with confusion apparent in her eyes.He simply stroked her hair fondly.

"It's all over," he reassured her.

"Did you...know about their plan?" she asked in a whisper.

"I only found out about it after arriving at Jamesdon.However, no one knew what Joseph was up to," Aidan replied.

If he had known that Joseph planned to blow the whole place up, he wouldn't have brought Leanna over at all.

Leanna still couldn't grasp the situation.

"But...If this was just about capturing Joseph, we could've used Mr.Philip's death as a trap to lure him back to Jamesdon and arrest him.There were a lot of people who got injured today, and Charlotte was held hostage now.All of this could've been avoided, so why..."

"We would have to ask them,"

Aidan uttered as he looked in Philip's direction.

Philip happened to walk toward them at the same time.

"Come along with me," he ordered.

Most of the Woodleys had left by then, and Charles was the only one who stayed behind to settle things.

Once they returned to the Woodley Family Estate, Philip got straight into the topic.

"I'm sure the both of you have many questions about what happened today."

"Is Charlotte..."

Leanna started with her brows furrowed.

"Don't worry.Lachlan went along with them, so he'll make sure that she comes home safe," Philip replied.

"I'm sure you guys would've expected Joseph to hold Charlotte hostage," Aidan commented.

Philip sat in his rocking chair with both hands resting on the tip of his walking stick.

"Joseph isn’t an evil man.He loves Charlotte just as much as we do," he stated.

Leanna agreed with this—if Joseph had genuinely intended to hurt Charlotte in any way, he could've done it back in Highside, where he had tons of opportunities to do so.

"So, Joseph had planned to keep Charlotte around after killing off the rest of the Woodleys.On the one hand, he would have someone as a hostage.On the other hand, he'd get to keep Charlotte alive.Is that right?" Leanna asked. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Philip responded with a nod.

"He would never hurt Charlotte.All he wanted to do was to get revenge against the Woodleys," Philip explained.

"Why would he want to do that?" Leanna asked.

Lachlan's mother joined in the conversation then.

"I'm sure you have heard of a girl that Joseph had dated for a long while in the past.The Woodleys had never welcomed her into the family," she said.

"Yes, I've heard about this.I heard Joseph's father eventually agreed to it after a long while, but Joseph had broken up with that girl by then.I also heard that she got into a car accident and passed away not long after that,"

Leanna uttered.

"There were rumors about Joseph had died in the car crash with her, too,"

Aidan added.

Philip sighed at this.

"That was just to ensure the public wouldn’t know about the family's embarrassing deeds.He was kicked out of the family after that incident."

"Well, truth be told, that woman wasn't Joseph's girlfriend.She was a third party in his father's relationship," Lachlan's mother stated.

"What?!"

Leanna’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Charles and Joseph's mother passed away when they were still young.Their father was busy with work, so I was the one who took care of the kids back then.Joseph's relationship with his father had

always been rather distant, and they rarely contacted one another.They would only meet each other during family gatherings or other festivals," Philip explained.

"Both the kids knew that their father was seeing other women out there, but they weren't too bothered since their mother had already passed away.This was what led to the tragedy eventually..."