Chapter 304: You Can’t Blame Me For This, Michael
Michael lowered down his gaze and stared at the wine that was placed in front of him.
He didn’t move for a while. He was pondering what was happening.
"Michael, try this now." Winnie tried again to get him to drink.
Michael hesitated. Then he took over the wineglass.
But he didn’t drink from it.
Instead, he just placed it on the table and pulled Winnie along. "Mum, I’ve already told you not to go anywhere on your own. Let’s go home okay?"
"Go home?" Winnie turned her gaze to the wineglass and remembered what the woman told her. She shook her head, refusing to move.
She pushed Michael’s hands away and picked up the wineglass again. "I want you to drink this up now, Michael."
"Mum, why are you so insistent that I drink up?" Michael was perplexed by her behaviour.
There must be something wrong with Winnie’s mind. Why else would she keep insisting that he finished the wine?
Things were not so simple.
"Because I like Yonina," Winnie smiled as she imagined Michael and Yonina getting married.
"So what if you like Yonina?" The more they conversed, the more Michael felt that something was not right. "What does drinking this wine got to do with you liking Yonina?"
"Because ... Because ..." Winnie stammered. She frowned as she tried to recall what the woman told her earlier.
All she could remember was to make Michael drink the wine and after that, the two of them would be together.
Winnie tried to focus, "I think it’s because after you drink the wine ..."
She thought for a long while but couldn’t continue on.
This made Michael a little impatient.
"Then what?" Michael asked urgently.
"I can’t remember! Anyway, you just drink it ...." She pushed at his hands, trying to force the wine down his throat.
By now, Michael seemed to have figured out what was happening.
He knew it was not by coincidence that Winnie was found here.
And the way she was pressurising him to drink the wine made the whole situation even more suspicious.
Otherwise, she would not have been so insistent.
Only two suspects were likely to make use of Winnie in this manner. It was either Christian or Yonina.
After all, they were the hosts for tonight’s party.
As to exactly who was the real mastermind, he couldn’t be sure yet.
But one thing he was sure of, the drink must have been spiked.
Who knows, they might be somewhere watching them even at this moment.
If he refused to drink the wine, there’s no telling what else they would do.
Michael thought about it. He might as well play along with their plan.
So he picked up the glass and smiled at Winnie, "Alright, mum. Since you want me to drink this, I will listen to you."
When Winnie saw that Michael was going to drink the wine, she clapped her hands in joy. "Drink it! Drink it quickly!" Winnie cheered gleefully.
Under her watchful eyes, Michael tilted his head back and took a sip of the red wine.
He had no idea what was inside the drink.
But there could only be two possibilities.
It was either LSD or some kind of love potion.
It could even be both.
Whatever it was, all he needed to do was to pretend to faint.
But for Winnie’s safety, he could not keep her here.
He put his arms around Winnie and said, "Mum, let’s go home first."
"We cannot go home now! You need to marry Yonina first! If we leave now, you won’t get to marry her!" Winnie held on to his hand, refusing to let him go anywhere.
"I can only marry her after we get home. We can’t possibly get married here," Michael said, trying to pacify Winnie. "Let’s go home first. I will surely marry Yonina. Good idea?"
Winnie seemed to be seriously considering the matter. After a while, she nodded in agreement.
They had barely taken a few steps when someone showed up behind and hit Michael on the head.
Actually, Michael had already realised there were people hiding around. But his first priority was to get Winnie out of this place so that she can be safe.
He would then find an appropriate place to pretend to lose consciousness.
He was sure that someone would show up to take him away.
This way, Michael could then find out who exactly was the mastermind - Christian or Yonina.
Unfortunately, the other party didn’t give him a chance to execute his plan. They couldn’t risk losing him. They were afraid that after he left with Winnie, it won’t be easy to get him again. So they decided to simply knock him out.
It looked like the wine was indeed spiked with love potion.
Whoever had taken Winnie wanted to make use of her to make him drink the potion and knocked him out after that.
The intention was obvious.
Michael was already prepared for the attack. His unconsciousness was just a pretence.
He was the main target. Winnie was mentally ill. Surely the culprit would not make things difficult for her.
So Michael endured the pain and closed his eyes.
He felt someone dragging him into another room.
"What are you doing with my son?" Winnie shouted. She was shocked to see Michael motionless on the floor. She chased after the attacker and continued frantically, "Let go of my son! Let go of my son!"
"Be good! And stop making so much noise." The unknown woman showed up again.
"Don’t you want Michael to marry Yonina? All we need to do is to bring Michael into that room and he will surely marry her."
"Really?" All Winnie could think of was for Michael and Yonina to be together.
"But Michael is hurt! He is unconscious!" Winnie’s mind came back momentarily. She chased after them and shouted, "Michael! Michael! Wake up, Michael!"
To keep her quiet, the woman placed a drugged handkerchief over her mouth.
The next moment, Winnie was also unconscious.
The woman gave the bodyguard a signal to bring Winnie away.
She was still of use. Just that she needed to be quiet for now.
Michael had been holding the wine in his mouth.
Since he could guess what was inside the drink, he didn’t swallow it.
Without opening his eyes, Michael knew that he had been dragged into another room.
The bodyguard dragged him to the bed and left quickly, closing the door behind him.
Michael didn’t dare to open his eyes. He had no idea who else was inside the room.
But he could sense a presence.
He could hear the sound of someone taking off her clothes.
Now he could be sure that it was a love potion in the wine.
And the person in the room was highly likely to be Yonina.
So she was the real mastermind behind all these?
As Michael was considering all these, Yonina had already taken off her jacket.
She climbed into his bed and sat next to him. She sighed, "You can’t blame me for this, Michael. I didn’t want to do this but I had no choice. I cannot sit by and watch the Collins Group go bankrupt. I also can’t bear to see my dad on his knees before me and do nothing. I’m sorry, Michael."
Michael’s brows moved briefly as he listened to Yonina.
But right at this moment, Yonina was too distracted to notice the movement.
She sighed again, "Actually I really thought of marrying you, Michael. Initially, I thought Wendy was really dead. I had no idea that you have two children. I’ve always been a proud person and had never thought that I would fall in love with someone who had been married before.
But after meeting you, I thought things could work out between us. And your mother has always been trying to matchmake us. As for my dad, he thought MC Enterprise is a leading company in Lake City. It will be a good idea for me to marry you. In this way, the Collins Group can also benefit.
It is such a pity that we can’t be together.
Wendy is not dead and she even brought with her two children.
I have to watch the only man that I’ve ever loved being taken away. You are obviously deeply in love with your wife and children.
I am Yonina Collins afterall.
I didn’t have to stoop so long and be the third party.
You looked so blissful together. I have never thought of destroying your family.
I’m sure I will meet someone better.
But before I could meet someone better, DR Group already set its eyes on Collins Group.
They had stopped at nothing to attack us. Up to this point, I still don’t understand why is Christian Lucas doing this.
DR Group obviously is not doing that well. But instead of trying to save the company, he turned to attack Collins Group instead.
On the surface, Christian is forcing me to marry him. People had been saying that the reason for his insistence on the marriage was to put pressure on Collins and force it to a corner.
But we both know, his real target is you and not me.
As to why he had gone through so much trouble to attack Collins so as to force me to do this to you, I really have no idea.
Anyhow, I am really left with no choice.
I hope you won’t blame me when you wake up."
Yonina thought Michael was unconscious and she was just talking to herself.
She smiled helplessly to herself, "How can you not blame me? I’m sure all hell will break loose when you regain consciousness."
Yonina took a deep breath, reached behind and pulled down the zip to her dress.
Very quickly, the zip reached the end. Just before she took off the gown, Michael opened his eyes suddenly.
He stopped her hands and said coolly, "Wear back your dress."
Yonina opened her eyes in astonishment. She was shocked to see Michael awake.
She pointed to Michael and stammered, "Why... Why are you awake?"
Michael turned his head and spat out the wine which he had been holding in his mouth.
"I’ve never been knocked out," replied Michael.
"What ..." Yonina was at a loss of what to do next.
What’s going to happen to her plan? There was no way to continue with the plan, now that Michael was conscious.
What’s going to happen to Collins Group?
Michael saw the fear and shock on Yonina’s face.
He had initially thought that she was the one behind all these.
But after hearing what she had said earlier, this was really a trap set by Christian from the start.
Yonina was indeed left with no choice.
But even that, having no choice didn’t make her an innocent party.
If Michael had followed their plan, Yonina would have become the accomplice.
