Chapter 740 No One’s Innocent
Charlotte let go of Leanna with great reluctance and took a step back before gripping Leanna's hand with a pout.
Leanna stroked Charlotte's head. She saw the latter's reddened, puffy eyes and softly asked, "Have you been skipping your meals these days? You look like you lost a lot of weight."
"I couldn't bring myself to eat… but I did have something before I left the house just now."
Leanna sighed. She didn't know what to say to comfort Charlotte, so she simply held Charlotte's hand and said, "Let's go."
Charlotte looked around her but Lachlan was nowhere to be seen.
Once they entered the main hall, the first thing they saw was Philip's picture which was right in the center. He had a warm, benign smile.
Charlotte's nose prickled when she saw the picture. She followed Aidan and Leanna over. Once they had all paid their respects, she said quietly, "Grandpa Philip, from now on, I'll do whatever Dad tells me to and I won't make him angry anymore."
She bowed deeply to Philip's picture.
The three of them were about to head over to the side hall when they heard a commotion outside.
Leanna turned around and saw someone from the crowd slowly making his way over.
It was Joseph.
Some of the Woodleys were shocked by his appearance while others were confused, but quite a number of them were terrified as well.
After all, everyone thought he died ten years ago.
Joseph didn't care about the looks everyone was giving him. He kept a faint smile on his face as he walked over to Charlotte and called out to her, "Charlotte."
Charlotte felt a deep sense of aversion when she saw him. She instinctively retreated to hide behind Leanna.
Joseph adjusted his glasses. His smile widened as he looked at Leanna. "You and President Pearson are here too, Miss McKinney."
"Your presence seems to be even less welcomed than ours," Aidan remarked curtly.
"No one's presence would be welcomed at such an occasion," Joseph responded evenly.
He gave a cursory look around and didn't even bother to pay his respects to the deceased.
It was a highly disrespectful gesture.
One of the older Woodleys couldn't help but come forward with a frown. "How could you…"
Joseph wasn't bothered by their admonishment. He shrugged and said, "The rules only matter when a person's alive. Who cares about these things when they're dead?"
The older Woodley was furious. Even his cane was shaking as he trembled with anger. Charlotte quickly held him steady. She looked at Joseph and cried out, "You've gone too far, Uncle Joseph!"
Joseph chuckled. "You're still young, Charlotte. Once you're older, you'll realize that I was right."
"Mr. Woodley, since you think there are too many rules to follow and have no intention of paying your final respects to the deceased, why did you bother going out of your way to attend the funeral?" Leanna asked.
Joseph turned to her. "That's an excellent question, Miss McKinney. I'm not here just for the sake of the funeral. I've left the family for far too long now. It's time I came back."
Leanna pursed her lips and was about to speak when Aidan stopped her.
"There's no point wasting your breath on him," Aidan drawled.
Aidan knew that Joseph would be more than happy if someone picked a fight with him right now. He was here to cause a scene at the funeral, and the uglier it got, the happier he was.
At that very moment, Charles came over from the side hall. His expression darkened when he spotted Joseph. "Why did you come back?"
Joseph smirked. "It's been a long time, Charles."
Charles looked around the hall. A lot of people were muttering thoughtfully among themselves due to Joseph's sudden appearance.
Charles frowned. His expression turned even grimmer.
After a brief moment of silence, he said, "Whatever it is, let's take it to the side hall first."
"That won't be necessary. Let's just do it here," Joseph declared. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. For example, you must be wondering how I rose from the dead."
Then, he looked at Aidan. "You must also be wondering who this is and why he looks so much like Lachlan."
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