Chapter 1241
Hearing this, the security guard’s face changed slightly. Finally, he dialed the intercom with reluctance and reported, “Two individuals are claiming to know Mr. Griffin and want to come in…”
Before the security guard could finish his words, Jonathan directly took the phone and said to the other end, “I’m Jonathan Youngblood. My wife, Rosalie Leighton, and I would like to see Mr. Griffin now. Please ask him to answer the phone.”
The other end of the phone fell silent for a moment. After a brief pause, Bruce’s voice came, “Jonathan Youngblood?”
“It’s me. Sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but I overheard that you’re currently at the cemetery. My wife and I are also outside the cemetery, and we’re going to pick up Riley and head back to the hospital,” Jonathan said calmly as if engaged in casual conversation.
“Pick her up?” Bruce’s voice seemed to be displeased.
“What else? If something really happens to her in your family cemetery, I’m afraid you won’t be able to explain it then. After all, she’s causing quite a stir now. If anything happens to her again in the cemetery, the media might bring up the past events involving your brother and her in a way that’s hard to deal with,” Jonathan said indifferently.
Bruce said through gritted teeth, “Jonathan, are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m just talking about some possibility,” Jonathan responded gently and elegantly.
After a moment, Bruce said, “Okay, give the phone to the security guard. I’ll have them allow you in.”
Jonathan smiled faintly and handed the phone to the security guard. After listening for a moment, the security guard ended the call and respectfully allowed them to enter the cemetery, with someone leading the way ahead.
When Rosalie saw Riley, she was kneeling in front of Nicholas’s grave, surrounded by scattered lit candles.
Bruce and his wife, as well as the security guards of the cemetery, stood nearby.
Bruce looked at Riley coldly and said harshly, “Even if you come here to pay respects, what’s the use? Kneeling like this, will Nic come back to life? No, he won’t. He died protecting a woman who never loved him. It wasn’t worth it at all!”
Riley knelt and remained motionless, like a sinner.
Rosalie stepped forward and walked to Riley. “Let’s go back.”
Riley raised her head slowly and said with trembling lips, “I-I want to finish the remaining candles for Nicholas here.”
Rosalie glanced at the half-burned candles scattered on the ground. She couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.
Bruce’s voice sounded again, “Riley, what right do you have to pay respects to Nic? If you hadn’t told him that you didn’t love him, how could he be desperate and even give up his life in such a way?”
The words were like the most piercing ice cone, which made Riley feel pain all over.
Riley’s body trembled, and she looked at Bruce with a pleading face. “Let me… finish paying respects to Nicholas. I know I’ve wronged him. It’s my fault, all my fault!” If possible, she was willing to exchange her own life for his.
It turned out that the cruelest aspect of fate was that only when that person was no longer in this world did she realize that the one most worthy of her cherish was that person.
Rosalie couldn’t bear it, so she said, “Mr. Griffin, if Nicholas truly loved Riley, then I believe his final decision to sacrifice his own life for her wasn’t out of desperation but rather… a hope that the person he loved could live on.”
Bruce’s face was cold.
Rosalie continued, “Nicholas protected Riley with his life. If Nicholas knew that Riley was kneeling at his grave now but couldn’t even pay respects to him, how do you think he would feel?”
Bruce’s expression began to darken.
After a while, Bruce looked at Riley coldly. “If you truly want to pay respects to Nic, then knock your head 100 times before his grave. I want to hear the sound each time!”
The people around were shocked when they heard Bruce’s words.
Rosalie also frowned slightly, but Riley finally smiled as if there was hope again. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
As she finished speaking, Riley knocked her head on the ground in front of the tombstone, creating a continsuous thumping sound.
The repeated sound of her head knocking against the ground echoed distinctly in the quiet cemetery.
However, Rosalie was worried. Riley had endured a lot of suffering in the psychiatric hospital. She was already frail, with many new and old injuries on her body. If she really knocked her head to the ground 100 times, she would be seriously injured.
“Mr. Griffin, are you going to let Riley collapse right here in the cemetery?” Rosalie turned around and stared at Bruce.
“I just gave her a choice, and she chose to do so herself. No one forced her!” Bruce said coldly.
“But Riley…”
Just then, Jonathan pulled Rosalie and said, “This is Riley’s own choice. She has her own considerations. I know you want to help her, but she is willing to do it. Perhaps, this is the only way she can make herself feel better.”
Rosalie was stunned and pursed her lips. In the end, she didn’t say anything more but stood aside quietly waiting for Riley to finish knocking her head.
After a long time, Riley’s forehead was scraped and oozing blood. The crimson blood left traces on the gray stone platform.
“Riley, stop for a while. If you continue knocking like this, your body won’t be able to bear it,” Rosalie couldn’t help but persuade.
Peach, who was standing beside Bruce, couldn’t help but persuade Bruce, “Why not… let Riley pay respects? If she keeps knocking her head like this, she might really end up dead.”
Bruce looked at Peach and said, “What? Do you sympathize with her?”
Peach shook her head and fell silent. Although Bruce usually loved her very much, she knew that his taboo was Nicholas, who died early.
Anything related to Nicholas easily influenced Bruce’s emotions.
Riley said to Rosalie, “I can continue. I owe Nicholas too much. Even if it’s 10 thousand times, I would like to do so!”
After saying that, Riley continued to knock her head on the ground. It seemed that she was not affected by the pain in her forehead at all. It was as if, for her, not knocking her head was the more unbearable thing.
When the hundred knocks were completed, Riley’s pale face was in sharp contrast to the redness on her forehead. It looked incredibly shocking.
Riley looked at Bruce weakly and said in a hoarse voice, “Can I now… pay respects to Nicholas?”
Bruce’s eyes flashed with a trace of trance. He thought back to the time when he had questioned Nicholas about why Nicholas loved Riley.
