Chapter 152 Can I Have It Now
Jessica first checked the delivery box and gently shook it, only hearing a muffled sound inside, not like there was anything strange or heavy.
She went back to the room, brought a pair of scissors, and opened the delivery box. The moment she saw what was inside, her expression tightened instantly.
"Mommy, what is it exactly?" Danielle ran out again, seeing Jessica crouching by the cardboard box. Her eyes were serious, and she was immediately curious to go over and see.
"Danielle, go inside!" Jessica suddenly raised her eyes, her voice unusually stern.
"Okay." Danielle blinked innocently, feeling scolded, quickly retreated inside the door, then leaned against the door frame, watching Jessica outside, not moving for a long time. "Mommy."
Jessica slowly closed the box in her hand, her fingers feeling cold. She silently lowered her head and gradually clenched her fists.
Feeling Jessica's expression getting more serious, Danielle hurried back into the house, no longer standing outside watching.
Jessica's legs were a bit numb from crouching. As she slowly stood up, her phone suddenly rang. She answered the call somewhat mechanically, without looking at the caller ID, and put it to her ear. "Hello."
"Your hair clip fell in my car; you probably dropped it last time when you came back from the Harriman family, right?" Gabriel's voice came through the phone, calm and indifferent.
Gabriel's calm voice seemed to soothe her instantly. At this moment, Jessica's cold hands and body seemed to regain some sensation, as if she were just realizing what had happened. Her expression was somewhat stiff as she looked at the cardboard box at her feet.
Clearly, her hair clip was just occasionally used to secure stray hairs when washing her face. It was a cheap item, not something Gabriel needed to drive over to deliver, especially.
But as the words were about to come out, Jessica, looking at the box at her feet, somewhat numbly said, "Yes."
"When I come by your place next time, I'll bring it to you."
Jessica clenched her hand at her side, took a breath, and asked, slightly hoarse, "Can I have it now?"
There was a moment of silence from Gabriel's end.
"Jessica?"
Jessica slowly squatted down again, reopened the box, looked at what was inside, and then hugged her knees. Her breathing frequency revealed an undeniable fatigue and grievance. She did not know what to say; she just held the phone, unable to say a word.
Gabriel's low, gentle voice came through the phone, seemingly calming her emotions yet also carrying a hint of an irresistible command and authority. "Send me your location."
Twenty minutes later, the black Bentley stopped near Jessica's old neighborhood.
A tall and slender man got out of the car, his black coat tinged with the coolness of late autumn. The just-lit street lamp made his figure appear exceptionally long.
When he found Jessica, she was in a small grove near the neighborhood, digging something.
Gabriel walked in and saw the cardboard box by her side. The stench emanating from the open box became more pronounced.
"What's wrong?" He stood beside her, looking down at Jessica, who was still earnestly digging a hole.
The night was cold and windy. Jessica didn't look up at him, still focused on digging, sniffed, and said in a muffled voice, "Nothing much, just someone fearing that I'd have too easy a life after filming, so they sent me a terrifying delivery."
Upon hearing this, Gabriel glanced at her again, his long arm reaching out beside her, opening the box, only to see a violently killed white kitten lying inside, covered in blood.
He paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to Jessica.
Jessica carefully dug a hole, took the poor kitten out of the box, and put it in the hole, muttering as she buried it, "Poor thing, in the next life, don't be a stray cat again, don't be lured back with a few cat food pellets and then be cruelly killed on the roadside, dying so senselessly."
After carefully burying the kitten, Jessica stood there looking at the small mound of soil in front of her, not saying a word for a long time.
Seeing her crouching for so long could easily lead to poor blood circulation in her brain.
Gabriel reached out his hand. "Get up."
Only then did Jessica raise her eyes, looking at Gabriel in the black coat in the night wind, then at Gabriel's reassuring hand. She hesitated for a moment and lifted her own dirty little hand for him to see, probably feeling a bit cold. With a heavy nasal tone, she said, "My hands are dirty."
Gabriel, without a word, suddenly grabbed the hand she was about to put down and pulled her up. His brows furrowed, and he looked at her somewhat pale face in the night. "So cold?"
"Probably because it's too cold in this little grove." Jessica sniffed again.
She didn't think she was scared. She had saved many injured animals before, and there were a few that she couldn't save that died at home.
Although she felt a moment of coldness in her hands and feet when she saw the cat's gruesome state just now, it shouldn't have been considered scary. But now she didn't know what was wrong with her, as if her soul was drifting and couldn't find a stable place to settle.
She didn't even know why she had Gabriel come here when she could have buried it, resolved everything, and left as if nothing had happened.
Before Gabriel led her out of the small grove, he picked up the cardboard box on the ground and saw a blood-stained note inside, with two extremely harsh and cursed sentences written on it.
Without a word, he threw the box into the trash can outside the grove. Jessica glanced at his action and calmly said, "I saw the note inside."
Then, after a pause, she added, "No matter who sent it, this kind of thing should be quite common in the circle. You're right; I really shouldn't come back to this place; it's indeed too unsafe."
"Didn't Danielle pick up?" Gabriel changed the subject.
"She is at home. I just told her to wait for me at home. Today, I just wanted to come back to pack up the rest of my things and leave. The delivery box was just a little incident."
Gabriel never let go of her cold hand. After taking her back to the fifth floor of the house, he was first welcomed by Danielle's surprise with a big hug.
Then, wordlessly, he had Jessica pack up, helped her with the remaining luggage, and took her and Danielle downstairs to leave. By his car, Jessica suddenly wanted to explain herself, "I'm really not scared. You don't need to take care of me so meticulously."
Gabriel seemed not to hear. After putting her luggage in the trunk, he let Danielle sit in the car first, then slowly turned to her.
"Not going back to Blue Bay Apartments?"
Of course, she had to go back.
Right now, the place she felt the safest was there!
Jessica didn't say a word. Just now, she was determined to save face, but now she became silent, quickly got into the car, and obediently fastened her seatbelt.
