Chapter 213 Who is Your Daughter's Real Father?
Chapter 213 Who Is Your Daughter's Real Father?
Before going to bed, Jessica repeatedly looked at Gabriel's profile picture, not believing that Gabriel hadn't seen her reflection in it.
She cursed herself for being so careless and not noticing it at the time.
Yet at the same time, she kept enlarging and examining the profile picture over and over again
As she looked, she eventually fell asleep holding her phone.
In her dream, Danielle was hugging Gabriel's leg, sweetly calling out, "Uncle Spencer , can I call you Daddy from now on?"
In her dream, she seemed to see layers of mist parting. Piercing through the mist, she saw a man covered in she had encountered beneath the cliff. instead of running away in fear, she and Danielle crouched beside him. Curiously, Danielle looked at Gabriel's face and said, "Mommy, can we take him home. He can be my daddy, right? Why is he covered in blood? Is he hurt?"
In the dream, Jessica asserted , "Leave it to me, he won't die!"
Suddenly, a light seemed to shine before her, transforming the scene into a wedding ceremony at a church. Jessica, wearing a white wedding dress, walked in with a happy face.
As the door of church slowly opened for her, she suddenly saw that the church was empty.
There were no guests.
Not even Danielle.
No Gabriel.
In the dark church, a voice echoed, cold and deep, "Jessica, are you walking into the church alone? Where is the father who should be giving you away?"
"I don't have a father," Jessica answered decisively and firmly.
"Then, who is your daughter's real father?"
The voice, cold and arrogant like a judge, was so icy yet pierced her heart like a knife.
Jessica suddenly clenched the bouquet in her hand, as if the thorns of the roses had pricked her hand. She couldn't feel the pain, but blood flowed through her fingers, dripping onto the white wedding dress.
"You, a living dead who crawled out of the fire, five years ago had God knows what affair with some wild man."
"The Jenner family’s abandoned daughter, with no background, a single mother with a child of unknown paternity, almost defiled by her mentor, infamous, with unavenged grudges, and nothing to show for twenty-four years of life. What right do you have to walk in?"
"You have nothing."
"All you have is endless troubles and the nightmares of your past."
"In front of you lies an abyss."
"Do you want to drag him down with you?"
"Are you worthy?"
Sentence after sentence, these judgmental words hammered down on her.
Jessica looked up at the dark sky, where a corner of light seemed to be waiting for her, even though she was surrounded by darkness.
She silently looked at that corner of light, then lowered her head, looking at the darkness in the church, and coldly replied, "Why don't I deserve it? Those are external labels, they have nothing to do with me. I can fight for my own life!"
A cold, thunderous laugh echoed in the air, "But you've already been defiled!"
A flash of lightning split the dark sky, and after the thunder, the corner of light in the sky disappeared instantly.
Jessica stood in the fierce wind, looking at the surrounding darkness. She saw only in the darkness the drunken Stanley stumbling towards her step by step, saw herself covered in filth and heat crawling out of that dark house, falling under the tree, and rushing into the cooling car on the side of the road.
Everything was too chaotic; she couldn't recall how she had left that car.
She only remembered stumbling across the road, almost getting hit by a car, and stumbling in the middle of the road when Eugene found her under the "guidance" of Linda and Trinity.
Eugene took her to the hospital.
The doctor wrote a few words on the diagnosis-Genital rupture, swelling, and bleeding.
At that time, Eugene, her father, felt very ashamed. He didn't ask her why, but in front of Linda, Trinity, and the doctor, he gave her a hard slap.
He scolded her, "How could the Jenner family produce such filth like you! Who is that man?"
She looked at Eugene's face in confusion and answered hoarsely, "I don't know."
Another slap greeted her.
The surrounding gossipy intern nurses whispered and pointed at her, "That girl seems to have messed around outside and got caught by her dad. She doesn't even know who is that man. So disgusting..."
Eugene heard these words from afar, and upon seeing Jessica's abnormal state, he believed she had messed around with more than one man, and his blood boiled.
"Bastard! Disgracing the family! Get out! Get far away, and don't die at home, don't dirty the Jenner family!"
Crash!
The roar of thunder was still reverberating around her.
"You are not clean."
"Don't die at home."
"Don't dirty the Jenner family."
...
Jessica suddenly opened her eyes, staring at the crystal chandelier that had been left on all night, then turned her gaze woodenly towards the window.
The curtains were tightly closed, but she could still see that it was already light outside.
Two days later.
"The original driver we arranged for you suddenly took leave to visit his hometown, so the crew has sent a new driver. Wait for him at the hotel entrance; he'll drive you to the set," Virgil's assistant said over the phone to Jessica, "The new driver's number is 177xxxxxxxx. He hasn't picked up the van yet, so he's coming directly in his own car, which is a used, ordinary vehicle."
Jessica glanced at the time and asked, "Is the driver a local?"
"From his accent, he sounds like a local or from Xyleria. Communication shouldn't be an issue."
"OK."
Jessica hung up and, while waiting by the roadside, sent a message to Zoey on WhatsApp.
Jessica: [The car is almost here. Have you guys arrived at the set?]
Zoey: [Almost there. Luckily, you didn't come too early. The afternoon scenes are likely to be pushed to the evening. Donna's scenes aren't finished yet, and the location is occupied. By the time you start shooting, it'll be almost dark.]
When the first car sent by the crew came to pick up Jessica, she received a call from Xyleria. It was the kindergarten teacher, conducting the routine monthly communication with parents about the children's activities at home and school. Since the director said there was no rush, Jessica let Zoey and Mackenzie go ahead while she stayed back to finish the call.
Coincidentally, the temporary driver had taken leave, and a new driver was hired to pick her up.
A dark gray car approached. Although it was a used car, it looked well-maintained and not too old on the outside.
Jessica checked the license plate number given by Virgil's assistant, walked over, opened the back door, and got in. She glanced at the young man in the driver's seat, who was wearing a baseball cap and thin-framed glasses, looking quite refined.
After Jessica got in, the young driver adjusted the rearview mirror and nodded politely at her through it. "Hello, Ms. Jenner. I'm the driver hired by the crew. You can call me Milton."
"Hello, thank you for your hard work." Jessica nodded at Milton and then lowered her head to take out the script from her bag.
If the afternoon scenes were moved to the evening, the content would change accordingly. She took out the script for the evening scenes that the director had given her as a backup and carefully studied the lines.
The car sped forward, and Jessica was immersed in the script for about ten minutes before she casually glanced outside.
"Isn't the set to the east? Why did we just pass a road called Western Avenue?"
"Today's scenes are not at the resort but have been moved to another location," Milton said, instinctively lowering the brim of his hat slightly.
Initially, Jessica, unfamiliar with the roads in Sunshine Bay City, had only asked casually. Seeing Milton lower his hat, she paused slightly while holding the script.
She watched him through the rearview mirror for a while. She hadn't gotten a clear look at him when she first got in, and now, with his hat pulled low, she could only see the lower half of his face, not his eyes.
But now, she suddenly felt that Milton looked somewhat familiar.
In her memory, she had never seen him before, and it was her first time in Sunshine Bay City. But this familiarity...
"I know the location changed today, but I heard from Virgil that it's near the eastern part of the city," she said, looking out the window again, "The street we just passed is called Westwood Road, and before that, it was Western Avenue. We're clearly heading west."
Milton patiently and gently replied, "Ms. Jenner, you're not familiar with the roads in Sunshine Bay City. The main road to the east of Urban Oasis Hotel is under construction, so we can't go that way. Sunshine Bay City doesn't have overpasses, so we have to take a detour."
A detour?
Did the eastern road require such a long detour to the west?
Even though Jessica wasn't familiar with the roads in Sunshine Bay City, she knew it wasn't a large city. If they kept heading west, the car would soon reach the western ring road and then the highway entrance.
She continued flipping through the script, pretending not to notice anything. After turning a couple of pages, she noticed the car speeding up. She calmly closed the script, leaned back in the seat, and rubbed her temples. "I'm feeling a bit carsick. Can you slow down a bit?"
"Sure."
After the car slowed down slightly, Jessica leaned back, seemingly unable to continue doing anything else due to her carsickness. She casually asked, "Did you buy this car yourself?"
"Yes."
"How old are you?" she asked casually..
Milton paused for a moment before answering, "Twenty-two."
"So young, and you already saved up to buy a car. That's impressive."
"It's a used car, less than ten thousand dollars."
Jessica closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again, looking at Milton through the rearview mirror. The more she looked, the more familiar he seemed. Suddenly, she realized something, and her palms instantly turned cold.
