Patricia grabbed her phone and answered the call that disturbed her sleep. "What?!" She yelled into the phone.
"Uh... Patricia? Have you gone online recently?" The voice from the speaker asked.
"No... why?" She asked.
"Well, I'll send you a link, it's really bad."
Patricia put the phone on speaker and clicked on the link, her hands instinctively went up to cover her open mouth. Her eyes widened at the news and she struggled to hide a gasp.
"When did this happen?" She croaked out.
"A few hours ago, this is really bad Patricia. All the offers for new projects, especially the ones where you were to replace Jessie Marin, their pulling away. It's good we left the agency because they would have kicked us out!" Her manager said.
"This is really bad!" Patricia screamed. "How did this even happen?"
"I should be asking you that, how are we going to fix this? It's getting out of hand, really. My phone keeps blowing up, the sponsors, the projects everyone either sends a contract termination or a message to review the contract."
"I could care less about sponsors, like I really needed them." She huffed.
She looked up when her door started to slide open, her lips upturned in a frown and she scoffed at the visitor.
"Patricia?"
"Yes, yes Olivia I'm here. We'll talk more tomorrow. Come over in the morning and we'll discuss how to go from here." Patricia said ending the call.
"What are you doing here?" She sneered.
"What? Can't I come visit my injured neice?" Goerge Lee asked.
**************************************************
Jason struggled to focus on his work, but he couldn't. Checking his rolex he wondered if she would be hungry. 'Maybe she's asleep? She has stopped screaming.'
He gave up, shutting his laptop, he walked out of his study and up the stairs. Tapping lightly he called out to her. "Jessie?"
Slowly with an unnecessary amount of caution, he opened the door. He frowned, feeling an annoying measure of guilt, "Jessie?"
She sat on the floor beside her bed, with her head in her inbetween her knees. Jason was about to call her out on ignoring him, when she looked up at him.
"What do you want?" She asked, not making any attempt to mask the ire in her voice.
"Are you still mad? I come in peace you must be hungry right?" He asked approaching cautiously.
"What do you think?" She said her tone sounding meaner than she would have intended.
Jason sighed pursing his lips he threw away his caution and stalked towards her, sitting beside her on the floor. "You know that I'm only concerned for your safety right?"
"That's the thing Jason, why would you even care? You literally met me in a slave house, and a few weeks ago I was no one to you. Why?" She asked her voice sounding more steady.
"Isn't it obvious? I care about you Jessie, I really do." He said softly.
"Yeah well I just think that you pity me and feel guilty for your involvement in my demise." She stated curtly.
Jason held her gaze, returning the intensity he shook his head but her finger on his lip prevented him from speaking. "You are only so protective because you are a control freak, I didn't see it before but now I see it clearly." Pressing further she continue to halt his speech.
"I'm not accusing you of anything, really I'm not. But please remember, we are not in any form of relationship, I do not owe you an explanation. I will not stop you from trying to make this right, because I do appreciate all you've done for me so far. All I ask is that you don't overstep your boundaries." She said getting up and finally freeing his lips. "I will take you up on that offer, I am hungry."
"Jessie." He called out to her but she was already on her way downstairs sighing he followed suit.
She sat down in front of the island and tapped her fingers aganist the vinyl top. He walked to her and sat beside her on one of the stools.
"Am I allowed to speak now?" He asked, making his tone as flat as he could, despite the annoyance that steamed from her accusations he felt at the moment, he knew it would be better if he humoured her.
Jessie looked at him and scowled, "well I'm no longer stopping you."
"I don't pity you at all, honestly. Nothing I've done for you was out if pity. Sure I do feel regretful for playing a part in your demise but nothing I do right now, nothing I say right now is out of pity or guilt." He said sincerely.
Jessie looked into his eyes, Jason was not an overly emotional person. Infact displeasure was the one emotion he blatantly put on display, nothing affectionate. But looking at him, now? She saw his sincerity, but she was still too angry to give in.
"So what is it exactly that you want?" She asked.
"Stay away from Patricia Lee, stay away from the entire Lees. You can get back to where you were, you can get your honour back without sabotaging them." He said.
Jessie laughed, ignoring her heart, ignoring her emotions and feeding her anger. "Are you sure you're not just saying that because you're infamous Fiancee is none other than Patricia?" She sneered.
Jason's eyes widened and he looked at her with suspicion "how did you find out about that?"
"Is that really necessary? Don't ignore the question Jason." She said.
"Well you shouldn't either, how did you find out?" He asked again.
She licked her lips and sighed "you told me about it."
Jason laughed getting off the stool he walked into the sitting room shaking his head. "No Jessie, don't do that. I'm not Patricia neither am I a naive child, that's not going to work on me. How did you find out about that?!"
Jessie scoffed "are you yelling right now?" She asked in disbelief.
He gave her a pointed look and she huffed.
"Wow... you really don't remember anything from last night do you?" She asked.
His expression changed and he sighed "I asked you if I made any mistakes earlier. You couldn't mention that?"
"You really shouldn't drink outside, infact never touch alcohol when I'm not there." She warned.
He grinned "are you worried about me?"
She pursed her lips "you wish, with how loose lipped you were last night I wouldn't want to be a drunken mistake." She said.
His brow went up at 'drunken mistake'.
"Oh don't give me that look, you know what I mean."
"I actually don't know what you mean." He said with a cocky smile.
"I meant to say that I don't need you spilling my identity and whereabouts to anyone especially not your fiancee." She stated firmly.
"I'm not that much of a lightweight, I did drink the entire bottle. And I never make such mistakes in public especially not around a Lee." His expression falling into a serious one, mirroring his tone. He walked to her and sat her down on the couch, sitting beside her he continued. "Look my engagement to Patricia is nothing more than politics, it's a ruse to quell the beef that has been between our families for generations."
Jessie didn't understand why she felt disappointed or why the question came from her lips but it did. "So you're going to marry her?"
"If all goes according to plan, then yes. But make no mistake, the Lee's are as much my enemies as they are yours." He stated bluntly.
Jessie drew in a lungful of oxygen and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. He was going to marry Patricia, why did it make her so sad and a little disappointed. Why was she feeling this way? She shook her head and clutched the couch under her for support, hoping Jason wouldn't catch her reaction.
To her relief he was up and away immediately he said the words, as if escaping her as well. Stalking towards the kitchen he called out. "Now for that meal I promised you."