Chapter 403: Not Playing by the Rules

“Today I saw your account post a news article about me, Mrs. Pascall,” Jesse spoke up.

“Oh? Really? I didn’t notice. Let me take a look,” Joel said, pulling out his phone and looking at it with a sudden realization. “Wow, Mrs. Pascall looks great on camera.”

His exaggerated expression made his already large face seem like it couldn’t contain itself.

“Well, I have to say your photographer did a pretty good job of capturing my Mrs. Pascall,” Jesse laughed.

This caught Joel off guard; he thought Jesse was going to ask him to take down the article.

“That’s kind of you to say so; it’s their professional expertise,” Joel replied.

“Acoustic Pictures is thriving under Mr. Spencer’s leadership; I’ll send your company a gift soon.”

Joel had no idea what Jesse was getting at – this wasn’t what he expected at all! Wasn’t he going to ask him to delete the article?

He had his recording pen ready and had recorded their conversation with Jesse in anticipation of another source for material tonight, but now everything that Jesse was saying wouldn’t be useful – none of it fit into context or could be taken out of context without sounding strange or irrelevant.

“Do you have anything you want to say to Mr. Spencer?” Jesse asked Nydia.

Nydia shook her head and said “Nope, just thought the pictures looked really nice.”

Joel: “…”

What were these two doing?

And then they just walked away leaving him completely stunned and speechless like an idiot statue standing there frozen in time! He gritted his teeth and ran after them quickly catching up with them before they got too far ahead:

“Mr. Pascall, Mrs. Pascall since you both think our photographer did such an excellent job why not do an interview with us?”

“I’ll consider it,” said Jessie without directly refusing outrightly.

“This is my business card; if you decide later on that you’re interested give me a call.”

Jesse glanced briefly at the card but didn’t reach out for it: “I’ll contact you when I’m ready.”

Joel awkwardly held out his hand waiting for Jessie’s response until finally realizing how silly he looked holding onto nothing! It wasn’t until one of his friends nudged him that he snapped back into reality:

“What are you doing man?! You don’t need to make enemies with Jessie over this –he’s not someone who takes things lightly!” His friend warned him.

“I thought he came here wanting me pay me off so that we’d remove the article from our site!”

His friend chuckled sarcastically: “Jesse has bigger fish fry than worrying about something as small as this! But watch yourself though –you’ve definitely rubbed him the wrong way now by assuming things.””What are you afraid of? Can’t Jesse handle anything on his own? You guys may be scared of him, but I’m not.”

“I’ve said my piece. What you do next is up to you.”

Joel’s friend thought that Joel was really in denial about Jesse. Are rumors about him not common in the streets? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If these rumors exist, then they must have some truth to them.

After Nydia and Jesse walked away, she couldn’t help but speak up. “That smug look on his face makes me sick. How can he be so arrogant?”

“You just said it yourself: he’s a smug person. Should we wait until we’re beaten to death before jumping?”

“Huh? What are you planning to do?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything drastic. Didn’t I say I wanted to give him a big gift?” He smirked with a lazy smile that hinted at coldness.

The two were interrupted by someone else.

“Mrs. Pascall!”

Hmm? Jasper?

“Mr. Pascall, can Mrs. Pascall spare me a few minutes of her time so that I can talk with her for a bit,” Jasper asked Jesse.

However when Jesse looked over at Jasper his eyes made Jasper feel uneasy and gave him chills down his spine as he quickly changed what he was going to say,”You could come along too if you like; let’s go over there.”

“Mrs. Pascall have you seen Willette lately? How is she doing now? I’m very worried about her situation,”Jasper sounded very anxious.

“Mr. Ruiz don’t bother my sister anymore; your actions will only harm her more,”Nydia snapped back angrily.

“I know it was wrong for me to pester her before; it was my fault but now she’s pregnant and the baby is…”Jasper didn’t finish speaking,”I just want to know if she’s okay or not because apparently she took leave from work due feeling unwell and no one has been able contact her.”

“You should tell him already so that he doesn’t keep bothering us,”Jesse spoke up.

Nydia sighed,”Last time when I went see her, she didn’t look too good. Her eyes had lost their sparkle. She went back home with our aunt saying she wasn’t feeling well yet refused go hospital. It’s worrying.”

“Does she have any injuries?”

“I’m not sure, but there seems be red marks around neck area. I don’t know how they got there though.”

Jasper’s face turned pale. Then an expression of determination appeared in his eyes as if he had made some important decision.”Thank you both. I understand now. I’ll leave first.”He hurriedly left the scene. Nydia looked up at Jesse and saw a smile on his lips, indicating that he was in a good mood.

“There are indeed quite a lot of people at this banquet,” she didn’t expect to see so many people.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“We’re leaving already? Did you get the fingerprints?”

“I got them.”

Nydia was shocked. They got the fingerprints already? It seemed too easy.

“Has Barclay been ostracized by all the circles now that he’s not here at the party?” she asked as she hadn’t seen him there.

“More or less. He’s like a cancer now, and no one wants to be associated with him.”

Jesse thought for a moment before reminding her, “Be careful lately. I don’t know if he’ll do something extreme like kidnapping you.”

“Yeah, I know!”

She had learned from past experiences and had to be careful this time around.

If she were kidnapped again this time, it wouldn’t be as simple as last time. According to Barclay’s level of cruelty and ruthlessness, he would definitely torture her and demand money from Jesse.

It was just like in her past life; she wouldn’t give Barclay another chance in this life.

Back home, Nydia immediately asked Jesse about the fingerprints. “Let me see Cade’s fingerprints.”

“Why so urgent? I’ve sent someone to do it; they’ll bring them over shortly,” Jesse replied calmly.

“You go take your shower first; it should be ready when you’re done.”

Hearing that Nydia immediately went for her shower while thinking about opening Cade’s safe box and finding out what secrets were hidden inside his study room’s secret compartment.

Cade must have hidden many things unknown to others in his study room compartment since he could make such an intricate hiding place.

When Nydia finished taking her shower later on, Jesse had also finished preparing himself for bed without going into his study room today but instead put Nydia’s feet onto his lap.

“What are you doing?”

“It is usually you who massages me; today let me massage your feet,” said Jesse with distinct knuckles massaging her foot which looked very delicate due its small size combined with its whiteness making him think of how “delicious” they looked .

His hand fit perfectly around hers even though their skin tones were similar upon closer inspection, Nydia still appeared paler than him .

Nydia leaned against the headboard enjoying his massage after standing on high heels all day long made her feel tired .

“Ahh! Be gentle!” When Jesse pressed down hard on an acupoint near Nyida’s calf muscle causing pain , she couldn’t help but cry out .

Jesse glanced up at her ,”Don’t cry out loud .””Can you be a little gentler?” she muttered softly.

Jesse’s movements did indeed become lighter, but after he lightened up, she felt very itchy, as if he was scratching her instead of massaging her.

“Hey, what about the Butlers situation? We’re trending on Twitter. Shouldn’t we release a statement?”