They Want Me Back When It's Too Late (Jessica and Brian) novel Chapter 27

On the other end of the call, Madeline was crying as she explained, “Jake said he wanted an apple, so I went downstairs. When I came back with the apple slices, he was gone.”

Brian shot up from his seat. “Did you check the cameras? Did he leave the villa?”

Madeline said, “Yes, I checked. Not long after I went downstairs, Jake walked out of the villa by himself and disappeared from the surveillance range.”

“Send me the footage.” Brian hung up. Soon, a clip from the home security cameras appeared on his phone.

He saw Jacob purposely avoid Madeline’s line of sight and sneak out of Atkinson Villa. Asking for fruit was just an excuse to get her out of the way.

Brian watched the video several times. Jacob looked like he was going to find someone.

He didn’t call the police right away. Instead, he dialed Jessica’s number.

At Inkspire Studio, Jessica was focused on her drawing, but the moment her phone rang, she instinctively picked it up. “Hello, who is this?”

“Jake’s missing.” Brian’s eyes darkened, turning colder. He thought, ‘She doesn’t even recognize my number anymore?‘

Jessica paused and glanced at the number on the screen. She had just forgotten to look earlier.

She answered flatly, “Jacob’s missing? And what exactly are you trying to tell me?”

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“He snuck out of the villa alone. We can’t find him.” Brian tried to hold back a rising emotion. “Jessica, come back and help look for him. He’s just a six–year–old-”

“If he’s missing, then call the police. You think I magically know where he is?” Jessica cut him off before he could finish.

She then scoffed, “So now just because I’m not there, Jacob going missing is somehow my fault? You’re his dad–if you couldn’t keep an eye on him, how is that my fault? The second something goes wrong, all you do is calling me?”

“I hear myself just fine,” Jessica said coldly. “I don’t deserve to be Jacob’s mother, right? Well, I think Madeline fits the role just fine.

The design draft was mostly done. All that was left was some fine–tuning. Jessica forced herself to focus on it, but a few strokes in, it was clear her head wasn’t in it.

Brian’s words had gotten to her more than Jessica wanted to admit. She couldn’t help but imagine what a six–year–old like Jacob might have gone through, wandering off alone and not being found in time.

Jessica’s mind instinctively spiraled into terrifying scenarios–like an out–of–control car hitting him, or him running into a kidnapper.

The more Jessica thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. Even if she was completely disappointed in Jacob, he was still the child she had carried for nine months and raised carefully for six years.

Even if she was ready to walk away from being his mother, she still hoped he would grow up healthy and safe.

Jessica couldn’t lie to herself. She immediately put down her pen and decided to go look for Jacob. At the very least, she needed to know he was safe.

Gabriela walked in with a cup of coffee. “Here, take a break and have some coffee.”