My Four Miraculous Treasures

Jasper hadn't been informed of her change of address. He had to be at her old place, instead.

Willow had only just gotten home when she got this phone call from Jasper. Her nerves were all wound up, now.

"Mr. Hughes, I was just about to go to bed. Whatever this is about, can't we just talk on the phone?" Maybe this would allow her to avoid having to meet with him in person...

"Either you're coming down, or I'm coming up! Your choice!" Jasper's voice was sharp and cold.

"Alright, I'll come down... but you'll have to wait awhile for me, because I'm in the bath right now. Let's say half an hour." She tried not to let him hear how nervous she felt.

If he headed upstairs, he'd find out she no longer lived there. Just imagining it made her skin crawl with horror.

After their quarrel earlier today, if she gave him one more reason to get mad at her... it wouldn't end well for her.

In response, Jasper hung up on her without another word.

Willow had barely been allowed to set one foot into her own home, when she had to promptly leave once more, dashing frantically for the staircase.

As she was just about to start down the stairs, it occurred to her that she was still wearing Xavier's jade bracelet.

She halted, raced back to her apartment, slipped it off her wrist, and deposited it into one of the drawers in the shoe cabinet.

And then she ran off into the night.

It was well past ten o'clock in the evening, and this was a quiet neighborhood with little traffic at any time of day. She waited in vain by the roadside for a taxi cab to pass by.

Willow checked her phone. It had already been eight minutes since Jasper called her. What was she going to do if she couldn't catch a ride...?

Jasper was not the sort of man anyone would dare to keep waiting. If his patience ran out, it would cost her dearly.

Just as she was about to collapse from hysteria, a taxi appeared. She hailed it down, clambered aboard, told the driver where to go, and urged him to hurry.

Meanwhile, Jasper waited in his car, which was presently parked outside Willow's former place of residence.

After ten minutes had passed

without any sign of Willow, he took

out his phone and opened up a certain app. It showed him that Willow was nearly a full mile away from here, and had just begun to travel this way at speed.

Jasper's expression became as grim as Death itself. The mood inside the car was ice-cold, like the desolate heart of winter.

He glared severely at that tiny red dot on his smartphone screen, steadily making its way towards him.

Willow directed the taxi driver to bring her round the back, so that she could be seen emerging from within the apartment complex.

If she came in through the front

entrance instead, she risked being spotted by Jasper, which would

blow her whole ruse apart. Wherever she'd come from, he'd know it hadn't

been from these apartments. Questions would follow, and her lies would no longer be able to hold water.

There was still some distance to her apartment building from the rear entrance of

the complex. Jasper couldn't be kept waiting. Willow broke into a run.

As she came within sight of the front gate, she spotted a black

Rolls-Royce waiting beneath a streetlamp. Its luxurious glossy

sheen cast beneath the sterw

of the streetlamp, lent it a

sort of radiance. noveldrama

It could only be Jasper Hughes in there.

Willow hurried over to that car. Through the windows, she could see Jasper in the back seat, his handsome features bearing a solemn, ice-cold expression.

Her heart skipped a beat, and her breath caught.

As surreptitiously as she could, she sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to calm

her breathing after all that running. When she almost felt ready, she raised a hand and knocked gingerly upon the door.

With a click, the door was unlocked, and swung open. Cold air poured out, washing over her skin and causing her to shiver.