"Where is my brother?" She asked, assuming an air of unconcern.

She wanted to ask her brother what it was about Carol.

"I thought you would come back together." The mother said, "Isn't he in the old house with you?"

Jessica sat on the sofa, placing her left leg over her right leg and then the right leg over the left leg. "He was at first, and then he left."

Sitting on one side, the father clutched the phone tightly in both hands. He looked straight at the phone and he ignored their conversation as if he had not heard it.

"Oh, I don't know. This kid does everything by himself and never tell me." After a pause, the mother said, "Perhaps he's gone abroad on business."

"I see..." Jessica answered in long tones and didn't say anything again.

According to his temper, he might have booked a flight and gone abroad to work.

She fumbled for the phone and found Ryan's phone number. She hesitated, but did not press.

"You are anxious to find your brother, because of something? If you want to, he'll answer it even if he is in a meeting." Her mother happened to see her little action.

Jessica was in a panic when she heard her mother's voice suddenly. She said hurriedly, "No, no, nothing."

"Ok, but why are you so scared?" The mother rubbed her hair with a wry face. "Or you and your brother are bickering?"

Jessica shook her head.

"You are bickering, but you don't want to tell mom, right?" The mother sighed. "What happened to your brother and you in this year? You are always bickering."

Jessica played around with her phone absent-mindedly. "No, we didn't bicker."

Mentioning about it, she was unhappy.

Carol almost killed her. She didn't mind if her brother didn't punish Carol, but why he gave Carol the resource? Was it because she wasn't usually nice to Amy and he did that to help his girlfriend vent her anger?

The mother did not know what she was thinking, and continued to ask, "Are you two really not quarrelling? Jessie, don't lie to mother. If there's something, you can tell mom, I can help..."

"When the child says it's not, it's not. If you don't believe it, don't ask. If you do, believe it!" The father snapped at her and slammed the phone on the table.

Jessica was thinking about how to explain to her mother. To her surprise, her father suddenly lost his temper.

Her heart fluttered as the phone hit the table and made a huge sound. When she looked up, she saw that her father's eyes were bloodshot and he looked very painful.

Jessica was stunned suddenly, so did the mother beside her.

It was a long time before she heard her mother's little puzzled voice. "I ... I just asked Jessie whether she quarrelled with Ryan. Why are you angry?"

The father usually had a bad temper, but he had been very patient and protective to her mother. So when he lost his temper, her mind went blank.

Jessica looked at the mother's red eye socket, took a tissue and handed it to her.

She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but finally swallowed.

She was conflicted at home. On the one hand, everyone in the family loved her very much. On the other hand, because she was not a real family member, everyone treated her differently from her eldest brother and Ryan.

So, she was spoiled but not presumptuous. Every day she was like walking on a wire rope. She was afraid that if she did one wrong thing or said one wrong word, she would fall into the abyss and lose her home.

"I'm fine." The mother pushed the tissue, whose voice was very small with some nasal sound, and then looked up at the father.

But he only looked very agitated and scratched his hair in pain, and said nothing.

"Is there some business trouble?" The mother asked in a very low voice.

His mood seemed to have calmed down, but his voice was still cold. "I'll go out."

Then, without a word of explanation, he took his wallet and car keys and left hurriedly.

"Dad, put on a coat. It's cold outside." She glanced at the mother who looked lonely , and shouted to the father.

But he did not even stop, just said he was okay and soon disappeared into the night.

The living room suddenly quiet down. You could heard a pin drop. It was terribly quiet.

Jessica did not like this atmosphere, so she broke the silence. "Are you all right, mom?"

The mother shook her head, paused, and said, "Your father just behaved like that. I don't know if there is something wrong with the company. Call your brother and ask."

"...Ok." Jessica bit her lower lip and took her mobile phone. But as soon as she found Ryan's cell phone number, she was pressed on her arm by her mother.

She turned and looked at her mother quizzically.

"Forget it, don't call your brother." The mother said.

Jessica slightly relieved, but because there was no aboveboard excuse to call him, she felt lost.

The mother wiped the corner of her eyes, got up and said worryingly, "Your father is so angry all of a sudden. There must be something wrong with the company. I'll go and see."

She called a servant and asked him to bring her coat and handbag.

Jessica stopped the servant and said to her, "It is so late and you don't know anything about the company. I'd better go."

The mother was very worried about the father, but she also thought that Jessica was right, so she did not insist. She just repeatedly told Jessica to be careful on the road and let her know if there was any information.

"All right." Jessica got the lowest profile Land Rover out of the garage and drove to find her father.

The father had been left for nearly ten minutes, but she used to be a paparazzi, and in order to follow the news, her driving skills were much better than ordinary people.

In a little while she caught up with his car.

The Howard family was a large family. Usually they traveled carefully, and always with a bodyguard. In the past, with her father's temper, he should have found her following him.

But something may have happened today that made him uneasy, so he showed no sign of finding her even though she followed him for so long.

Jessica worried that he would misunderstand her if he found her following him, so she dialed his phone number at the red light at the intersection ahead.

Somehow, she saw him looking down at his phone, but she called twice and he didn't answer.

She could only hang up the phone and continue to follow her father's car after the light turned green.

However, perhaps Jessica was out of luck today. The BMW in front of her wasn't willing to let her overtake by turning left and right constantly. Even at the next intersection, the car forced her to stop.

Seeing her father's car leave after the green light, Jessica got out of the car, frowning, and walked to the Mercedes-Benz.