My Neighbor Jessalyn(3)

It wasn't impossible, so I decided to investigate and see if they would lend a helping hand.

Since Yves had brought his lover to meet up with Jessalyn, Jessalyn might know something about who those poor men were.

I recently messaged Jessalyn on WhatsApp and discovered that I had been blocked. I knew it was Yves who had done it. He must have controlled Jessalyn's phone.

However, I had been lying on the windowsill all day. I had seen Jessalyn drive out of the community several times. I assumed she went to the beauty salon, and there was no way Yves wouldn't let her go about her business, even though a man followed her around all the time.

I figured out a way. I went straight to Jessalyn's beauty salon on Wednesday night. Jessalyn was not present at the time. I told the girl in the salon that I wanted to meet Jessalyn and told her about my recent events. Furthermore, Jessalyn was being followed by gangsters every day, so she figured out what was going on and offered to help me.

The next morning, at 5:00 a.m., I went to the beauty salon and hid in the "no men allowed" body sculpting studio in advance. I waited for more than three hours. At 8:00 a.m., I heard Jessalyn's voice. She had just arrived.

Then, I smelled a familiar perfume scent. Jessalyn walked in as she spoke. When she saw me, she was stunned for a moment, and tears welled up in her eyes.

To avoid people's suspicion, she continued to speak, but her hand closed and locked the door.

My eyes reddened as well, and I wanted to hug her.

I noticed the beige silk scarf around her neck, and there were bruises under the scarf.

She wiped her tears away, came over, touched my face, and whispered, "You're old enough, and yet your eyes would still turn red."

"Why are you here?" she asked while I fought back tears.

I whispered, "I want to save you."

When she heard what I said, the tears she had been holding back welled up again. However, with a bitter smile on her face, she took my hand and said, "Chris, don't do anything stupid. I'm fine. I'll bear with it. You can't ruin yourself for my sake."

I grew anxious. "My heart aches at the thought of the life you're leading, Jessalyn."

Jessalyn sighed helplessly. "This is my fate. We can't fight against Yves. Forget about it."

I continued, "I have an idea, Jessalyn. Let's give it a shot. Do you know which of their husbands wields more power among the married women who slept with Yves? I'll go look for him. Maybe he'll be willing to help us."

Jessalyn was a little surprised. She said, "It's too risky. If no one believes you and spreads the word to Yves..."

I was so anxious that I pulled off Jessalyn's scarf and touched the bruise on her neck. "Jessalyn, don't hesitate anymore. You can't always lead this life where you're constantly being abused by him. We have to fight back!"

Jessalyn seemed convinced.

I was so anxious that I persuaded her several times. She eventually relented. She could only guess from her memories that Yves hooked up with his subordinate's wife. His subordinate's name was Maverick Anderson. However, Maverick was transferred to work under Yves' friend, who was the boss of Yves' company.

My eyes lit up. If the evidence was conclusive, Maverick might be our savior. I inquired about Maverick's appearance from Jessalyn. She described him as a yellow-haired and slender man with a dragon tattoo on his shoulder.

Just then, there was a noise outside. It was the man sent by Yves to follow Jessalyn. He asked why Jessalyn hadn't come out for so long and wanted to break in to see if she had run away.

The shop assistants were blocking him. Jessalyn hurriedly asked me to hide under the bed and tugged on my hand before she went out.

The man saw Jessalyn and stopped making a ruckus. However, Jessalyn was afraid that something else would happen, so she found an excuse to leave the beauty salon and took him away. Only then was I able to get out from under the bed.

I had a clear goal, and that was to find Maverick.

I knew where Yves' company was. I crept to a place near their door and observed them for three days. I noticed that there were always tattooed men going in and out. Yves had also been here twice, and one of them matched Jessalyn's description exactly. Furthermore, because it was summer, he never wore a jacket, and his over-the-shoulder dragon tattoo was prominent. He was most likely Maverick.

Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., I saw him come out by himself. I hurried forward to block him and said, "Are you Maverick?"

He briefly sized me up. "Who are you?"

I continued, "I have something to tell you. It has something to do with Yves. Can we find a convenient place to talk?"

Maverick glanced at me warily. He probably thought I wouldn't be a threat to him, so he nodded and led me away.

We went to a corner of the street. Maverick lit a cigarette and inquired, "What's wrong with Yves? Go on and talk."

I told him everything Jessalyn had told me, and of course, I added fuel to the fire in order to get to him. Maverick was furious and stared angrily at me. After I finished, he fell silent for a moment before crushing the cigarette box in his hand.

I took advantage of the opportunity to say, "They've been hooking up for three to four years. Many people were aware, but only you were kept in the dark."

When Maverick heard this, he became even angrier. He raised his hand to throw the lighter but clenched it for a long time before putting it down again.

I had a bad feeling, so I said cautiously, "I'm telling you this because I need your assistance. Yves' wife is my... my mom's best friend. She wanted to divorce Yves, but he was too powerful for her to do so. If you can deal with Yves in such a way that he is unable to continue to work as a loan shark in the future, his wife will be able to divorce him."

Maverick said, "That's easy for you to say. Yves has been around for so many years. Do you think he can be easily taken down?"

"So, you can bear with him cuckolding you?" I mustered up the courage to say.

Maverick glared at me, but he didn't beat me. Instead, he remained silent for a few moments before saying, "There is no evidence to back up your claims. Besides, Yves has taken care of me for a few years. I can't believe you like this. You should go back first. I'll think about this another time."

My heart went cold, and I wanted to beg him, but Maverick only left me his phone number and walked away.

I was so disappointed that I stayed home all night.

The next morning, I went to the beauty salon in the same manner as before. At about 8:00 a.m., Jessalyn entered the small door and saw me. I was overjoyed. To be honest, it felt like a forbidden lovers' meeting. It was not easy for us to meet.

Jessalyn wore a red gown, which was very beautiful. I told her about how it went with Maverick and said, "Maverick seems to be afraid to go against Yves. Can you think of any other married women Yves has had affairs with? I'll look for someone else."

Jessalyn's eyes darkened, but she couldn't recall any.

We spent a long time in the body sculpting studio, and Jessalyn became increasingly disappointed. She said, "Chris, you'd better stop looking for them. I know you are nice to me, but I don't deserve you..."

All of a sudden, the door was kicked open, and the man who had been following her broke in, followed by Yves!

Jessalyn and I panicked while Yves smiled sinisterly. "You really ignored everything and came here to have an affair for the sake of that thing in your crotch."

It was obvious that someone had snitched.

I yelled angrily, "Stop talking nonsense, Yves. Nobody has more affairs than you!"

Yves cursed, and the man behind him approached and kicked me. Meanwhile, Yves grabbed Jessalyn's hair and cursed incessantly while hitting her. All of a sudden, the room turned into a mess, and the shop assistants came in to break up the fight, but they couldn't intervene.

"Yves, if you act recklessly again, I'll call the cops!" Jessalyn retorted.

Yves spat arrogantly, "Okay, why don't you let me see you try!"

I'd been beaten so badly that I didn't have the strength to fight back. Yves went too far. He ripped Jessalyn's gown and yelled, "I'll allow you to have an affair! Come on! Do it!"

I was dragged to the lobby by Yves' subordinate. After he had enough of hitting Jessalyn, Yves dashed out to get the mop stick and started destroying the beauty salon.

The shop assistants screamed in fear. After Yves smashed almost everything and the glass door, he said to the man, "Take that wench away. If anyone dares to call the cops, I'll kill their entire family!"

The man dragged Jessalyn out. I desperately wanted to stop him, but I was kicked to the door by Yves. It was so painful that my vision became blurry. I could only let Yves and his subordinate take Jessalyn away.

I wanted to call the cops, but Yves' words scared me. Besides, Jessalyn said that calling the cops was pointless. He'd only retaliate more harshly.

I was heartbroken. I wanted to pound my chest and stomp my foot. I wanted to ask God how he could let such a wicked man exist in this world.

Over the next few days, Yves kept Jessalyn under house arrest and closed down the beauty salon.

In the midst of this crisis, Maverick suddenly called me and asked to meet up.

We met in a private room at a coffee shop. Maverick was sitting there with his arms bare, but his left eye was swollen and bruised, and my face was a little swollen too. It was a little funny for us to sit together.

"What happened to you, Maverick?" I asked.

Maverick lit a cigarette and said with anger, "I went to catch my wife with Yves, but he beat the living daylights out of me."

I was shocked and pressed for details.

Maverick recounted the whole story in a flat voice. He had trailed his wife and caught her red-handed with Yves. In a fit of rage, he barged into their hotel room, only to have Yves counterattack with a brutal punch. Yves then summoned his goons to give Maverick a vicious beating and strutted after he sneered, "I'm doing you a favor by playing with your woman. Don't overestimate yourself."

Feeling humiliated and powerless, Maverick sought revenge, but he knew that Yves held all the cards and didn't want to act rashly. He called me here to discuss how to take down Yves and hinted that he knew a secret that could bring him down for good.

I asked, "What's the secret?"

Maverick paused for a while and whispered, "When I was working under Yves, I caught him having an affair with Mrs. Cooper, Phoenix's wife."

"Phoenix?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, our boss, Phoenix," he replied.

I was intrigued.