Ice and Fire novel Chapter 61

At night, Jackson lay quietly in his bed alone, unable to fall asleep. All that he could think of was Cherry's frightened face, and her crying and trembling, and the more he thought about it, the more distressed he was.

He looked at the ceiling, and thought the whole thing over and over. He gradually realized that he had misunderstood Cherry, and that she could not have possibly been involved with John. It all must have been John's fault, because he had gotten drunk and had gone to their house.

Jackson then furiously got up, quite sure that he had misunderstood Cherry. Because they had been together for such a long time, he had got to know her very well, and he was sure that she would have never betrayed him. He had just been driven crazy for the moment, and he should have never said those things to Cherry.

He hated himself for hurting her.

As he stared out the window at the gathering darkness outside, Jackson became more and more worried about Cherry. It was already pretty late. Where had she gone? There was nowhere in the city where she could go to. She neither went to the Shen family, nor the military residential compound. 'Where could she be?' wondered Jackson.

Early in the morning, Jackson called Derek, and told him that he would not accompany him to the barracks today. Derek didn't ask more. He had sensed Jackson's anxiety. He knew that it must have something to do with Cherry, or otherwise Jackson wouldn't have been in such a hurry.

Then, Jackson drove to the Ye's house.

Lucia had just got up, and was about to do her morning exercises in the yard, and the moment she opened the door of the house, she saw Jackson's car appear at the gate.

She was surprised, and she quickly walked up to it to greet him. When she saw Jackson get out of the car, she said, "Jack...Jackson, why are you here so early in the morning?"

Jackson ignored Lucia's words, and in a fierce manner, asked, "Where's John?"

When Lucia saw Jackson's angry face, she wondered whether John had gotten into trouble with him. "He, he...he's at home, " she said, And then quickly asked, "Jackson, why are you looking for John?"

Jackson almost shouted at her, "Open the gate! Now!" He was here for John, and he had no time to answer her questions.

Lucia could not help but shudder, and quickly opened the gate for him.

Jackson walked straight to Ye family's villa, and when he walked into the living room, he saw Edwin reading a newspaper on the sofa. Jackson then slowed his pace.

Edwin was startled when he saw Jackson, and wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes.

While he put down the newspaper from his hands, Edwin asked, "Jackson, why are you here?"

"Edwin, it's something urgent, and I'm looking for John, " said Jackson. His tone softened, because he still had to respect his brother-in-law, who was older than he was.

"Oh, " said Edwin, "John is still upstairs in his room. He probably hasn't even got up yet."

At that moment, Jean also walked into the room, and saw them looking at each other.

Surprised, John said, "Uncle, why are you in my house?"

"Oh, so you're still playing the fool, ah?" snapped Jackson.

As he stared into Jackson's eyes, John then suddenly realized that he was there because of what had happened the other day at his house.

John tried to explain himself, "Uncle, yesterday..." but he was interrupted by Jackson before he could even finish his sentence.

"What the hell happened yesterday?" yelled Jackson. He had to learn the truth and prove Cherry's innocence.

John then realized that Jackson wanted to know what had happened yesterday.

Jean stood behind Jackson, and was also curious to know what had happened. 'Do the wounds on John's face have anything to do with Jackson?' she wondered.