Share

Patterns

last update publish date: 2026-06-09 00:50:54

The second volunteer arrived just after six o'clock.

Jessica had already sent most of the staff home.

The gallery had grown quiet.

Outside, evening traffic moved slowly through the streets of Paris.

Inside, a nervous young woman sat across from her desk twisting her hands together.

Jessica recognised the behaviour immediately.

The hesitation.

The uncertainty.

The fear of being dismissed.

She had seen it before.

Far too many times.

"Take your time," she said gently.

The volunteer nodded.

Then lo
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Red Door

    Emma left the gallery shortly after noon.She needed air.Needed distance.The studio suddenly felt suffocating.Every brushstroke.Every shade of crimson.Every word Jessica had spoken seemed to follow her out into the street.The city was alive around her.Traffic crawled through the roads.People hurried between shops.Children laughed somewhere in the distance.Normal life continued exactly as it always had.Yet none of it felt real.Emma walked without direction.Her thoughts looping endlessly."He was alive when I left him."The words refused to leave her alone.Perhaps Jessica had meant nothing by it.Perhaps it had been a joke.A poorly timed attempt at humour.But the look in her eyes had said otherwise.Jessica had not looked shocked.She had not looked saddened.If anything, she had looked relieved.Emma hated herself for even thinking it.Jessica had saved her.Supported her.Protected her.When nobody else had.Yet the feeling remained.Small.Persistent.Like a splinter

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   She Saw Red

    Jessica didn't sleep.Daisy's words followed her home.They followed her into the darkness.They followed her into every restless thought.Who was she becoming?For the first time in months, she had no answer.Henri's letter sat on the kitchen table.The notebook remained locked away.Neither had been touched.The apartment felt unusually quiet.Almost peaceful.At half past midnight, her phone rang.Emma.Jessica answered immediately."Emma?"The young woman's voice was barely recognisable.Terrified."He got in."Jessica stood instantly."What?""He's inside."The words dissolved into panic.Jessica could hear movement.A door slamming.Footsteps.Crying."Listen to me."Jessica's voice became calm.Controlled.The same tone she used during emergencies."Lock yourself in the bedroom.""I am.""Stay there."A sob."I can hear him."Jessica closed her eyes."Do not come out."The line remained open.For several minutes all Jessica heard was breathing.Fear.Silence.Then a noise.A he

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Mirror

    Daisy stopped calling.At first, Jessica barely noticed.There were always meetings.Always deadlines.Always reasons to be busy.Three days passed.Then five.Then a week.Eventually, the silence became impossible to ignore.For years, Daisy had been a constant presence.A message.A phone call.A surprise coffee.Some small reminder that Jessica wasn't facing the world alone.Now there was nothing.The absence felt deliberate.Because it was.The realisation arrived on a Tuesday afternoon.Jessica was reviewing exhibition proposals when a member of staff appeared at her office door."Daisy's here."Jessica looked up immediately.Relief appeared before she could stop it."Send her in."The response came almost instantly."She said she'd wait downstairs."Something about that felt wrong.Daisy never waited downstairs.She walked in.Made coffee.Complained about paperwork.Acted as though she owned the place.Jessica stared at the doorway for several seconds.Then stood.The gallery c

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Headline

    Jessica saw the headline before she read the article.It appeared on her phone while she waited for coffee.Three words.Simple.Devastating.Woman Hospitalised Again.For a moment, she didn't recognise the name.Then she did.Emma.The cup nearly slipped from her hand.Jessica opened the article immediately.Her eyes raced through the details.The attack had happened the previous evening.Outside a supermarket.Witnesses intervened quickly.An ambulance arrived within minutes.Emma would recover physically.The article repeated that fact several times.As though repeating it made the story acceptable.Jessica read the piece twice.Then a third time.Each reading left her angrier.Not because of what it said.Because of what it didn't.There was no mention of the months of reports.No mention of the emergency calls.No mention of the warnings.No mention of the fear.Only the final outcome.The visible damage.The part people could no longer ignore.The part that forced attention.The

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Crossing

    The notebook disappeared three days later.Not because Jessica threw it away.Because she moved it.From the office.To her apartment.The change seemed insignificant.A practical decision.Nothing more.At least that was what she told herself.The truth felt different.The office belonged to the gallery.The apartment belonged to her.One was public.The other was private.One represented Henri's world.The other represented her own.The distinction mattered.More than she wanted to admit.That evening, rain swept across Paris once again.Jessica sat alone at her dining table.The notebook open.Emma's case file beside it.The room was silent except for the distant sound of traffic.For several minutes she did nothing.Then she began reading.Not the police reports.Not the witness statements.The chronology.The dates.The sequence of events.The pattern.Weeks of warnings.Weeks of reports.Weeks of fear.Then the assault.The progression felt horrifyingly predictable once viewed i

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Question

    Emma was discharged four days later.Physically, she was recovering.Emotionally, nobody seemed willing to make predictions.Jessica visited twice.Both visits left her feeling worse.Not because Emma was falling apart.Because she wasn't.The young woman remained polite.Thankful.Resilient.Exactly the sort of person everyone admired.Exactly the sort of person who shouldn't have needed to be resilient in the first place.On the second visit, Emma asked a question.A simple question.The kind that stays with you."Do you think he'll do it again?"Jessica looked at her.The bruise beneath Emma's eye had begun fading.The fear hadn't."Who?""My boyfriend."The answer felt obvious.Yet neither of them treated it that way.For several moments, Jessica remained silent.Because the truth was she didn't know.Nobody knew.Not the police.Not the courts.Not the experts.Not anyone.That uncertainty suddenly felt unbearable.Eventually she gave the only honest answer she had."I don't know

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Visit

    The call came at 4:13 in the morning.Jessica answered before the second ring.For one terrible second, she thought it was Emma.It wasn't.It was the police.By the time the conversation ended, she was already getting dressed.The city was still dark when she arrived at the hospital.Rain hung in

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   André's Story

    André stayed for almost three hours.Long after the coffee had gone cold.Long after the gallery had closed.Long after the evening lights began glowing outside the windows.At first they talked about Henri.The safest subject.The easiest subject.Stories from decades ago.Gallery disasters.Artis

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Night the Lights Went Out

    Rain had started sometime after dinner.At first it had been soft. Gentle taps against the kitchen windows while Jessica and Daisy sat at the table colouring pictures and arguing over who had stolen whose crayons."You took my green.""I did not.""You did because I only have this stupid brown left

  • The Art of Jessica Jane   The Scream

    Jessica didn't like the bedroom upstairs.Not anymore.Five minutes earlier it had been her room. Her room with yellow curtains covered in tiny flowers. Her room with dolls sitting neatly on shelves and drawings pinned crookedly across the walls. Her room where Daisy always climbed into her bed aft

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status