Chapter 17 Anonymous Text Messages
I smiled but didn't take the bait. When they realized they weren't getting any gossip, my coworkers backed off.
I examined the bouquet more carefully. Simple style, but the color palette and flower combination showed real taste. Whoever sent these had good judgment.
My fingers tapped idly on the keyboard as my mind wandered. Who could've sent them?
First, I ruled out the four Rosewood brothers. In my past life, each of them had sent Sabrina plenty of flowers. Me? Not a single bouquet. Hell, I'd even gotten yelled at for picking up flowers Sabrina had thrown away—apparently that made me 'inconsiderate.'
What I could never have, Sabrina got without lifting a finger. Right now, they were probably all gathered around her, helping find her next... what did they call it? A compatible donor? Like hell they'd think to send me flowers.
Not them, then. And I didn't really have any close friends either. Friends...
A figure flashed through my mind. Could it be him?
I snapped a quick photo of the flowers and sent it to Nicholas. [Did you send these?]
His reply came instantly. [I wish I could say yes, but no, wasn't me.]
Not him?
My brow furrowed slightly. Another message from Nicholas popped up. [I'd like to send you flowers though. Would that be okay?]
Staring at my phone screen, I couldn't tell what tone Nicholas meant that in. Probably just a casual joke. Still, I turned down his offer.
[No need.]
On his end, Nicholas sat in his tech company's conference room, staring forlornly at those two words. Rejected again!
Unwilling to accept it, he kept reopening the photo I'd sent of the flowers, trying to find some clue about who'd sent them. Did he already have competition?
Nicholas's mood darkened. The oppressive atmosphere spread rapidly through the conference room. His employees grew increasingly cautious.
After replying, I didn't pay any more attention to Nicholas. An anonymous text popped up. Intuition told me it might be related to the flower sender. I opened it and immediately regretted my decision.
[Cate, it's Jason. I'm sorry. I was too impulsive the other day and said some awful things. Please don't take it to heart.]
[Did you get the flowers I sent? I've been terrible—I didn't even know what kind of gifts you'd like. If you don't like them, tell me what you want. I'll buy you anything.]
[I'm genuinely apologizing here. I know you don't want to see me and probably hate me, but I really know I messed up.]
[Cate, please don't block me, okay? Let's be friends again.]
After I finished reading that last message, a new contact request followed immediately.
Disgusted, I shoved the bouquet I'd been admiring to the farthest corner of my desk. Just knowing Jason had sent it made my stomach churn.
Did he really think a few small gestures could make up for the damage he'd done? That day, Sabrina hadn't explained anything—not the context, not what actually happened. Jason just saw her crying and immediately took her side without hesitation.
Even when people spoke up for me, Jason still blindly defended Sabrina.
I was his sister too! Did I deserve to be wrongly accused?
My phone kept buzzing with incoming texts. I couldn't stand to look at them anymore.
I blocked that number too, then went ahead and blocked Jason's social media account for good measure. I called a courier service and had the flowers returned, unopened.
I'd said I wanted nothing more to do with the Rosewood family. Time to stick to that.
Shortly after, Jason received a notification that the florist had processed a refund. Looking at the message window that now showed his texts couldn't be delivered, his eyes reddened.
Catherine really wouldn't forgive him anymore.
After dealing with Jason, I got back to work. During my break, I noticed a bunch more anonymous texts had come through. Thinking Jason still hadn't given up, I opened them.
The content was completely different from before.
[Catherine, I'm ordering you to unblock me right now. Otherwise I'll never forgive you!]
Five minutes later: [You've really got some nerve now, huh? Bullying Sabby on set, then turning Jason against her. Have I been too nice to you?]
[Get your ass back to the Rosewood estate right now and get on your knees to apologize to Sabby!]
Ten more minutes passed. The sender was clearly losing patience.
[Catherine, how dare you ignore my messages!]
[Sabby only became an orphan because of you. Her father should've let you die in that car crash instead of letting you live to bully his daughter.]
[ANSWER ME!]
Even though the number was anonymous and he never identified himself, I knew exactly who this was.
Michael.
The most overprotective brother, who'd poured all his favoritism and affection onto Sabrina. If Sabrina wanted the stars from the sky, Michael wouldn't hesitate for a second to try getting them for her.
From these scattered messages, I could piece together why he'd come after me. Simple, really.
Jason had hit a wall with me. Sabrina had always been hypervigilant—if any brother showed me even slightly more attention, she'd use every trick in the book to win it back.
Jason must've been hit with disappointment after disappointment. Now he was probably wavering a bit when it came to Sabrina.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Sabrina could only go crying to the other brothers. Of course, she'd heavily imply to all three that Jason was pulling away because of me.
Andrew and James were busy with work. Where would they find time to bother me?
That left Michael, the temperamental genius artist, who couldn't contain himself.
Looking at his tantrum, he must've already discovered I'd blocked him across all platforms. So naturally, he'd switched to a different number to get my attention.
Too bad I'd been busy working and hadn't blocked him immediately. After ranting this long, did Michael actually think I was scared?
A mocking smile tugged at my lips. I casually tossed him into my blocked list too.
The first thing I'd done after being reborn was block everyone in the Rosewood family. At first, I'd quietly wondered how they'd react when they noticed.
Then I watched them come after me again and again, all for Sabrina's sake. Not one of them ever mentioned being blocked.
Turned out, when people don't care about you, nothing you do will catch their attention—not even a little.
The Rosewood family had even gone up against Nicholas. Filed police reports. Hemorrhaged money to partner with DI. All that, but they wouldn't just talk to me directly and clear the air.
I let out a heavy breath and told myself it was all in the past.
"I've cut ties with the Rosewood family. Whatever happens to them has nothing to do with me!"
Back at the Rosewood estate, Michael still hadn't gotten any response from me. Furious, he typed out another message.
[Catherine, if Sabby didn't still need you for her treatment, do you think you'd even deserve to be alive?]
He hit send. This time, he got a response right away.
A bright red X appeared next to the message. [Failed to send. Recipient has blocked you.]