Not far away from the mansion, Summer heard a car honking. She looked over when the car stopped next to her with the window wound down. “Douglas” poked his handsome face out, squinting at her, but she somehow found it disgusting. “Get in. Let me fetch you to work,” he said in a low voice.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Summer declined. She did not want to get stares again. She could already imagine how people would look at her like a monkey in the zoo and the gossips that would follow if she allowed “Douglas” to send her to her office.
“Douglas” smiled at her, his dark eyes exuding a dreadful aura. “What are you afraid of?”
What was she afraid of? The question stunned Summer.
She suddenly realized that it was out of fear that she was subconsciously avoiding “Douglas”.
She made it look like she hated him, but she could not help but admit that he was an outstanding man.
His arrogance seemed to be inborn, making him a man of confidence and above everyone else like a star to behold.
Sometimes he was terrible, but when he was good to her, it was sincere.
Women always fell for such men, so Summer avoided him, giving him the cold shoulder.
She was the Emerson family’s daughter-in-law, and she was going to carry that identity for the rest of her life. Hence, she knew the right thing to do. She needed to guard her heart and her reputation. She was afraid that she would fall for him one day.
When Summer kept silent, Leonardo upped the ante. “Or are you having some inordinate interest in me?”
“I’m not!” Summer retorted within a nanosecond. However, when she came to her senses, she found herself opening the door and sitting in the front passenger seat.
“Douglas” looked ahead. There were not many emotional ripples on his face, but the sense of victory in his eyes gave him away.
Summer felt a little guilty. She did not look at him. Instead, she peered out the window, consciously trying to find something to say. “How much does your car cost?”
“Not much,” “Douglas” replied.
Summer looked surprised. It was a rare model. Back in her university years, she had seen many rich kids driving to the campus entrance to pick up girls. Among the cars were several Bentleys, but none of them looked like this. She instinctively felt that it was expensive stuff.
Leonardo glanced over at her. “They stopped producing this model several years ago.”
“I just-” She was not being serious. She was just rambling, but Leonardo cut her off.
“If you like it, please me, and I’ll consider giving it to you.”
He suddenly saw the changing expression on Summer’s face and realized what a blunder he had made. If he had spoken in his capacity as Leonardo, giving the car to Summer was only a matter of course. However, when he said it as “Douglas”, it sounded inappropriate.
No one said a word again until they arrived at the Jarrett Group. Summer then got out of the car.
“Thank you,” she said. She was extremely polite, so much so that it felt distant. She closed the door, turned around, and bumped straight into Vicky.
“It looks like you’ve been having a great time with your husband’s cousin. He even fetches you back and forth,” Vicky mocked, glancing at the car behind Summer.
“We are family, and we are helping each other out, unlike you…” Summer took two steps forward up to Vicky and spoke at a volume that only the two of them could hear, “Not everyone’s fancy enough to go to a place like the Violet Gold Club. Next time, don’t fool me into going there.”
Vicky’s face stiffened up, but she quickly regained her natural composure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Summer’s face brightened up, her voice intimidating. “Dad isn’t too happy about you going to the Violet Gold Club. You better be careful.”
Lynn did not love Summer as his daughter, but he liked to make use of her. Her capacity as Mrs. Emerson was useful to him. If Lynn knew what Vicky had done to her, he would surely give Vicky an earful.
Both Summer and Vicky knew that. However, Vicky was obviously unperturbed by her threat. “There is no proof. Who’s going to believe it?”
“Summer, what time do you get off work? I’m coming to fetch you.”
“Douglas” was suddenly heard speaking from behind. Summer looked back at him with eyes that said, “Why are you still here?”
Leonardo ignored her questioning stare, standing where he was as if he was not going anywhere unless he got the answer he was looking for.
Summer knew she could not do anything about him other than to give in. “Okay.”
Leonardo got the answer he wanted. Shooting a cold glance at Vicky, he got back into his car and sped off.
Vicky felt a chill run up her spine from his glance. There was a lustful look in her eyes. If only she had known that Leonardo had a cousin of such quality… Had she married into the Emerson family, would “Douglas” give her a ride to work too? When she thought of the Black Card that Summer flashed in the Golden Cauldron, dollar signs popped up in her eyes. She was starting to regret it; she should have married into the Emerson family.
Summer looked back. Vicky was staring in the direction of “Douglas”‘s departure, the rapacity on her face plain to see. The corner of Summer’s lips raised into smirked.
“Sis, do you regret letting me marry your fiancé? There’s nothing you can do about it. Even if I were to divorce Leonardo, he would marry anyone and anything but you.”
Vicky’s sex scandal had died down, and so did her reputation. There was no way the Emerson family would allow a disgraced woman to be part of their family.
With her motives exposed, Vicky’s expression evaporated. Again, she quickly regained her poise, ruffling her hair as she smugly said, “As if I crave to marry Leonardo, the cripple.”
Her target was “Douglas”. She was starting to fantasize about making out with him. It had to be as good as heaven. No matter how pretty a bumpkin like Summer had become, she would never be as good as her in bed.
Chaste and inexperienced, Summer could not make out what was on Vicky’s mind right then. She just thought that Vicky looked like a psycho with her coquetry on. But when she recalled Vicky calling Leonardo a cripple, she was not too happy.
“So what if Leonardo’s a cripple? Who are you to pass remarks about my husband?!” Following that, she stomped her foot on Vicky’s toes before she strode into the the Jarrett Group building.
“Summer, you b*tch!” Vicky screamed and chased her.
Just then, Leonardo, who had supposedly left, emerged from behind a lamppost. His face was impassive.