Leonardo slowly rose to his feet and looked at Michael with his indifferent eyes. “You’re old and shouldn’t get so worked up over things like this.” What he actually meant was, “Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!”
There was no way Michael would not get what he meant. He nearly went ballistic and smashed things again, but he fought back his anger. Liam came up and poured him a glass of water.
“Mr. Emerson, please have some water. Don’t get so worked up. The young master is still young. He will understand that what you do is for his own good later.”
“I hope so.” Michael sighed.
When he was out of the tea house, Leonardo took out his phone. He wanted to give Summer a ring, but he decided against it. He was curious to know how Summer was going to handle the matter.
…
Summer was nearly late when she arrived at the office. Sitting down in her cubicle, she could see that she was getting weird stares all around. She took out her phone and snapped a photo of herself. She checked, and there was nothing on her face. Everything looked normal.
Seeing her puzzled expression, a female colleague sitting across her pointed at her phone. She immediately got it. Smiling back at her, she went online. She had a habit of checking the entertainment news in the morning, but not today because she had overslept.
The headline that spread across the front page told her it had something to do with her. She clicked it and saw the photos of her and “Douglas” outside the restaurant. She soon calmed down from her initial shock. Considering how arrogant and reckless “Douglas” was, it was just a matter of time before someone took photos of them. However, she had nothing to fear for she had done nothing wrong. Be that as it may, how would the Emerson family react? What if Leonardo had seen it too? Just then, Lynn called her phone.
“Come to my office.”
…
When Summer arrived, Lynn was alone in his office. Vicky was definitely not coming to work today since her face had turned into a balloon.
The moment she entered, Lynn pulled a face. “What’s happening between you and Douglas?”
Summer smirked, looking indifferent. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? Then what is this?” Lynn slammed his mobile in front of her, reminding her about the intimate photo of her and “Douglas”.
Summer leaned over with her hands on his desk. Her lips curled into, and her beautiful face had a hint of shyness. “You have to ask Vicky that. She was the person who took the photo; she knows better than anyone else.”
She had thought over it on her way to see Lynn. No one except Vicky would dare to leak the photos to the media and jab the Emerson family. Besides, only a minority of people knew her and “Douglas”.
“Summer, you should know better! She suffered dearly yesterday because of you. How could you accuse her of this?” Lynn got so angry that he lunged to his feet.
Summer pulled herself back, a hint of coldness flashing under her smiling face. “Whether I help you with your yesterday’s request depends entirely on how you handle this matter.”
Lynn had requested her to persuade Leonardo to inject capital into the Jarrett Group. At first, she was hesitant about talking to Leonardo about it, but after what Lynn said, she made up her mind.
Vicky apparently deserved what she got yesterday, yet Lynn blamed it on Summer as if everything was her fault. He even glossed over the fact that someone tried to harm her in the work skipping incident but offered no apology.
For those reasons, there was no way Summer was going to help Lynn. But all was fair in love and war. All that mattered was who would have the last laugh. Even if they had the same blood flowing in their veins, without an emotional bond, no one would care.
…
Wherever she went, Summer could hear people talking about it. She ignored them completely, and no one had dared to ask her about it.
By evening, the photos of her and “Douglas” had been taken down from the hot searches. Despite that, many people were still discussing it on major online forums. Even Jessica called her.
“Can you post my photos, too, the next time you get up there in the hot searches? I think I can use your popularity as leverage, and before long, I can make my debut.”
Summer forced a smile. “Do you think I want that?”
Jessica said matter-of-factly, “To be honest, I saw the photo. Although a bunch of paid posters say that it was a photoshopped photo, from my experience, after acting in so many movies, I knew it was authentic. I knew long ago that man, Douglas had been eyeing you. Don’t tell me you two-”
“No! There’s nothing going on!” Summer desperately retorted. “Do your job and go home early. I have to go home now. Byeee!”
Summer hung up on Jessica. Breathing a sigh of relief, she started to pack up. She exited the Jarrett Group’s lobby, but before she knew it, a group of reporters rushed up to her out of nowhere.
“Miss Jarrett, is the rumor about you and your husband’s cousin true?”
“Who else are you seeing apart from your husband’s cousin?”
Fortunately, Summer covered her face immediately. The reporters’ ambush had really caught her unawares. She fished out a mask amid the chaos and started to speak, “No comment on the rumor. I’m still not part of the entertainment industry and I’m in no way obligated to answer your questions.”
A reporter with keen ears captured a keyword.
“Miss Jarrett, you said that you’re still not part of the entertainment industry. Are you hinting that you’re going to join the entertainment world to become an artist?”
Following the first question, the other reports began to bombard her with more questions. “Rumor has it that your husband may not be heading Emerson Group for personal reasons. Is that why you want to enter the entertainment industry to safeguard your future?”
“Was the hot search stuff just a publicity stunt?”
Surrounded, Summer had no way of escaping. Right then, footsteps were heard as a group of security personnel came to disperse the reporters. Before realized what had happened, Jerome suddenly came out of nowhere, grabbed her wrist, and brought her toward the car park. When the thought of him touching Vicky’s body crossed her mind, she felt disgusted and flung his hand away. Jerome was gutted by her reaction. He tried not to get angry, instead, he calmly said, “Summer, those reporters will come back anytime. Let’s get in the car and leave this place.”
Summer hesitated for a while before she climbed on board. She knew that she could not underestimate the damage that the entertainment journalists could cause. Her priority was to get out of there.