After giving Leonardo the glass of water, she turned and entered the kitchen, unaware of the smiles on his face.
On the side, Douglas had witnessed everything.
Taking a chopstick, he leaned over to dip it in the broth in Leonardo’s bowl before he put it to his lips. After he had a taste, he dropped the chopstick and quickly quaffed a mouthful of water. Curling his mouth, he uttered, “Sinister!” The noodles were saltier than the Dead Sea, yet Leonardo still ate all of them. Summer would surely forgive him eventually, considering how soft-hearted she was. The man was playing up to her with his own sinister plan.
“As if you’re not loud enough.” Leonardo shot him a glare.
Shrinking back away from him, Douglas scurried into the kitchen.
Summer was leaning against the countertop, sipping on a pack of yogurt drink. Her bowl of noodles had probably soaked up all the broth like a sponge. It did not matter now; she no longer had the appetite.
Seeing Douglas dart in, she took out another pack and handed it to him.
Douglas went up to stand beside her. Taking a sip of yogurt drink, he started to talk like a man who had seen enough of life. “Summer, don’t be conned by Leonardo. He’s sinister.”
“Mm,” she replied absent-mindedly, looking over at him. “I’m six years older than you… You should have addressed me as your elder sister.”
The fourteen-year-old was still slightly taller than Summer, who stood at 1. 7 meters. Going through puberty, Douglas still looked like a kid even though he was a little taller than her.
He curled his lips and said, “Then I’ll call you’Elder Sister’.” He did not really want to recognize that she was Leonardo’s wife. He was indignant, sighing and feeling sorry for Summer for having married his sinister cousin.
Summer wondered if the yogurt drink was making him sad.
…
The three of them went out together with Tim behind the wheel.
Summer did not want to sit beside Leonardo, so she let Douglas get in first. The plan was for Douglas to sit in the middle, with her on the left and Leonardo on the right. Douglas secretly glanced at Leonardo before he got in, feeling depressed because he had to sit next to his elder cousin, who did not look too friendly. He must have done something unwise, he thought.
Tim was to send Summer back to her office in Jarrett Group, then Douglas to school. After dropping Summer off and going just a short distance, Leonardo instructed him, “Stop the car.”
As soon as the car came to a halt, Leonardo looked over at Douglas. “Get out.”
“But I haven’t reached school yet!” When Leonardo sent him to school yesterday, it had taken at least ten minutes to drive from there to his school.
“We’re not heading in the same direction.”
“Huh?”
Before Douglas could figure out what happened, Leonardo had opened the door and kicked him out of the car.
Douglas screamed blue murder. “You’re taking things personally just because I was sitting between you and Summer? I dare you to kick me out of the car in front of her!”
Leonardo ignored him, shutting the door. “Let’s go,” he instructed Tim.
Tim glanced at Douglas who was standing outside. All he could do was keep quiet and feel sorry for him even though he knew that his school and Tip Top were in the same direction.
Looking on as the car sped off, Douglas kicked the roadside tree to vent his frustration. It ended up with him carrying his leg, jumping up and down in pain.
His school was still ten minutes away by car. Even if he ran on foot, it would take half a million hours-well, that was what it seemed like. To make matters worse, he was also penniless, so Douglas could just mumble to himself, “Fine! I’ll get some money from your wife.”
Jarrett Group was not that far from where he was now, so he turned around and ran toward it.
…
As soon as Summer reached the building, Lynn summoned her into his office.
After the press conference, it seemed that public discussions of Jarrett Group had yet to die down one bit. No one was buying into their story. In desperation, Lynn could only place all his hope on Summer.
“Summer, have you talked to Leonardo?” He got to his feet immediately when Summer stepped in.
However, the sheer mention of Leonardo still got her goats.
“I couldn’t convince him. He said he wouldn’t help Jarrett Group.” She never intended to talk to Leonardo about this in the first place, more so when she found out that “Douglas” was Leonardo. She knew right away he was not going to help Jarrett Group.
Lynn became even more desperate. “Then, what should we do now? I’ve gotten the Black Card back for you. Besides, you promised me-”
“The Black Card belongs to Leonardo. Even if you didn’t help me get it back, he’d find out I lost the card, eventually. He could have gotten it back if he wanted to and probably recovered all the money spent on the card as well…”
In that short period where Lynn and Vicky got the Black Card, they had not managed to use it on the company’s expenses. But even then, nearly ten million dollars had been splashed on personal spending. Summer knew that it was nearly impossible to recover that amount of money unless she sold the shares of Jarrett Group that she held and used that money to pay Leonardo back. After all, she got the shares from Lynn. She could offer to sell them back to him. If not, she could dispose of the shares to a third party. As battered as Jarrett Group’s image was, people were still willing to buy it. After all, Jarrett Group had come a long way.
As Summer had expected, Lynn’s expression changed when he heard what she said.
“Dad, don’t worry. I will help find another way.”
Lynn could not have cared if Summer was sincere or not; he was in desperation.
When Summer came out of Lynn’s office, a colleague went up to her.
“Summer, someone’s looking for you.”
It was Douglas.
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in school?” Summer checked the time; it was well past nine.
He leaned against the wall with his bag on his back, sighing. “After you got down, my elder cousin kicked me out of the car. My school’s still so far away and I’m penniless, so I can only come to you…”
“What’s wrong with him, kicking you out of the car?” She took out a hundred dollars from her handbag. “Next time, see me or even your cousin if you need money. Don’t do flimflam things again.”
Douglas was just street smart, but he was still young. He needed to be taught the proper concept of right and wrong.
“Thank you, Summer.” Douglas took the money, giving her an appreciative smile.
She smiled back at him, thinking he was not that bad after all.