As soon as Jessica left, Leonardo arrived. Driving his multi-million-dollar, limited-edition Bentley, he stopped in front of the mall entrance, instantly attracting admiring eyeballs.
Summer jumped into the car, hurried him. “Go now, quick!”
Ignoring her words, he unhurriedly leaned over to help Summer put on her safety belt. Then with one hand on the headrest behind her and the other on the door, he looked at her in proximity. “You look pale. What movie did Jessica watch with you?”
“Fantasy movie.” Summer involuntarily shrank back.
“Is the story sad?”
“No…”
“Then how come your face looks so pale?” While speaking, he reached to touch her face.
Summer instinctively turned her face away, his hand stopping in midair. He did not look embarrassed at all. Instead, Summer felt an intimidating air in him, and it was unsettling. At that moment, all her nerves that had tensed up for the past few days gave way. She nearly had a mental breakdown as she looked at him.
“Are you involved in the death of Ben Burton’s father?”
“What have you figured out?” Leonardo looked up at him, his dark eyes impenetrable, his voice icy-cold.
“So you are admitting to it?” She looked at him in disbelief, her voice shivering. She knew too little about Leonardo. Her life was hard when she was small. But that did not make her accept the notion that life is cheap. The two kidnappers who abducted her last time were fugitive. She was not that emotional when Leonardo killed them. They would have been executed by shooting if caught by the police, anyway. But this time, Leonardo’s swift action in zapping Ben Burton’s father terrified her.
“He deserves to die.” Leonardo smirked, his smile smacking of bloodthirstiness and hatred. “They all deserve to die. Billy Burton is not the last one.” Billy Burton was Ben Burton’s father.
“You’re so smart. You can find the murderers and hand them over to the police…” She feared Leonardo, but still plucked up her courage to dissuade him from killing.
Leonardo’s smile was even more apparent now, his handsome face creepy in the dim light. “I’m smart? But I’ve not found the culprit for the past fifteen years. I can only find those involved and kill them one by one.”
Summer clenched her hands involuntarily.
Leonardo leaned closer to her, giving her a kiss on her cheek and whispering into her ears. “If you don’t agree with me, you can go to the police.”
Her body tensed. Sitting still, she bit her lip without a word as she looked up to meet his eyes. She did not agree with how Leonardo handled the case, but she knew that she was not going to the police. Leonardo was paranoid when it came to his mom’s case. Even if she went to the police, and they apprehended him, she knew he still had the means to carry out his killings. Leonardo just possessed that ability.
Suddenly, Leonardo spoke, his voice hoarser this time. “We’re still in the car. Don’t look at me like that.” He loved how her eyes looked; they were just bright and alluring.
Summer cut away from the thought, looking away from him.
…
Back in the mansion, Leonardo brought her back into the bedroom, pinned her against the door and kissed her. At that moment, Summer was not in the mood, but she could not get away. Then she had an idea.
“My dad’s been overseas for the past few days. He’ll be coming back in the next couple of days.”
Sure enough, Leonardo stopped, but he still did not let her go. “What’s he doing abroad?”
“You already know the answer, don’t you?” Summer breathed a sigh of relief. “My grandpa’s coming home.”
“Why are you telling me this?” He lowered his head and kissed her on her lips. “Don’t worry about that right now.”
“That’s because you have things under your control. Even if I didn’t tell you, you’ve already caught wind, haven’t you?” Summer did not avoid his kisses, but she did not reciprocate either.
Things felt vapid, so Leonardo let go of her. “Since you already know, why are you telling me all of this to kill the buzz?”
Not that finding the culprit was wrong, Summer just felt that Leonardo was doing it the wrong way. He was too mean and ruthless, but she did not know how to communicate with him. He just would not listen or accept her opinions.
After a long while, she said, “Leonardo, I can help you find the culprit who kidnapped your mom.”
“You, help me?” His voice was so low that it was almost a whisper.
His mom was highly educated, like everyone in the family. Gifted and pretty, she was the dream girl of every rich kid and powerful man in Hoover City. His father, Michael, the successor to the Emerson family’s fortune, was also a distinctive character. That explained why their son, Leonardo, was this smart.
It took Leonardo a long time to get over the death of his mom and become normal again. But because of it, the teenage boy seemed to have grown up overnight; he was mature and grim in temperament. He had lost count how many times he had visited the police department to ask about his mom’s case.
At last, a young police officer told him in private, “I think there is more to the case than meets the eye. But everyone just wants to get over it and move on.” Leonardo knew that it was the Emerson family that wanted to keep things under wraps.
They would not allow the truth of his mom being violated to surface, and they were also not going to pursue the matter any further. Since then, he had been pursuing the case. His father and twin sister did not believe him. They thought his obsession with the case stemmed from his witnessing of what happened to his mom—he had PTSD.
But right then, Summer stood before him, telling him she wanted to help him.
“You believe that there is a hidden hand behind the death of my mom?”
“I don’t know the details of the case. But I trust you. You’re so smart, if you think there is a hidden hand, there is.” Summer had that determined look in her eyes, the way she looked at him, telling him she had absolute trust in him.
Leonardo looked at her for a few seconds before hugging her tightly in his arms. He did not say a word, but she somehow felt his indignation and loneliness that buried deep inside.
Summer softly patted him on his back. “But you have to promise me; stop killing people as you like.”