After figuring this out, Summer looked even more aloof. When those old men talked to her, she would only give them a half-hearted reply. The older one gets, the more ready one expects respect. So the faces of some of them darkened because of Summer’s response. The dinner did not go too well. After dinner, Summer and Alexander returned to the hotel.
No one spoke on the way. It was only until they arrived at the hotel waiting for the elevator that Alexander suddenly said, “Summer, please don’t feel like I’m making use of you. I’m doing it for the sake of the Jarrett family.”
He was trying to put himself on the moral high ground.
“Your sister deserved better…”
“Don’t forget that you are part of the Jarrett family…”
“It’s for the Jarrett family…”
When they made use of her, they all had an expedient excuse. What about her? Did they think it was her fate, that she deserved all of it?
Summer turned to look at him, the harsh white light in the elevator making her already-apathetic face look even colder. “The Jarretts have been hurting me since I was little.”
Alexander appeared upset, but as Leonardo said, Alexander was a smart person. You could get a message across to him without talking to him.
After a while, Alexander said, “Your dad and sister were acting silly; they didn’t mean it. They won’t do it again.”
The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Summer walked out before him. “When Vicky conspired to kill me, did she not mean it?”
A thought came to mind, and she looked back at Alexander again. “Grandpa, something has been puzzling me.”
Summer’s words probably disturbed him, because Alexander’s brows were knitted together and his face was grave.
“Why did the Emerson family agree to Vicky and Leonardo’s engagement? Even if Leonardo was disfigured and impotent, they could have chosen someone better than Vicky.” Trickery may have worked on Lynn, but it was totally unnecessary in front of Alexander. Since he could find out that she was the one behind the factory exposure, nothing could evade his keen eye. So, she was upfront with him.
Alexander’s face looked stern. “It doesn’t concern you. You just need to be Leonardo’s wife. No matter how much you hate your dad and sister, they are still your family. Your veins are flowing with the Jarrett bloodline.”
It was not the first time Summer had heard it. She did not expect Alexander to answer her question, but she could help but snicker upon hearing his reply. “It is the heart that pumps the blood. Can you also make my heart the same as the Jarretts?”
Alexander’s expression collapsed, and Summer walked away with a smile. Alexander and Leonardo were similar in that they both were manipulative. However, the similarities ended there. Alexander showed it on his face while Leonardo was subtle but extremely forceful.
…
A few days of dinner meetings had drained Summer physically and mentally. Alexander had planned to leave only on the day after tomorrow. But even a day was too long for Summer, and she decided to go home tomorrow. As she opened her luggage and got ready to pack her things, she received a call from Leonardo.
“Are you just back in the hotel?”
“Yeah.” Summer sat on the edge of the bed. Things that happened these few days had inevitably affected her emotionally.
Leonardo was silent for a moment, then asked, “What happened?” He could not help lowering his voice; he had probably sensed that something was wrong.
“I’m fine, just thinking of going home.” Summer felt warm-hearted.
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, tomorrow.”
“I’ll pick you up.”
After talking with Leonardo for a while, she felt better. After getting her stuff packed, she hit the sack.
The next early morning, she left the hotel and headed straight to the airport without bothering to tell Alexander. She was tired of the Jarretts and everything they did. While on the plane, she sent Leonardo a message, then turned off her mobile phone. Thinking of seeing Leonardo again in two hours, she found herself looking forward to seeing him already.
The plane landed. She walked out of the airport terminal, Instead of getting messages from Leonardo, she saw a few missed calls from Jessica.
“Summer?”
A voice called her from behind. She thought she had heard it wrong until someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looked back and was surprised to see it was Adams. After clearing the air about what happened at the party last time, Summer was less resentful of him now.
Adams was wearing a long, dark plaid coat with a white turtleneck inside. His hair was unkempt, dangling freely from his head, making him look warm and kind. His eyes landed on the luggage in her hand.
“Where are you going?”
“I just got back from a business trip in C City.” Summer did not see any assistant or manager or luggage with him.
“I came back from shooting abroad. They did not manage to get flight tickets, so they’ve got to wait for the next flight.” Adams looked around. “Is Leonardo coming to pick you up?”
“I think he is on his way. I will have to call him.”
Just then, Summer received a new message notification on her mobile phone. Leonardo wrote: Something’s up. I have asked Tim to pick you up.
There was a slight change in her expression. She replied, Mm.
The subtle expression on her face did not evade Adams’s keen eye. “The traffic is bad during rush hour. If Leonardo has not arrived, I can send you home first.”
“Thank you.” Summer nodded.
Adams put on a facial mask, then took the luggage from her hand. “Follow me.”
Before she could decline, Adams had walked ahead. She could only follow him. She saw a few girls staring in Adams’s direction. She suddenly realized that he was a celebrity. What if they got spotted? So she slowed down her pace, keeping a distance from him.
Adams put her luggage into the car, then looked back at Summer, seeing her sneaking up from behind. He laughed. “This will only make you look even more suspicious.”