Summer looked around his bedroom, leaving her fingerprint on everything that she thought was interesting. A photo of a woman and a child at the corner of the desk caught her eyes.
It looked like the photo was taken in the summer. The little boy in the photo looked good in his school uniform, which consisted of a short-sleeved shirt and short pants. His smile was as bright as the summer sun. The woman beside the boy was in a one-piece white dress with a serene, gentle smile on her face. She looked otherworldly.
“It’s my mom,” Leonardo said with a somewhat hoarse voice behind her.
He suddenly hugged her from behind, his warm chest pressing against her back and making her feel as if she was shrouded in his uniquely-cold aura. Using his free hand, he reached out to touch the woman in the photo as he started to tell Summer how the photo came about.
“It was Children’s Day. She came to my school for a child-parent activity, and this photo was taken right at the end of the activity.”
Summer glanced back at him before she moved her eyes back to the boy in the photo. The boy was smiling with no hint of gloom in his eyes. It was hard to believe that after ten years, Leonardo would become the way he was today. He was extremely handsome, but he had unfathomable sorrow in him. He was unpredictable, and when it came to things concerning his mom, he would turn ruthless.
Everyone wanted to live a merry life, but circumstances made Leonardo the man he was today. How bad could a person go? Summer could not imagine how it felt for an eleven-year-old Leonardo to witness his mom being violated before his eyes because she was protecting him. She could not even imagine how long it took him to come out of the trauma.
Leonardo was unpredictable and definitely not about to receive the “Best-citizen Award”. Nevertheless, Summer knew that he would not become like those who violated his mom. If his mother’s death was connected to someone in the Emerson family, then…
Summer could not help but shiver at the thought of it.
Sensing her reaction while she was in his arms, Leonardo asked, “Are you feeling cold?”
“No.” Summer shook her head. She was just feeling a little depressed thinking about Leonardo’s issues.
“How many members are there in the Emerson family?”
When she came to the residence with Leonardo, she had only seen the maids, bodyguards, Grandpa Emerson, and Michael. There had to be some other people living in the massive house.
Leonardo shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve lost count. Some are living here, some in other places, in the country and abroad. There are too many of them.”
He looked down, taking in the sad expression on her face, and steered the conversation. “Grandpa gave you a red packet, why don’t you open it?”
Just as he had anticipated, Summer’s attention was diverted. She took out the red packet with a smile. “I think it’s probably a cheque.”
“Grandpa is a generous man.” Leonardo smiled.
Did he mean that a cheque was not generous enough? She found herself unable to comprehend the world of the rich. Did those rich men she saw on TV not like to sign their cheques?
“Open it.” Leonardo sat her on the edge of the bed, looking at her.
She opened the red packet and found a thin sheet of plastic inside. Her eyes were on stalks when she saw what it was. She recognized the item. It was the Black Card, which she used to knock the socks off Vicky and Jerome.
“At least Grandpa has shown some sincerity.” Leonardo cocked an eyebrow and said without waiting for her to speak.
“I heard that this is a globally limited edition Black Card?” After Vicky stole her Black Card last time, she had gone online to check out what it was. However, she got very little information about the card, and most of it was not accurate at all.
“Yeah, only members of the Emerson family have it, but not everyone does.” Leonardo took the card in his hand and glanced at it. Discovering that it was a new card, he could not help smiling. It looked like his grandpa had long prepared the gift beforehand; he must have gotten some information about Summer prior to their visit.
“How much is the spending limit?” Summer asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’ve been using it since I was little, buying cars, mansions, and setting up businesses, but I haven’t hit the limit yet.”
Summer’s jaw dropped.
…
Summer and Leonardo were spending the night at the Emerson’s old residence.
The next day, when Summer woke up, Leonardo was not beside her. She figured that he must have gone to see Grandpa Emerson.
Their room was near Grandpa Emerson’s living space. After cleaning and sorting herself out, Summer went downstairs to look for him. On her way, she collided with a woman. She saw the woman coming in her direction from afar, and she stepped aside to give way. The woman had to be looking at the sky because she did not even bother to avoid Summer, and their shoulders collided. Only then did the woman look at her with disdain. “Are you the new maid? Don’t you know the rules around here?”
The woman had delicate facial features and was finely dressed. She was likely the daughter of a family member, but Summer retorted with a sour face. “I don’t know anything about the rules. I just know that you were the one who collided into me.”
Knowing that no maids in the Emerson family would dare talk back like that, the woman looked at Summer and was surprised. She had been too busy looking elsewhere earlier, not noticing that Summer was such a pretty lady.
Summer studied the woman and remembered that she had seen her somewhere. Rummaging through her memories, she began to recall the host of a very popular variety show, Alisa Emerson.
Alisa seemed to have come out of nowhere and risen as a famous TV host. People had been speculating online about her background, with some saying that she was from this Emerson family. But there had been no confirmation.
“Even if you’re not a maid, that doesn’t mean you should roam around the house as you like. Guests have to know their place too. Being brought here doesn’t mean you have changed from nobody to somebody.” Alisa looked at Summer with disdain before she walked away.
Sometimes, some men in the Emerson family would bring women back with them. It appeared to be a regular occurrence that it was nothing new to Alisa. She treated Summer as one of those women.
Summer had read the underlying tone in her words and rolled her eyes. Apparently, not all Emersons had a brain and were as clever as Leonardo was. Most of them were just smart alecks.
Just then, Leonardo, who came from the back courtyard to fetch Summer for breakfast, saw her standing there with a disturbed expression. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” Summer just shrugged.
He looked up in the other direction. Alisa had just gone to see their grandpa a while ago. She must have bumped into Summer there.