Summer walked out of Vicky’s room and headed downstairs, thinking about calling Leonardo.
As she made the call at the corner of the stairs, she saw someone coming through the main door into the living room. It was Adams.
She instinctively killed the call, her eyes fixated on Adams. Wearing a snug fit gray suit that looked a little plain, his face looked as gentle as ever. His lips were curled up at just about the right angle, so precise and so exquisite as if it had been meticulously calculated and come straight out of a movie poster. If not for the things that had happened in recent days, she would have still been his fan.
Summer’s gaze was probably too intense, as Adams looked up in her direction. The moment their eyes made contact, the gentle expression on his face cracked. His smile suddenly stiffened, but it was just for a few fleeting seconds before he was back to normal.
Since Alexander was in the living room, Adams pulled back his eyes and walked toward Alexander, humbly greeting him.
Alexander smiled. “Please take a seat, Mr. Wilson.”
When Summer had come down the stairs, both Alexander and Adams were sitting on the sofa, talking.
It took her considerable conscious effort to hold back the urge to go up and question Adams. Out of nowhere, Karen approached her all of a sudden and pulled her into a room.
Checking around for a while and closing the door behind her, Karen brought her further into the room. “What’s going on? Why is your elder sister’s name on the certificate of marriage?”
She looked at Karen in surprise. This mom of hers finally took the time to show her some concern. But the next second, Karen burst her bubble.
“Had you pulled yourself out of the marriage and returned to Vicky what was rightfully hers, things wouldn’t have come to this. It was all because of your greed. Now, things have gone wrong, and she’s confined to her room. Poor Vicky.”
Karen babbled for a while, and at the end of it, she expressed her worry. “I’m afraid things will affect the company…”
At that moment, Summer could not help but sneer at her. “Karen, are you suffering from brain damage or what? Go see a psychiatrist. Don’t make a fool of yourself in front of me. Enough is enough!”
The mansion was designed in a way that each room was facing the south and making use of a gigantic window to let in natural light. The room was bright enough for Summer’s expression to be clearly visible.
Karen saw that Summer was fed up and tired. She also witnessed the calmness that came after disappointment. Karen could not believe that Summer could say such a thing to her.
“Summer, what’s going on with you?”
The Summer she remembered was obedient; she would agree with her and do whatever she said. However, what Summer just said flustered her.
“How can you talk to me like this?” Karen frowned, thinking that she must have misheard her. She gripped Summer’s arm. “I understand how you feel right now, but things have come to this because of your—”
“What have I said?” Summer took two steps back to avoid Karen’s hand. “Vicky has called you a lapdog of the Jarrett family, yet you still bend over backward for her. Meanwhile, I’m just telling you the truth, and you cannot accept it?”
Karen’s expression changed slightly. “Vicky is still young. It’s natural for her to throw tantrums sometimes.”
“I’m even younger than she is,” Summer said grimly.
For a while, Karen could not find the words to respond. Summer had been very obedient until recently. But now, Summer was talking back, and it displeased her very much.
Her expression finally collapsed as she chided, “Why are you comparing yourself with her? I try to please them just for the sake of us both, so we that we can have a place in the Jarrett family.”
“It’s not ‘we’, but just you,” Summer corrected her, her face expressionless. Karen wanted to say something more, but Summer cut her off. “Don’t give me the ‘we-are-mother-and-daughter’ bullsh*t, I won’t listen. And don’t try to clear the wrongs that Vicky has done. Don’t you forget that it was you who begged me to take her place to marry into the Emerson family in the first place.”
Summer was now going postal as if she had nothing to lose. Leonardo had repeatedly given Adams a chance, and he did not hesitate to use her as bait. As a result, she was turned into a slutty mistress, but she was just the same as Leonardo.
She had given Karen too many chances, yet all she had ever gotten in return was more disappointment and hurt.
When a person’s heart was born on the right, you could not move it to the left because that would be impossible. That was what happened between her and Karen. Maybe it was the same for Leonardo and Adams.
Nevertheless, there was still a difference. She had been giving Karen chances, yet Karen kept hurting no one else but her. Adams, on the other hand, was targeting her in his war with Leonardo, turning her into an innocent victim.
Summer took a deep breath. “The day I agreed to marry into the Emerson family, our relationship ended.
After that, when you and Vicky as well as others plotted the kidnapping, I willingly gave up the Black Card to save you because I wanted to give you one last chance.
“You probably don’t know what Vicky ordered the two abductors to do to me after you left. They wanted to…” She looked back at her with a strange look in her eyes. “… rape and then kill me.”
There was a burst of shock in Karen’s eyes, and a chill ran up her spine. Pleased with her reaction, Summer slowly walked toward the door.
As Summer got closer to the exit and farther away from her, fear rose within her. She involuntarily moved two steps toward Summer and called out, “Summer!”
Summer kept going and exited the room, as though she did not hear her.
As the door slammed shut, the room fell into dead silence.
Karen stood in the middle of the room, face ashen. Was she wrong? But, what wrong have I done? she asked herself. As a stepmother, was she not supposed to treat her stepchildren better? Summer was her biological daughter. No matter how she treated Summer, no one could change the fact that they were mother and daughter.
Yes, that was the case. Summer said what she said today because the things that happened for the past two days had bent her out of shape. In any case, she was still Summer’s biological mother. There was no way Summer was going to denounce her.
With that thought in mind, Karen’s expression returned to normal. Summer had been listening to her in the past years. She was just throwing a tantrum now, and she would be fine after a couple of days, just like last time.