Summer started a life where her only world was the mansion.
Leonardo would go to Emerson Corporation in the morning and come home with a stack of files in the afternoon. He told her he wanted to keep her company lest she would feel bored.
What really happened was, Summer would pull a sour face all day whenever he was around. Sometimes there was only silence between them, and sometimes there would be quarrels. Even so, it was Summer who unilaterally provoked him most of the time while he did not turn a hair.
“Ava says you haven’t eaten lunch yet.”
Leonardo came in from the outside and sat down beside Summer. She was typing away on her laptop, her fingers dancing across the keyboard and her eyes glued to the screen as if she did not hear him.
That was not the first time she had behaved in that way. Leonardo’s face turned grim. He closed the lid of her laptop abruptly as he spoke in a warning tone, “Summer.”
She tried to get his hand away from her laptop but could not. Helpless, she turned to face him. “Get your hand off, I’m not done writing.”
Leonardo did not budge one bit, still pressing on her laptop with an insouciant expression. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“I’m not eating. I have no appetite.” She got up and walked around him before she sat down again on the sofa that was farthest away from him.
Leonardo pursed his lips, his eyes contracting as if he was holding back his anger. Their life had been anything but happy recently with Summer sulking because he was adamant to restrict her movement. Neither one of them was winning.
After a while, Leonardo offered a compromise. “I’ll take you out for a stroll.”
“I’m not going.”
His face was stern, and he took a deep breath. “Whatever, but you still have to go!” His tone was a little harsh now.
Deep inside, Summer was still afraid of him. The tone of his voice scared her.
Seeing her reaction, Leonardo’s expression appeared even grimmer. He got to his feet and headed outside.
Outside the door, Ava was carrying a tray in her hand and walking in his direction. The tray contained a bowl of congee with several savory side dishes. Noticing Leonardo’s screwed-up face, she asked, “Another quarrel?”
He pinched his brows and gritted his teeth as he spoke. “She just wants to get on my nerves!”
Ava rarely saw him showing his emotions that way. She was startled for a second but quickly found it funny. When she was still young, she worked as a maid in the Emerson family as well, serving Leonardo’s mother specifically. So, she had been watching Leonardo grow up all those years.
After the abduction, Leonardo was sent abroad while she resigned and left the Emerson family. However, she had missed Leonardo, who was a good-natured, gentle, and even good-looking kid. Every adult in the family had found him lovely. Not long ago, Leonardo came looking for her, but she could not believe her eyes when she saw the cold and withdrawn man who was the young master of the Emerson family.
Ava shook her head, sighing as she gave him a piece of her mind. “Mrs. Emerson is a person with her own mind. While she is a little stubborn, by restricting her movement and not allowing her to go out, how could she be happy?”
She kept an eye on his reaction as she talked, but she could not make out whether he was listening or not. The kid’s mind was completely unfathomable.
Just when she thought Leonardo was not listening, he suddenly spoke, “Ava, she’ll leave me if I don’t do this.”
“Why? Where would she go?” Ava was getting confused. The two may have had some minor disagreements, but she could sense that they cared a lot about each other.
Leonardo said no more. Summer was stubborn, and she could not tolerate the slightest speck in a relationship. He also knew that he had been too lenient with Adams—so much so that Adams implicated Summer in the matter. Summer thought he had used her as a pawn, allowing her to be entangled in gossip and rumors.
The truth was, Leonardo could not deny it. Adams’s behavior had been very aberrant. Judging from Alexander’s words, if Violet, his aunt was truly involved in his mom’s death, then the series of abnormal behavior from Adams should also be related to the case.
He had foreseen that if things kept going the way they were, the case would eventually affect Summer too. But if he had stopped it, he could have missed a good deal of important information, so in the end, he decided that his mom’s case took priority.
Sometimes, he wished that Summer was dumber, because that way, she would not leave him. Even if he did something wrong, he would still have time to fix things before she found out. Judging by her actions and reactions, it reinforced the notion that she was mulling over leaving him at any time.
However, he would not allow that to happen even if it was just a thought.
The thought of seeing Summer gone from the house sent his heart plunging. He felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, a chill spreading inside him.
He had been pondering for a long time but had not been able to figure out a way that would work. There was even a man laying eyes on Summer now. However, he was at his wits’ end, like a cornered beast fighting for its life. If Summer had his baby, she would leave him.
She had been deprived of familial love all her life. If she had a child, she would not bear to see her child without a father. As long as they had a child, she was not going to leave him.
Each time he saw Summer get more and more distant, it shook his confidence. But when he thought of the baby, his confidence would return.
“Leonardo.”
Summer’s voice came from behind him. He froze for a second, thinking that he had to be hallucinating. She had not talked to him for a long time, after all. Before he could turn around, her voice was audible again.
“Didn’t you offer to bring me out? Does it still stand?”
Leonardo looked back and saw Summer standing at the door, staring at him. His eyes were stuck on her before he quickly nodded. “Yeah.”
“In that case, give me a minute while I get changed.” There was no expression on her face.
Back in her room, she closed the door behind her, and a triumphant smile appeared on her face. She took out her mobile phone and called Jessica.
“I’ve talked to Leonardo. Where are we going to meet this afternoon?”
Jessica was silent. After a while, she said, “Anywhere. It could be the hypermarket, mall, or theater—so long as it looks like a chance encounter.”
“Okay.” Summer had been bored to death recently. Leonardo not only barred her from leaving the house, but he also did not allow Jessica to visit her. Should she commend Leonardo’s cautiousness or pity herself? She really did not know, but there was one wonderful thing about the situation: Leonardo would grant all of her requests.