Who set her up? What was the person’s motive? Was it someone from the Emerson family? If so, how did the person manage to make use of Grandpa Emerson to lure her into the trap? Why choose a day like the first day of the New Year?
Summer was pondering about the questions as she came in front of Grandpa Emerson’s room. It was only the day before yesterday that she was watching the TV with Grandpa Emerson on the sofa inside, and Grandpa Emerson had exhorted her to cherish her relationship with Leonardo. It was only a day after that Grandpa Emerson was struggling for his life on the operating table. She felt bad about it.
“Let’s get out of here.” She turned to leave, and Tim still followed her. When she was back in her room, Tim stayed guard outside. As she closed the door, she said to Tim, “Thank you for everything.” It was the first day of New Year, yet Leonardo still called back Tim to work.
“Think nothing of it, Mrs. Emerson. Mr. Emerson asks me to do things for him because he trusts me.” Tim nodded, still looking sagacious and steady as ever.
Summer said nothing again, just smiling and returning to her room.
…
It was nightfall, yet no one had come home. Summer picked up her mobile phone, thinking of calling Leonardo. She wanted to know the situation.
Never mind that she thought what Leonardo said this morning was not true. She was still scared of calling him. She did not want to call him and only to get his cold reply. She did not feel this terrible even during her worst time in the Jarrett family. But now, by just hearing Leonardo’s indifferent response, she would feel terribly sad. She must have been terribly spoiled by Leonardo
Someone was knocking on the door. Summer was heartened. Thinking Leonardo had come back, she got up and went to open the door. When she saw the person outside, her joyous expression evaporated. It was not Leonardo but a maid sending her food.
“Has Mr. Emerson come back?” Summer asked.
The maid shook her head inexpressibly, put down the food tray, and left. When she opened the door earlier, she had also seen that Tim and a few bodyguards were still guarding her on the outside.
She opened the door again and asked Tim, “Did Leonardo call you? Did he say anything?”
“No.” Tim lowered his head as he could not bear to see her disappointed look.
She still could not bring herself to call Leonardo. She could not sleep, just snuggling down on the sofa with a piece of blanket. As her consciousness slowly drifted off, she vaguely felt someone moving in the room. The person seemed to move quietly, but still, Summer’s keen consciousness had sensed it. She was alerted and woke up.
As she opened her eyes, she saw the tall body of Leonardo in front of her. He was leaning slightly over to her, raising his hand. She did not know what he was doing. So she sat up.
“You’re back.”
Leonardo stood straight up and looked at her impassively. “Have you eaten your dinner?”
“Yeah.” Summer nodded, then asked, “Grandpa Emerson? He…” She suddenly became silent.
“The surgery is done, but he isn’t out of danger yet. He might wake up in forty-eight hours, or he might not be waking up at all.”
Summer pulled her head up, looking at him, meeting his frosty eyes as she explained in a panic, “I didn’t push Grandpa.”
Then there was a silence. Leonardo just looked at her and said nothing, as though he was studying whether what she said was true.
She always thought she was tough, but in front of Leonardo, she had all her defenses down. This brief moment of silence was hurting her badly. Yet, the worse was yet to come.
“The police will find out.”
Even with no icy emotions, Leonardo’s voice was still pleasant to the ear. Summer clenched her hands into fists and spoke with a husky voice.
“Leonardo, I believe what you’ve said. You have one more chance to tell me the truth. Just one more chance.”
She did not believe that Leonardo was speaking his mind. Looking at him, she decided to trust herself and Leonardo. Despite that, her trust in him seemed to be worth nothing to him at all.
One corner of his lips curled up in a sneer as he spoke. “Summer, what I’ve said is what I mean. Do you really think you are a kind and nice person? If you are, then you would not have let the journalist sneak into the Jarrett factory and take photos of their plants. It nearly caused the Jarrett Group to go belly up.”
He stared intensely at Summer as if he was waiting for her response.
But she just pursed her lips and looked coldly at him.
As if her calmness had offended him, Leonardo leaned close to her. “When you could even sabotage your own family, how could I trust that you wouldn’t harm my grandpa, an outsider to you?”
“I am not like Vicky. Why would I want to harm Grandpa just because of Eliza—?”
“That’s enough. You don’t deserve to call him Grandpa.” Leonardo cut her off.
“Leonardo!” Summer bounced up from the sofa, shouting, “Where is your horse sense? Someone has obviously set me up. Instead of finding the actual culprit, your entire family was trying to accuse me of it.”
Leonardo squinted as he reached to clutch her jaw. His eyes looked piercingly cold as he warned her. “Summer, watch your mouth. We are all Emersons. How could a Emerson do such a thing?”
He was hurting her jaw, but she did not utter a sound. She glowered at him and gritted her teeth when she spoke. “Why wouldn’t they? No one in the Emerson family is a good person, especially you!”
Leonardo’s face was horribly grim. Fear started to catch up with her now, but she could not show it on her face and in her voice.
“What are you going to do with me? Hit me? Here I am. You’d better kill our child as well so you all can further accuse me and send me to jail. Then I can be spared the trouble of giving birth to the child. When the sentence is handed down, I will be sent into prison straightaway. Isn’t that what all of you are looking forward to?”
Summer looked at Leonardo’s changing expression and took satisfaction from it.
Leonardo was extremely upset, but he laughed. “Summer, do you know what you are talking about?”
“Of course, I know.” She scoffed. “Your attitude is obvious. You have concluded that I was the person who pushed Grandpa down the stairs. If you are accusing me of that, what can I do?” If Leonardo did not believe her, and the Emerson family accused her, wanting to send her to jail, she would not be able to fight back.