Tim gasped in pain, but he did not fight back. He just allowed Leonardo to unleash his anger on him.
By then, Carl had also arrived, and he grabbed Leonardo’s hand. “Leonardo, calm down!”
However, Leonardo had lost his mind and would not listen to anyone. Even Carl became his literal punching bag.
Carl came from a gangster background, so he could fight well. But facing Leonardo, even Carl received a good beating.
At last, both of them knocked the daylights out of each other and lay in the ashes. Tim did not stop them when they beat each other up because he was more concerned about searching the mansion. He searched the mansion from the inside out, but as he had expected, he found no signs of Summer. The fire had consumed everything.
Tim moved next to Leonardo and spoke with a hoarse voice. “We didn’t find Mrs. Emerson.”
Tim was ready to receive another round of beating from him, but what he expected did not materialize this time. Leonardo did not respond to what he said. He just stared blankly at the scorched ceiling as if he did not hear Tim.
Tim turned to look at Carl. Wiping the corner of his mouth, Carl spat out his saliva, which was mixed with blood onto the ashes beside him.
“Leave him alone. Let him go on losing his mind. F*ck it. I can’t even get up now. Tim, could you please give me a hand?”
Tim held him up, and Carl staggered to his feet, barely standing steadily. Leonardo had not held back on his attack just now. If not for Carl’s background and ability to counter him, he would have been in the hospital’s emergency room by now.
Still gasping in pain, Carl leaned closer to Tim. “Let your young master cool down. Leave him alone.”
As worried as he was, Tim had no choice but to nod his head in agreement.
Tim helped Carl out of the burned mansion and saw a few reporters conducting a live report with the burned building as the background.
Carl walked around them and got into his car on the other side. However, Tim was not as lucky because some reporters with keen eyes had spotted him.
“May I know, are you working for Leonardo? Is his wife inside? Did she commit suicide to escape punishment?”
“I saw that Leonardo went inside. What is he doing there? When will he come out?”
“I heard that Mrs. Emerson received a subpoena today. She chose to kill herself today; doesn’t it show that she’s the one who pushed Mr. Emerson Sr. down the stairs?”
All the reporters asked about Summer, their questions sharp and penetrating.
Tim just answered faintly, “I have no comment.”
Following that, the bodyguards approached and kept the reporters at bay.
…
Inside a rundown noodle restaurant in a village north of Hoover City city, Summer was sitting at a table. Before her was a bowl of steamy egg noodles, and her eyes were glued to the TV that was showing the news of the day.
“A fire broke out in a mansion on the hillside near the city. According to reliable reports, the mansion belongs to Leonardo, the heir to Emerson Corporation…” The image then switched to a reporter doing a live report on the scene of the aftermath.
The camera panned to the background, and Summer saw that the once splendid mansion was in ruin. Tim was also seen on camera, and unlike his normal business suit, he now looked quite the sight. Summer thought he looked like this, perhaps because he and his men had looked for her in the mansion. She saw a reporter asking Tim piercing questions, but Tim just answered calmly and noncommittally, “No comment.”
All of the men under Leonardo’s fold were capable in their own right, and Tim was not an ordinary special assistant. He was far too capable to be a special assistant.
The owner of the noodle restaurant was a middle-aged man. As Summer watched the news, he sat on one side and mumbled to himself.
“That’s the reality of the rich. There are always problems in the family. I heard that the lady is only twenty-something years old. That’s about the age of my own daughter who’s studying in the university. What a shame…”
Summer pulled the tongue of her BB cap lower, took the chopsticks, and dug in. She then spoke casually. “I think the woman must have killed herself to escape jail time.”
The restaurant owner heard her and said, “What wrong has she done that she has to kill herself? Are you talking about the Emerson Sr. case? He is still alive. Under that circumstance, the jail sentence will only be a few years at most, I guess?”
Summer took a mouthful of noodles. “It’s hard to say. What if the Emerson family thinks the sentence is too light, and it’s not enough to quench their anger? Don’t forget how powerful the Emerson family is. In the end, the woman’s fate is still in their hands, don’t you think so?”
“Will they go so far? No matter what, the woman is still Leonardo’s wife…”
Summer chuckled and said nothing more. After she finished her meal, she took a box out of her backpack. The box was none other than Leonardo’s previous fountain pen box, which he had kept inside the drawer. She rarely saw Leonardo place such great importance on something. Earlier, when she went upstairs to pour the gasoline in the corridor, she thought of the box and could not bring herself to let it burn. So, she took it with her. It was too easy to defeat the passcode of the safe; it was Leonardo’s birth date. She did not have to try twice to open it.
Summer was all smiles as she paid for her noodles. “Here you go.”
“Thank you. Let me get you the change,” said the restaurant owner.
There was a courier service right next to the noodle restaurant. She brought the box over to the counter and asked for courier service. Inside, parcels were piled up like mountains.
“Destination?” The shop owner did not even look up.
“Same city, Tip Top Entertainment,” Summer said slowly.
“Ten.” The shop owner glanced at the parcel in her hand and handed a courier slip to her.
Summer packed the box and put Carl as the recipient. She then added “XN” at the end. The characters were small and inconspicuous.
She set the mansion on fire not to create the illusion of killing herself but to escape the place. Unlike outsiders, Leonardo was smart enough to not think that she was dead. Hence, she had nothing to hide. All she had to do now was to evade Leonardo, who would surely send men out to look for her.
The trial for Grandpa Emerson’s case would be deferred because of the uncertainty of her death from the fire. Everything was going according to plan so far, but…
She reached to rub her abdomen; the child was the only unforeseen variable that disrupted her plan. But right now, her stomach was still not showing. However, a few months down the road, it would be less convenient for her movement. Her priority now was to leave Hoover City city so that Leonardo could not find her. She was not sure if she could evade Leonardo’s long arm, but since she had crossed the Rubicon, there was no turning back.