The child was missing, and Summer could not set her mind at rest. She strongly believed that it was Leonardo who took the child away.
She had no enemies in Sydney and was surrounded by Leonardo’s men. No one except Leonardo could have taken away the child after she gave birth. She was still immersed in the joy of becoming a mother earlier, but after waking up, her child was missing.
Summer went to pieces. “Leonardo, I beg you. Please return the child to me. She’s just been born. She’s still small…”
Leonardo had never seen Summer so heartbroken. She had never cried before, even when the Jarrett family bullied her terribly. There was a rare hint of panic in his usually placid eyes. After a long while, he found his voice again.
“Summer, please calm down and listen to me.”
“No, I just want my child.” She shook her head, tears rolling down her face.
The words were stuck in his throat again. He did not take the child, but the child was missing.
Summer’s hysterical cries attracted the attention of a nurse.
“What is going on? Why are you crying when you’ve just given birth?”
Leonardo looked up at the nurse, who flinched and left quickly after she saw his grim expression.
In the end, Leonardo had to ask the doctor to give Summer a shot of sedative so she could fall asleep. Summer lay on the hospital bed, her face still wet from the tears. Her brows were knitted together even though she was asleep.
Leonardo reached to press her forehead gently until she eased her brows. He then shoved the hair away from her face and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.
Summer was supposed to give birth one week later. That was why he had planned it and come over in advance. But the baby had come one week earlier.
There were two rhythmic knocks on the door outside. Leonardo knew that it was Tim. He glanced at Summer one last time, got to his feet, and walked out.
The ward was a private suite with a small lounge. It was Tim who had come in indeed. Without waiting for Leonardo to ask, Tim said with a grave expression, “I have checked; the newborn with a birthmark on the sole isn’t you and your wife’s child. I have also checked every baby that was born today… None of them is your child.” His voice became indistinct as he said the last part.
Leonardo clenched his fists so tight that blue veins popped up on the back of his hands.
Tim dared not say a word. Even if he dared to, he did not know what to say.
After a long while, Leonardo asked, “What else?”
Tim glanced at him and plucked up the courage to tell him his conjecture. “I have checked the surveillance footage and found no problem. I suspect that someone has made a switch in the delivery room and taken the baby away. That means your wife has been made a target long ago.”
He had investigated what he could, and in the end, they could only start looking at the source of the problem. Perhaps the child had been swapped and taken away from the delivery room. When the perpetrator made the switch, he or she had purposely used another baby from the hospital. The intention was obvious: the perpetrator wanted them to discover that their child had been taken away.
After Tim finished, he carefully observed Leonardo’s reaction. Leonardo sat like a statue, his muscles tensing up like an arrow loaded on a bow. He could lose control at any time.
However, Leonardo did not smash things up; he did not even say a word. He got to his feet and went out.
As Tim was worried about him, he followed suit. Just as Tim went out and closed the door behind him, he heard a bang beside him. Looking over, he saw Leonardo punching the wall with his fist, his knuckles bleeding. But Leonardo seemed to feel no pain as he kept doing that.
“Young Master.”
Tim called out, trying to stop him, but he could not stop a furious Leonardo. As soon as his hand touched him, Leonardo flung him away and to the ground. For a moment, Tim felt so painful that he could not move a muscle but just lie on the ground.
Leonardo had been working non-stop for the past half a year. As his special assistant, Tim followed his pace, working his fingers to the bone. He thought with Leonardo coming to Sydney, Leonardo and Summer would make up with each other, and he could take a rest finally. But he was terribly wrong. Things had not improved but become worse than before.
…
Until the day Summer was discharged, she still had not seen her child. From losing her mind in the beginning, Summer had completely calmed down now.
“After the confinement month, we will return to Hoover City.” Leonardo broke the silence as they sat in the car.
Summer leaned back on the seat listlessly, not bothering to look at him. “Is this what you want? You took my child just to force me to go back to Hoover City?”
Leonardo did not say a word.
She finally turned to look at him. Seeing him biting his lip and suppressing his anger, she smirked. “I’ve got you, and you’re angry, isn’t it?”
They had not seen each other for half a year. Leonardo was still as ill-tempered as ever, but he was more patient now. No matter how she provoked and agitated him, he never lashed out at her. It seemed that Leonardo was no longer the person she used to know.
Then again, the more patient Leonardo was with her, the more she was convinced of his guilt. She could not think of anyone else who would take her child away except for Leonardo.
After a long while, Leonardo spoke, his face emotionless. “If you don’t go back to Hoover City, you might not see the child again for the rest of your life.”
If this misunderstanding could make Summer willingly follow him back to Hoover City, he would let the misunderstanding be. He could see that in Summer’s heart, the child was more important than him. Had the child not been stolen, they would have made up with each other by now. Even if they did not reconcile, at least it would not have felt this bitter.
If Summer knew that it was someone else who took away her child, Leonardo was dead sure that Summer would definitely not have come back to Hoover City with him. He might not have found their child yet, but he had to bring her back home. He regretted it now; he should not have let Summer run away in the first place.
Leonardo sounded almost cruel.
“You’re finally admitting to it?” Anger curled hot and almost unstoppable in her gut.
“Yes.” Leonardo turned to look at her, his voice dead. “You have no choice but to follow me back to Hoover City. Otherwise, stop dreaming of seeing the child again for the rest of your life.”