It shocked Summer to hear what Leonardo said. It was not after a long while that she asked in disbelief, “Didn’t you say that you didn’t take the child?”
When she first questioned Leonardo, he denied it categorically. She had doubts too, questioning herself if she had gotten it wrong. Yet, except for Leonardo, she could not think of anyone else who would want to switch her child and take it.
Despite her doubts, she never expected Leonardo to suddenly admit to it and use the child to threaten her.
“Of course, it’s me. Who else besides me would take her?” He continued to appear impassive.
Summer pressed her lips together tightly, then forced her words through her teeth. “Despicable!”
“So you better obey me.” While he spoke, he reached out to touch her face, but she turned her face away in disgust.
…
Using the child as coercion worked on Summer. Since then, she had stopped crying as she regained her strength during her confinement month. However, she did not speak to Leonardo as well, not a word.
Leonardo was angry with her distantness, but he never lost his temper in front of her, and Summer almost admired his patience.
One morning, during breakfast, Leonardo suddenly said, “There’ll be a flight tomorrow night. We’ll be going back to Hoover City.”
“I can see my child once I’m back there?” Summer finally talked to him for the first time in a month.
“We haven’t gotten back yet, and you’re already starting to bargain with me?” He shot her a non-committal look.
“Leonardo!” she blurted out.
He looked down, slowly cutting the egg on his plate. His voice was devoid of emotion when he spoke. “You are in no position to negotiate with me.”
Summer clenched her hands, staring at him, but she could not find the words to respond.
The following night, Summer and Leonardo took the flight back to Hoover City. The plane landed at Hoover City International Airport the next morning.
They had informed no one about their return, but they still saw Carl and Jessica at the airport. Jessica had been busy for the past half a year, looking tired but still energetic.
“Summer, welcome home.” Jessica walked up to her and gave her a big warm hug, and Summer patted her on the back. Jessica then pulled away and carefully studied her.
“You’ve lost some weight?” Jessica said.
Before Summer gave birth, she could see through video calls that Summer was full of beans. Leonardo had even sent his men to look after her. How did she end up like this?
Summer smirked and said, “Really?”
Jessica noticed something amiss with Summer’s expression. She did not possess the kind of joy that first-time mothers usually had. Jessica started to associate it with the time she called Summer and asked to have a look at the child, but Summer behaved evasively.
“What happened? Where’s the child?” While she spoke, she looked around. Behind Leonardo and Summer was a group of bodyguards, but there were no signs of a child.
No one answered Jessica’s question because no one knew the answer.
Leonardo frowned as he held Summer’s hand and walked toward the exit. She wanted to resist, but the more she struggled, the tighter his grip became, almost as if he was about to crush the bones in her hand. At last, Leonardo shoved her into the car.
Once inside the cabin, Summer said, “Leonardo, why didn’t you just tell Jessica that you took the child? Feeling guilty?” Her voice was icy.
He was unruffled, his face still expressionless as ever.
If they had not been sitting together, Summer would have suspected that he did not hear her. Yet, no matter what she said, there was no response from Leonardo. In the end, she got tired of it and did not utter a word again.
Their car then arrived at an upscale residential area. Those who lived in the area were mostly the rich and powerful.
Summer just wanted to see her child, so she accepted whatever arrangement Leonardo made for her. He brought her into an apartment with a sofa and a TV, but other than that, there was nothing else—not even a dining table. The apartment felt lifeless.
“Sit down.” Leonardo sat her on the sofa, then poured her a glass of water.
She took the glass in her hand and asked, “When will you let me see my child?”
Leonardo stared at her for a while before he said, “If I don’t let you see the child, are you going to talk to me like that for the rest of your life?”
“Yes,” she answered without a second of hesitation.
Leonardo’s face darkened. In Summer’s heart, the child was more important than him? So he sneered, “Then don’t ever dream of seeing her.”
Leonardo was occasionally kind, but most of the time, he was ruthless. Summer had no doubt that he meant what he said.
“Leonardo, please, can we talk nicely?” She was scared, and even her voice had become hoarse. “I’m back, and I won’t run away again. The child is still little; she’s barely a month old. She should have her mom by her side. Let me see her. Let me look after her, please.”
Her voice started to tremble, and her eyes were welling up. Summer felt unspeakably awful whenever her one-month-old daughter came to mind, thinking of how she had been taken away. Would those people take care of her the way her mother would? Would those people get irritated and mistreat her whenever she cried?
People say mothers are the strongest, but they are just as fragile as they are strong.
Whenever Summer thought of all that, she could not control her emotions. Her daughter was still little.
Leonardo did not say a word, so Summer reached out to hold his hand, pleading, “Please.” Tears had flooded her reddened eyes as if they would burst out.
Leonardo glanced at her and looked away. His Adam’s apple moved up and down with difficulty as he kept his words from coming out of his mouth. He even wished that he was the one who had taken the child because at least after he coerced Summer to come home, he could return the child to her and make her happy again.
However, now, he could only see her plunge into sorrow but do nothing about it.