There was a subtle change in Violet’s expression. “Ms. Jarrett, you’re being unreasonable.”
“Really? I think you’re the one who’s being unreasonable.” Summer looked up, her face deadpan. “I don’t know what you think of your son. I treat Douglas as my younger brother. Our relationship has always been innocent. Had Adams not paid me a visit, I wouldn’t have known that his dad just passed away. As a wife and mother, you don’t even look sad, instead, you’re here, digging at me. That’s odd.”
Violet could sense the sarcasm. Her expression changed again, but she still kept her composure. “Let’s focus on the matter at hand. Don’t change the subject.”
“Then stop talking.” Summer gave her a frosty look.
“You…” Violet almost flew off the handle. “I finally know why Leonardo divorced you. An unreasonable and rude woman like you doesn’t deserve to marry Leonardo.”
Summer was unruffled. Perhaps her depressing days in the Jarrett family had toughened her; the nastier people got, the calmer she became.
“Since you’re reasonable and well-mannered, go home and tell Douglas to stop seeing me. Let’s see if he agrees.”
Violet finally went off the deep end and shouted, “Summer!”
“Aren’t you thinking that you’re right? In that case, for Douglas’s sake, tell him to stop contacting me and stop going out with me again so it won’t affect his studies.”
It was apparent that Violet was just looking for trouble. Summer had not hung out with Douglas for a long time until today. Douglas had his own mind, and he knew what he was doing.
Violet was not going to tell Douglas the same thing, of course. She came for Summer because she still had a misunderstanding with him. But she could not find the words to rebut Summer, so she snapped. “You’re unreasonable!”
Summer tilted her head and stared at Violet in amusement. “Mrs. Wilson, you finally got mad at me?”
She looked on, her face turning dour as Violet left angrily. She thought that Violet was ridiculous. Was Violet jealous of her because Douglas gave Violet the cold shoulder during the day and hung out with her? However, this theory made little sense.
By now, the taxi had arrived. Summer got in the taxi, but her mind was still thinking of what happened earlier. Violet and Michael were sneaking into a room during New Year’s Eve… Thinking of it now, it could be related to Adams, Michael’s out-of-wedlock child. Michael had been keeping this secret under wraps since day one.
When Leonardo traveled to M Country to find out who Adams really was, Nathan was killed in a traffic accident.
Why did they want to harm Grandpa Emerson? Of all the grandchildren, Grandpa Emerson favored Leonardo the most, but that did not mean Grandpa Emerson gave anything less to Adams and his other grandchildren. They all got whatever they were supposed to get. Even if he knew that Adams was an illegitimate child, that would not have changed how he treated Adams, whose identity had merely changed from the son of his daughter to the son of his son. Grandpa Emerson might have been angry, but he would likely accept it. Hence, Summer found that Grandpa Emerson’s case was still strange.
She then directed the taxi driver to Leonardo’s apartment.
…
As always, Leonardo was late. Summer did not fall asleep this time while she waited for him in the living room.
When Leonardo came home, Summer was sitting on the sofa and watching some variety shows on her mobile phone. Jessica had appeared in one of the shows, and most of the comments on Jessica said that she had a sense of humor.
Leonardo opened the door and walked in, startled to see Summer sitting on the sofa as he walked toward her. The back of the sofa was facing the entrance, so when he went up to her, he put his hands on the back of the sofa and leaned down to kiss her.
“You miss me already after two days?”
Summer turned off the screen, put away her mobile phone, and patted the spot beside her. “Come and have a seat here.”
Leonardo went around to the front and sat down. “What’s up?”
“I met your aunt today. It reminded me of what happened on New Year’s Eve. I saw her and your dad furtively entering a room. I didn’t hear what they were talking about but come to think of it now, I guess they were talking about Adams.”
She paused, looking up at Leonardo, who appeared emotionless as he patted her on the head. “Go on,” he said.
“The next day, Grandpa fell down the stairs. If they were only talking about Adams, they didn’t have to harm Grandpa. So, I’m sure something else must be going on.”
Leonardo was impassive. No one knew what was on his mind.
There was a moment of silence before Leonardo asked, “You think they harmed Grandpa because of Adams?”
“I’ve thought about it, but it makes little sense. What happened to Grandpa was strange.” After she finished, she stared at him.
Leonardo turned around and poured both of them a glass of water each. Then, he slowly said, “Have you ever thought that they were not just targeting Grandpa, that they also wanted to frame you for it because they thought you had found out their secret?”
Summer was taken aback. She did not take the glass of water from Leonardo’s hand.
She had thought that their primary target was Grandpa Emerson, and she was just their scapegoat. At the time, she was the only non-Emerson in the house and was naturally the easiest target to take the blame for what they had done. The Emerson family wanted to send her to jail. If she was also a target of Michael and the gang, she might not make it out of jail alive and probably have a fate worse than Grandpa Emerson’s.
A chill ran up her spine as she thought of that. She shook her head, her voice becoming hoarse.
“But I didn’t hear anything that night.”
Leonardo patted her on the head again and said nothing. What he did not tell her was that there was another reason behind Michael and co framing Summer for the crime: they wanted to know how important she was to him.
Had he stood on Summer’s side back then, Michael would know how Summer was indispensable to him, and they would use Summer against him.