Leonardo raised an eyebrow and looked at her. “What did you say?” His voice reeked of intimidation.
Summer’s expression stiffened. Pursing her lips, she continued to browse the pages, which contained records of her and Leonardo’s past. But she could remember anything about that. She felt no emotional connection with it as if it was someone else’s story.
As she read, she could not help but quietly observe Leonardo. It was just a bowl of beef noodles. But the way Leonardo ate it was as if he was having a feast, his manner pleasing to the eyes. Despite his idiosyncrasy, Leonardo had his strengths.
It was hard to imagine so many things had happened between them in the past.
Summer suddenly thought of Vicky, who had mentioned another person: Adams. Making the connection that what happened to Adams should have happened three years ago, she looked up the files from the bottom up. Sure enough, she found the record about the explosion that happened three years ago on the island. But it was just a passing mention of Adams rigging the island with explosives to kill her and Leonardo. There was no mention of why Adams wanted to do that and why she and Leonardo ended up on the island.
She just skimmed through the file and had not figured out who Adams was. “What’s your relationship with Adams?”
Leonardo had finished the beef noodles and was now methodically wiping his hands with a hand towel.
“He’s my aunt’s son,” he said without looking at her, his voice casual.
“That’s mean Adams is your elder cousin?” She thought for a moment, then continued, “He died in that incident?”
Leonardo ignored her, probably thinking this was a dumb question. But what she wanted to know was what Adams’s death had to do with Vicky. She thought for a moment and then rephrased her question.
“Your elder cousin and my half-sister were lovers?”
Leonardo said nothing. He just walked up beside her and pulled out two pages of the report before handing them to her. They detailed the life of Adams and the reason he was together with Vicky. But out of circumspection, Tim had not included some parts of Adams’s background.
But Summer got the picture and knew why Vicky hated her so much. The enmity between them might have developed over a long time, not just because of this one particular incident.
Summer looked at the thickness of the file. “You’ve finished reading them all?”
“Yup.” There was a knowing look in his eyes. He pressed his hand on the file and looked at her with a half-smile.
She asked because she wanted to take her time to read the file at home. Apparently, Leonardo’s action told her he would not allow her to do that. At least he would not give the file to her just like that.
Summer looked at him matter-of-factly. “Can you let me have it since you’ve read it?”
“What will we have for lunch tomorrow?” His reply had zero relation to the question.
She was confused at first, but she quickly got the message.
“What do you like?” she asked, a bit surprised that just because she had made him only two dishes for dinner he bore grudges against her and was using the petty issue to threaten her. She could sense that Leonardo was a person who could accept no compromise. He was not only cold in temperament and unreasonable but also vengeful.
Summer thought her reply would please him, but she was wrong; he demanded more.
“What about the day after tomorrow?” he asked.
Summer took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. “As long as I’m here, I’ll make whatever you like to eat.”
Leonardo looked pleased and lifted his hand off the file. “Take it.”
She realized that she could not win, and since she had made a concession, she might as well take an entire box of documents away. On her way out, she did not forget to close the door with her leg.
Leonardo took out a file folder, which Tim had sent over, from under another stack of documents. It was not put together with the documents that Summer had taken earlier showed how important and special it was.
The folder was sealed and unopened. Leonardo stared at it for a moment, then unhurriedly opened it. The few pages of the document inside looked yellowish. He read it and his impassive face collapsed.
What did Kate tell him earlier? His mom died in an accident. His dad became physically disabled in a mishap, and his grandfather lost his mind because of a fortuity?
His hands were clenched into fists, and he swept things in front of him down to the floor, images flashing in his mind’s eye, as though things were going to burst out of his chest. He felt his head was going to explode, a heavy pain ripping through his body. Staggering forward for a couple of steps, he finally stumbled to the floor. Voices and images were still flickering across his mind.
“Will he forget everything that’s happened in the past?”
“No worries…”
“As long as you do that, Dr. Li, money is not a problem.”
“I lack no money.”
Then the scene changed.
“It’s useless. I’ve buried explosives under the entire golf course. Let’s go look for Rachel together…”
“Take care of Rosie, don’t mind me.”
Leonardo felt as if something was shoved into his mind, his head about to explode. He grabbed the edge of the desk, trying to get up, but his body felt so weak that he lacked the strength to pull himself up.
The door was opened suddenly, and a figure hurriedly came in. “Leonardo! What’s wrong?”
Earlier, Summer realized that the tray and plate were still in Leonardo’s room and thought of cleaning them up for him. After all, she still had to stay with him for god-knows-how-long. Little did she expect to see things were a mess inside the room with Leonardo lying on the floor.
She tried to hold him up, but he was too big and heavy for her. She could not move him one bit. So she knelt down on the floor as well and held his head up.
“Leonardo!”
His hair was drenched in his own sweat. His eyes were half-closed as he gripped her hand. “Who are you?”
“I’m Summer. What happened to you?”