A subtle change in the personality and behavior of a man of few words could easily trigger the suspicion of those close to him, more so when the changes in Leonardo were a little too apparent.
Summer did not ask further.
She had something else in mind: Stanley Bates.
She thought of the matters related to him Stanley, which had been dragged on for too long. She was afraid that more problems might crop up if things went unsettled. It would be better to clear the air once and for all.
“Are you bringing Rosie home now? I need to go out,” she said casually after breakfast.
“Where are you going?” Leonardo looked at her, his face calm.
“I have something to ask Stanley.” She was not hiding it from him.
“I’ll go with you,” Leonardo said after a moment of silence.
“What are you going to do there?” She furrowed her brows slightly. She did not think that he wanted to go just for the sake of following her.
“Get treatment,” he replied, his face expressionless.
…
The car stopped in front of Stanley’s psychiatric clinic.
Leonardo was sitting in the driver’s seat while Summer was in the front passenger seat.
She glanced out the window. A cleaner was still carrying out the routine cleaning task inside, so the place had probably just opened.
Since they were there for business, they did not bring Rosie along. Before they arrived, Leonardo had called someone to bring Rosie back to his mansion.
Summer opened the car door and looked back at Leonardo. “I’ll call Stanley.”
Before Leonardo spoke, his keen eye spotted something up ahead. “That won’t be necessary.”
Summer followed his eyes and saw Stanley slowly driving toward them.
“What a coincidence! You two came together?”
Stanley had gotten out of his car, and he was wearing a meticulous white suit, which looked quite dazzling.
He then turned to look at Summer. “Why didn’t you call me first before you came, Summer? If I were to have an appointment now, you would have wasted your time.”
Summer smiled. “I was about to call you just now when you showed up. Besides, you have no appointment now.”
Stanley also smiled, his eyes landing on the car behind them.
She knew Summer had bought a car, but the one behind them was a Bentley.
Obviously, the Bentley belonged to Leonardo.
That also meant that Leonardo and Summer had come together and did not bump into each other there.
He pulled his attention back and smiled. “This way, please.”
Inside his office, Stanley’s secretary served tea to Leonardo and Summer, while Stanley maintained a smile on his face. “I’m surprised that Mr. Emerson has come to see me for real.”
“There is no better psychologist than you, Mr. Bates, both in and out of the country.” What Leonardo said seemed to be words of compliment, but his tone made it sound like he was stating a fact.
It was as if he was saying, “I wouldn’t have come to see you if I had found a better psychologist in the country.”
But there was no way to tell if Stanley would read it that way.
Stanley’s smile had somewhat faded as he took out a notepad. “Could you briefly describe your condition, Mr. Emerson?”
Leonardo did not immediately speak. Instead, he turned to look at Summer. “Why don’t you tell him?”
“You want me to tell him about your condition?”
“You know better than I do, don’t you?” he asked back.
Summer gave it a thought, and it seemed like that was really the case.
As a patient, Leonardo had experienced several changes to his memory. Those who were closest to him would know better.
Summer took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll speak on your behalf.”
She then looked at Stanley with a solemn face. “It all started three years ago when a hypnotist performed deep hypnosis on Leonardo; he lost his memories of his past and of everyone he knew. He seemingly got better some time ago, but he still can’t recall memories from the past seven years.”
She tried her best to describe things as clearly as she could. “Do you get what I mean?” she asked Stanley after she finished.
“Of course, I get it.” Stanley paused, then continued, “But instead of knowing more about Mr. Emerson’s condition, I am more interested in knowing the identity of the hypnotist who performed the procedure on Mr. Emerson.”
Leonardo sneered, “Why should I tell you? Who do you think you are?”
He was probably the most arrogant person in the world—that was Leonardo.
Summer quietly pressed her hand on his, telling him to behave.
But Leonardo shot her a meaningful glance.
Stanley had experienced Leonardo’s nasty temper before. His face turned slightly grave, but he was not going to fall out with him on the spot.
“Since Mr. Emerson isn’t willing to talk, I’m not going to ask further.” Stanley stood up. “I know about hypnosis, but it’s just superficial and might not help you fully recover your memories. Nonetheless, I hope it helps.”
Leonardo said nothing. It was Summer who was worried. “What are you going to do?”
Stanley took out a lighter from the drawer under his desk and smiled at Summer. “When it comes to treating hypnosis-related amnesia and memory disorder, we need to use hypnosis, of course.”
The lighter lit up with a click as Stanley pressed a switch. His expression turned solemn instantly. “Look at it, Leonardo.”
Stanley raised the lighter up, telling Leonardo to keep his eyes on the flame…
And Leonardo was very cooperative.
“Your name is Leonardo, you’re thirty years old, and you’re the CEO of Emerson Group…”
Stanley’s voice was low and slow, sounding strange yet pleasant.
Summer was sitting beside Leonardo. At first, she looked at the flame out of curiosity. Somehow, without realizing, she was hypnotized by it, and she felt as though the world had suddenly quietened down. Even Stanley’s voice was gone.
It was absolutely quiet.
All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her hand.
She snapped out of her trance and found that Leonardo was pinching her hand as if he was doing it on purpose to wake her up.
When she was alert again, Leonardo released her hand while he continued to gaze at the flame on the lighter.
Stanley was still speaking when he took his finger off the lighter’s switch. The moment he did that, the flame died out without the clicking sound.
Summer looked over at Leonardo, who was still staring at the lighter, his expression unchanged. However, beads of sweat had seemingly popped up on Stanley’s forehead.
“Leonardo?” Stanley called out to him when he did not say a word.
Leonardo looked at him, his voice reeking of scorn. “I thought you were just being humble when you said that your skills were superficial. Not only were you not humble, but you were also exaggerating your abilities.”
“Didn’t you feel anything?” Stanley’s expression did not appear too good.
“What kind of feeling should I have?” Leonardo sneered.