She turned to me next and apologized, “Mommy, I’m sorry for troubling you all today. You should head to the manager’s office with Daddy and get some rest. I’ll have someone send a set of clean clothes up in a bit. Once I’ve settled everything here, I’ll head up to brief you all on the situation.”
Instead of answering her, Anthony left quietly, and I shot a look of reassurance at Summer before following him.
We passed by staff heading toward the cellar on our way up.
As we waited for the elevators, I saw Anthony casually glancing toward the main entrance. I supposed he was checking to see if the police cars had left.
Anthony had just come in after a shower when Summer showed up. She wore a remorseful expression on her face as she approached the two of us on the couch. Summer launched into her apology immediately, “I’m sorry, Daddy. I was negligent in my hiring practices, and I almost ruined the project. I take full responsibility for all the consequences.”
She sounded as logical and distant as before, and I found myself in awe of her iron-clad control over her emotions.
I was struck with an epiphany then — all my efforts in the past were for naught. Summer’s calmness and indifference were bone-deep, and she was not one to wear her heart on her sleeve.
Alas, she inherited a part of Jared, after all.
On the contrary, Anthony seemed unbothered by her distant behavior. He was only concerned about the matter at hand as he questioned her, “How do you plan on solving this?”
Summer mulled over his question for a while before answering, “I’ll fire the manager involved and blacklist him from any future hiring. There will be background checks on all current staff to make sure nothing like this happens again. Next, I’ll upgrade our surveillance systems so we’re better prepared for emergencies like this in the future.”
I nodded silently. Indeed, it certainly isn’t an easy task to consider the issue from three perspectives in such a short time.
However, Anthony seemed to be still dissatisfied with her answers as he raised his brows and said in a slightly overbearing manner, “That’s it?”
Upon hearing that, dumbfoundedness flashed across Summer’s eyes instantly. She furrowed her brows temporarily before relaxing them in the next second. With apparent helplessness in her tone, she replied, “I’m sorry, Daddy, but I still couldn’t figure out the others at the moment.”
She had asked Anthony’s forgiveness twice in less than a minute. The atmosphere grew relatively tenser at that instant. Anthony had always subconsciously put his employees under tremendous pressure, and now, he applied it to Summer as well.
Knowing how hard it was to notice a subconscious habit, I could only interrupt jokingly to ease the tension, “All right, it’s all in the past. Why are you so serious in a family conversation? Summer is still young and lacks experience. You’re superior in this, so don’t keep her in suspense.”
As soon as Anthony looked at me with his dark eyes, he understood immediately. He then softened his expression before uttering, “I’m not asking you how to deal with the aftermath. What I’m trying to bring up is that what you plan to do after being schemed?”
Does that mean that he wants Summer to counterattack?
Seemingly, Summer also caught on to the meaning behind his question. However, she seemed to be in a dilemma as she stammered and answered evasively, “Of course, I-I’ll not suffer in silence. In my opinion, warning the employees, drawing the line with the men, and inhibiting them from entering the club should be effective enough…”
At that, Anthony took in a deep breath meaningfully and lowered his eyes slowly before asking, “After getting beaten by someone out of no reason, instead of starting a row with the wrongdoer, you restrain yourself and put up with it. Who taught you this? John?”
Yet, it didn’t make any sense. According to John’s personality, he would give it back to them at least tenfolds if they set him up. For him to swallow his grievances and repay a grudge with favor, dream on!
“No.” As if worrying about something, Summer scrunched her face and lowered her eyes, avoiding Anthony’s stern gaze.
Nevertheless, her action couldn’t escape his sharp eyes. “What are you worrying about?”
After a moment of silence, Summer raised her head but didn’t answer his question. Instead, she looked at me worriedly.
Feeling baffled by her gaze, I shifted my posture instinctively and tucked some stray strands of hair behind my ear. “Why are you looking at me like that? Is there anything on my face?”
A gleam flashed across Anthony’s intelligent eyes as he noticed that something was off. He then asked blatantly, hitting the nail right on the head, “Is the reason you don’t dare to take your revenge is because of Sienna?”
Only then did Summer nod slowly. She then pulled out a photo from her pocket and handed it to Anthony respectfully.
Expressionlessly, he tossed the photo to me after glancing at it. Next, he crossed his legs and smirked, asking, “What is in your mind? Do you think that I’ve betrayed your mom and the family?”
It was a photo of Anthony and Rylee like the one shown by Quince and the others when they visited the Featherstone residence previously, but, this time, it was more ambiguous.
Back then, I’d hid the photo the moment Summer showed up, not wanting her to overthink it. Yet, I still failed to keep it from her in the end.
Well, there was no escaping the inevitable. We would need to solve the issue, eventually.
Summer answered tactfully, “I’m a junior, so I’ve no right to comment about the relationship issue between you and Mommy.”
It wasn’t uncommon for a man to have good relationships with women outside despite having a wife in a prominent family. Growing up surrounded by rich second-generation children, Summer would naturally hear much about it. Perhaps, in her eyes, both the facts that Anthony and I were affectionate and Anthony had a mistress secretly were true.
To put things plainly, she believed in Quince’s sowing discord attempt.
Nonetheless, it was expected. Anthony had always been a disciplined man, with the only exception being Rylee. Previously, she was the thorn in our relationship. Thus, it wasn’t weird for the outsiders to use it to provoke us at all.
As clever as Summer, playing games with her was of no use. Therefore, I could only look at Anthony, purse my lips, and raise my brows. Well, I can do nothing. It’s your mess, so you should handle it yourself.
Upon receiving my signal, he tilted his brows and narrowed his eyes, signaling for me to stay calm. Only after doing so did he continue casually, “I can tell you that the photo is real.”
What?
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes in surprise at his unexpected answer. Shouldn’t he try his best to steer clear of it? Why did he admit to it right away? Did he no longer want to maintain the children’s impressions of him?
Summer, on the other hand, was relatively calm. She listened to it silently without giving any opinions as though she would only have to accept it and didn’t plan to judge him from the morality aspect.
In the end, she didn’t care much about us. It proved that to her, Anthony and I were merely someone related to her by blood. Aside from that, we were no different from the outsiders. Hence, the issue of our relationship wasn’t enough to cause her to lose her composure.
As the realization washed over me, I didn’t know if I should be glad.
The house fell into a dead silence for half a minute before Anthony’s low voice finally sounded. “She’s my deceased friend’s sister. I’ve always treated her as my biological sister, but I’ve cut ties with her now since she keeps crossing the lines and hurt your mom multiple times.”
Summer remained silent even after that. However, judging from her expression, she did pay heed to his explanation.
Anthony then curved his lips and asked with an implicative tone, “You don’t believe it?”
Eventually, Summer shook her head. “I do.”
After pausing briefly, she raised her eyes and added, “I’ll make her pay for what she’d done today.”
“Okay.” Anthony nodded. When something came to his mind in the next second, he remarked casually, “Ask the assistant to adjust your schedule. I need you to accompany us to J City tomorrow.”
“All right,” Summer blurted. After giving it a thought, she found his request inappropriate and voiced her concern. “But I’m afraid that if I’m away for a long time right after such a big deal happened to the club, they would…”
Yet, before she could finish her words, Anthony shook his index finger, cutting in, “Rest assured. Since they’ve achieved their goal already, they won’t make a move for now. Thus, go ahead and make the arrangement.”
“Got it. I’ll do it right away.” With that said, she bowed and left the room, not forgetting to close the door behind.
Once her footsteps receded away, I nudged him and asked, “Why are we going back to J City?”
With a hint of amusement in his eyes, he asked in return, “What do you think?”
Our hometown, J City, was full of our old acquaintances as well. Since Summer didn’t live there for a long time and was still so young back then, she would most probably harbor no feelings toward it. In that case, there would leave only one possibility, and that was Macy.
“Indeed, we should be visiting her soon.” Instantly, the realization caused a lump in my throat. Then, I lowered my eyes and continued mumbling under my breath, “And Grandpa as well. Audrey and Gregory haven’t been to his tombstone yet.”
Indeed, all the important people in my life got buried there.
At the thought of that, I couldn’t help but realize how small and insignificant life was. It was like holding a handful of sand when we wanted to grab on something dearly. The stronger we tightened our grip, the faster we lost it.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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