Mandy tried to brush off her daughter''s frosty tone and hesitated as she continued, "It''s about your dad, you know, the Carter family over there..."


    Summer''s eyes turned even colder. Thest thing she wanted was to hear anything about the Carter family. "Alright, just stop. I''m heading into theb."


    With that, she ended the call.


    Back when the Carter family went under, they all pinned the me on her. And now that she was doing well, they wanted to reconnect? Did they really think she was that naive?


    Summer scoffed, about to put her phone down, when it rang again.


    Thinking it was Mandy calling back, she didn''t even bother to check the screen. She just hit the side button and turned it off.


    She powered down her phonepletely.


    After all that, Summer felt a bit more at ease and headed into the bathroom.


    ** Meanwhile... **


    Wyatt casually spun a weapon in his hand, one leg up on a chair, leaning forward with azy gaze fixed on a middle-aged man sitting on the floor.


    The man''s face was filled with fear as he listened to the phone''s shutdown message, beads of cold sweat trickling down his forehead. He stammered, looking at Wyatt, "It... it''s off..."


    Wyatt narrowed his eyes, his voice edged with danger, "Off, you say?"


    The man flinched, quickly extending his phone, "You can check if you want. Really can''t reach her."


    Wyatt didn''t take the phone and instead nced over at Curtis. "Curtis, what about you? Did you find anything?"


    Curtis stared intently at hisputer screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. After a moment, he finally looked up. "Got it."


    Hearing that, Wyatt took his foot off the chair and strode over to Curtis. "Where?"


    Curtis zoomed in on the map on theputer, pinpointing the exact location. "It''s at Westbrook University."


    Wyatt raised an eyebrow. "Why there? Curtis, are you sure you didn''t mess up?" Curtis''s expression darkened. "..."


    Wyatt rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "In situations like this, unless it''s revenge, there doesn''t seem to be any other motive. But Ms. Emerson has always flown under the radar; where would she get enemies from?"


    "Well, that''s..." Curtis started to say but then paused, recalling something. He


    turned to Wyatt, "Summer."


    "Summer!" Wyatt echoed.


    Both he and Curtis hit the same thought at the same time.


    If anyone at Westbrook University knew Ms. Emerson, it would be Summer, and she had the motive.


    "I just can''t figure out why, if it''s really Summer, she''d go to such lengths to have Ms. Emerson kidnapped," Wyatt mused. "I don''t think it''s just about revenge. She knows it''s a tough game."


    "And don''t forget she''s got people backing her," Curtis added.


    "Thatplicates things," Wyatt ran a hand through his hair and grabbed his phone. "I''ll call James."


    Curtis nodded, leaning back in his chair, eyes drifting back to theputer


    screen.


    Ms. Emerson seemed to have more than a few secrets.


    Wyatt had a point; if Summer wanted payback, this wasn''t the time. Clearly, someone else was pulling the strings.


    And when you think about it, with Ms. Emerson''s close ties to t James, maybe those folks had an


    on James as their real target.