Matthias came to the office early in the morning to have a discussion with Nikolai regarding their next move against the Hart Group; it seemed that Tony was totally unbothered by Matthias’ act of provocation toward him.
“Is Tony not planning to return to the Hart Group and call the shots?” In Matthias’ hand was a bunch of photos of Tony and Myra—they were currently on vacation overseas.
Tony was bearing a grin in most of the photos. From the looks of it, he wasn’t worried about what was going on in his home country at all. Following that, Matthias’s gaze shifted toward Myra. The two of them looked like a match made in heaven; even Myra’s smile was exceptionally radiant. At that moment, it made Matthias recall the first time that she’d smiled at him many years ago.
It was precisely her healing smile that had penetrated his heart like a beam of sunlight. Many moons later, her smile was still as tender and irresistible as before.
Matthias let out a wistful sigh at the thought of that. He had seen Myra a few times in Bradfort City, but she was always on her guard in front of him; it seemed like she could only be her true self whenever she was around Tony.
If Matthias really took Myra away from Tony, he was sure that she would never be happy with him—some things were just as clear as day without the need to explain. However, part of Matthias was still stubborn and unwilling to let go; he tried to control his persistent inner callings many times, stopping himself from doing anything that might hurt Myra.
All these years, Matthias hadn’t once given her contentment in life—that point alone caused him a lot of unbearable pain. Thus, he didn’t want to be the one to shatter her very source of happiness either, so the only thing he could do was to control himself.
“There’s no way he’d rush back in the middle of his honeymoon. After all, he’s such a proud and strong-willed person.” Nikolai’s reasoning was logical; if he were in Tony’s shoes, he wouldn’t have chosen to return either.
Without a doubt, it was Tony’s once-in-a-lifetime marriage with the one and only person he loved dearly. Besides, the honeymoon period was a special and irreplaceable experience in itself—nobody would want it to be interrupted.
“Perhaps Tony has underestimated our abilities,” said Matthias with a deep, meaningful smile.
Tony had always been a successful businessman; he was also gifted in managing and directing a business. He probably had a rational reason behind his decision, for he’d never abandon the Hart Group entirely due to his personal commitments.
Nikolai cast a doubtful look at Matthias. Indeed, he hadn’t considered that possibility since he was mainly looking at things from an emotional point of view. Nikolai was quite a sentimental person to begin with; even though Matthias greatly admired that quality of his, more often than not, he hoped that Nikolai would mature from it and have a more professional mindset. After all, emotions were a businessman’s greatest weakness.
“Tony cares a lot about the Hart Group; there’s always time to have another honeymoon, but the Hart Group is irreplaceable.” Matthias placed the photos face-down on the table. He didn’t want to look at them anymore, for it would only add to his sadness.
“Sir, are you saying that Tony is wholeheartedly enjoying his honeymoon overseas because he thinks that the Locke Group isn’t able to threaten the Hart Group?” Nikolai finally caught on. After giving it some thought, he felt that Matthias’ explanation was more reasonable than his.
“Yes.” Matthias nodded. Nikolai was able to think on his feet and he understood things quickly. Other than that, he was pretty intelligent as well—Matthias thought that he was a promising young lad to train.
“We’ve been looked down on,” Nikolai muttered sarcastically. After Matthias’ kind reminder, Nikolai immediately figured that the Hart Group was incredibly powerful and well-prepared in all aspects possible. More accurately speaking, there was a huge gap between the Locke Group and the Hart Group in terms of their capabilities, especially since they were in Bradfort City.
“Exactly.” The look on Nikolai’s face was precisely what Matthias wanted to see. Right now, Matthias’ eyes were clouded with secrets of his own; it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Nonetheless, Nikolai didn’t really understand Matthias’ plan. Even though the latter had made it clear that he wanted to make a move against the Hart Group, he only gave a vague idea of what he wanted to do. Aside from the man himself, no one knew what he had in mind.
“We’ll take it one step at a time; the Hart Group isn’t an easy opponent, so this might not be our best chance.” Matthias gave Nikolai an ambiguous statement, for he didn’t feel the need to thoroughly explain certain things. Moreover, it wasn’t a bad idea to keep it mysterious for now.
Since Matthias was cryptic with his words, Nikolai had no idea what he was keeping under wraps—after all, Matthias was giving away very few hints. Therefore, Nikolai stared into Matthias’ eyes for a few moments in search of an answer. He couldn’t ask his boss directly, and Matthias wouldn’t tell him the truth even if he asked either.
“You already have plans, right?” In the end, Nikolai could only afford to inquire this much, though he couldn’t be sure of what Matthias was actually planning.
“Just follow my instructions,” Matthias replied in a playful manner, keeping his turbulent thoughts of planning to himself.
Nikolai nodded. He had a hundred percent trust in Matthias, so he was already used to carrying out his orders dutifully. Nikolai had always believed in Matthias’ judgement; throughout his time under Matthias, the man had never made any huge errors in terms of decision-making.
When Nikolai was heading out, a question escaped his lips without a second thought. “Matthias, are you and Miss Langston…”
Before he could finish, Matthias cut him off. “Let’s not discuss private matters at work.” Back then, Heather had said the same sentence to him countless times; now, it was time for him to shut others up using the same exact words.
Nikolai stared at Matthias helplessly; since his cousin had put it like that, it wasn’t a good time to continue pressing on. Even so, he noticed that Matthias had been acting strange ever since he returned from Myra and Tony’s wedding. Nikolai knew a thing or two about his cousin’s past with Myra, but he didn’t expect her to have such a huge influence on his well being.
Nikolai even considered the possibility that Matthias would go easy on the Hart Group just because of Myra. After all, Matthias didn’t come to Bradfort City primarily to go against the Hart Group; he was only doing so because they were coincidentally in the way of the Locke Group. Matthias never liked being pushed around by others, so it was no surprise that he would want to surpass the Hart Group.
The chances of the Locke Group getting along with the Hart Group were slim, so they could only be rivals in business. With that in mind, Matthias massaged his temples worriedly. Myra was stuck in the conflict between the two companies, and Matthias felt that his plans wouldn’t do Myra any good—it seemed that whatever he wanted to do would somehow cause harm to the woman.
Matthias was at his wits’ ends; back then, he only wanted to help Myra by intervening with the Stark Group’s business. In the end, he’d somehow managed to help her, albeit indirectly.
Despite all of that, things were different now—he was planning to face the Hart Group and shatter their leading reputation in Bradfort City. Truth be told, Matthias felt a little guilty inside; the corporate world was a merciless battlefield, whereas Myra was so in love with Tony.
From the couple’s wedding day, Matthias could tell that the Hart Family occupied an important place in her heart. In other words, she probably valued the Hart Group a great deal as well.
Since Matthias wanted to challenge the Hart Group, the company could very well go bankrupt in the midst of their ruthless corporate war—things might not end well for them.
If he were to really force the Hart Group into bankruptcy, he couldn’t imagine how much Myra would hate him. Just then, Matthias quickly shook away the strange thoughts in his head; it was simply too much to think that he could force the Hart Group into bankruptcy.
Right now, the Locke Group had all of its eggs in one basket. If they were to offend the Harts… At that moment, Matthias recalled the Deputy Mayor of Bradfort City being one of the Harts, as well as the fact that the family had quite an influence in the army as well.
Matthias wasn’t sure if his decision was the right one or not. From the looks of it, it was more probable that the Locke Group might meet its doom instead. At the same time, Matthias couldn’t wait to surpass the Hart Group with his own strategy.
As a stubborn and headstrong person, Matthias was willing to give his all even if he was bound to fail; he’d only stop if he decided against it on his own will. Moreover, the Locke Group’s outstanding potential could easily make them one of the Hart Group’s best rivals, so it was quite difficult to tell which party had the upper hand.
On his desk, Matthias had a pile of documents waiting for him to look through every day. Even though Tony wasn’t personally present at the Hart Group, the company was operating just as usual. Tony was quite adept when it came to preparing for any sort of situation beforehand, so he more or less had a prediction of Matthias’ next move.
Initially, Matthias planned on taking the opportunity to attack the Hart Group while Tony was away on vacation, for he had expected the company to be in chaos without its leader. To his surprise, the Hart Group was unexpectedly strong while defending themselves; it seemed like they didn’t have anything to fear even without their director around. Matthias couldn’t tell if it was thanks to Tony’s prior instruction before he left, or if the Hart Group was actually filled with highly capable employees.
Regardless of the truth, things weren’t going in Matthias’ way; he’d already heard about Tony’s achievements back in Tasnia City. Nevertheless, Matthias never believed that Tony had the power to predict the future. It wasn’t until he arrived at Bradfort City did he experience Tony’s exceptional way of handling things in the shadows first-hand. As a result, even Matthias couldn’t fully recognize Tony’s abilities.
Right now, Matthias was taking every step with caution—he knew that his opponent had the skills to win every battle. Even though Tony was unclear about Matthias or the Locke Group’s true capabilities, it was the same for Matthias regarding Tony as well.
More importantly, Matthias was uncertain whether the Hart Group’s strengths and abilities on the table was all there was to them. After all, there wasn’t anyone who wouldn’t hide their trump card under their sleeves, and he believed that Tony was no exception as well. In other words, it was more accurate to say that Matthias had a feeling Tony wasn’t as clean as he seemed.
Matthias was getting more enthusiastic the more he thought about it. He especially liked a tough challenge and loved the exhilarating feeling of winning an uphill battle. Not only was Matthias hungry for success, he even had a knack for taking risks; he was extremely excited to be able to come face to face with Tony.
On the other hand, Tony never once stopped worrying about the Hart Group just because he was overseas. In fact, his concerns heightened due to the Locke Group’s constant taunting; they were intervening in almost every project that the Hart Group was involved in.
Needless to say, the Locke Group didn’t miss any opportunity to catch the Hart Group off guard, be it publicly or in the dark. Perhaps it was Matthias’ plan all along to light a fire in the cracks in hopes of fanning it into a scorching blaze.
Tony didn’t expect Matthias to take advantage of his leave. To be fair, he didn’t take the Locke Group’s advances to heart in the first place; not even Tony had anticipated the fact that the Locke Group’s true target was the Hart Group.
It seemed that Tony had to run a thorough investigation on the Locke Group once he returned from his trip; he decided that he must get to the bottom of the Locke Group’s true intentions. However, he couldn’t afford to make rash decisions at the moment since he hadn’t found out much about them just yet.
Tony didn’t think much of it when Locke Group came to Bradfort City, so he hadn’t had any official dealings with the company. To think that they would target the Hart Group all of a sudden without any warning was pretty absurd.
Meanwhile, Myra stared at Tony who was currently enjoying the night breeze by the balcony. She walked over to him with quiet steps as she held a coat in her hand. Then, she went up to him and draped it over his shoulders.
“It’s late, Tony. Aren’t you going to sleep yet?” His behavior wouldn’t be unusual in the day, but it was quite odd for him to be lounging outside in the middle of the night. Immediately, Myra thought of the Hart Group’s current predicament.
“The scenery is beautiful at night; I can’t help but want to enjoy it a while longer.” Tony’s deep-set eyes were fixed upon the bright lights outside the window as he spoke, for he didn’t want Myra to see through his worries.
Just then, a gentle breeze passed by and ruffled her hair; Tony quickly closed the windows and smoothened out her messy hair.
“Are you having trouble sleeping without me hugging you to sleep?” Tony wrapped his arms around Myra, and she melted into his arms instantly like a gentle cat. He wanted nothing more than to shoulder all of her worries so that she could live a happy and carefree life.
