Myra closed her eyes, refusing to watch the video any longer.
“Are you trying to tell me this isn’t you?” Sean hissed above her, clearly sober now.
Her lips tugged up into a bitter smile. “It doesn’t matter what I tell you. It’s not as if you’ll believe me anyway. You’ve convinced yourself that I was cheating on you from the moment you saw this video. What use is there for me to say anything else?”
There was a stubborn look in her eyes, and the blood flowed down from the gash in her forehead past her temples. The bright red color made her look even paler and more fragile.
He was regarding her with a pointed gaze, as if wanting to pierce a hole through her body.
A long time passed, long enough for Myra to feel herself growing numb beneath him. It was only then that Sean heaved himself off of her.
He glared at her icily and his eyes swept over her rumpled state with bare disgust. “I won’t touch you, Myra. I wouldn’t want to get my hands dirty!”
With that, he turned and walked out of the bedroom. He did not spare a single glance at her pale, frightened face.
Work kept piling in these days. Tony could not remember how much overtime he had put in thus far, but he would rather keep himself busy than constantly think about a certain person. It was only when he got a call from Elliot that he remembered about their dinner plans tonight.
“You don’t happen to be working overtime again, do you, Tony?” Elliot asked in disbelief on the other line, then added mischievously, “I’m not trying to scare you, Tony, but if you keep working overtime like this, it’s going to badly affect your performance in the bedroom. How are you going to please your wife in the future?”
Hearing this, Tony leaned into his chair and loosened his tie, a devilish grin playing on his face as he countered, “Don’t worry about my endurance—it’ll still be better than yours anyway.”
Elliot choked, then broke into a dry laugh. “Alright; pretend I didn’t say anything. Will you still be joining us tonight?”
Tony blinked, remembering the phone call that he hadn’t made earlier, and turned to glance at the nightscape outside his window. His gaze softened as a sudden thought came to his mind and he replied plainly, “You guys can go on without me.”
“I thought you might say that.” The other man scoffed. “If you love those statistics so much, why don’t you marry them?”
Following this, a beeping sound from the other line indicated that Elliot had hung up.
Tony scrolled through the contacts on his phone. His finger hovered momentarily above the one saved under ‘Kitten’, then pressed it.
Unfortunately, for some reason, the other line went unanswered for a while.
He raised a brow and his gaze darkened under the lights. After a while, he texted, ‘You called? I was in a meeting during the day.’
However, much like the call just now, the text went unanswered, too.
Ten minutes later, a frown etched itself onto his face. He stood up abruptly and grabbed his jacket, intending to drive over to Myra’s house, but stopped when he recalled that she was staying with the Chase Family. At this, he pursed his lips, disgruntled.
Meanwhile, Myra had dragged herself into the shower after Sean left. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, and was suddenly clueless as to how she should live the rest of her life. There was a saying that you reaped what you sowed, and she had been the stubborn fool who thought time could change everything.
Numbly, she rubbed the plain, silver ring on her necklace between her fingers. She had been wearing it like this after what happened the last time.
She took off the ring robotically and placed it on top of the sink before leaving the bathroom.
When Myra arrived at work the next day, Tilly noticed the gash on her forehead and exclaimed, “Myra, what happened to you?”
“I fell,” Myra answered stoically. The bruise along her jawline had faded significantly after she had used the ointment Leo gave her, and with her bangs framing her face, it was almost undetectable.
“You’re a grown woman, for goodness sake. You ought to be more careful! By the way—” Tilly broke off mid-lecture and scooted over excitedly. “Are you really married, Myra? What’s your husband like? What does he do? Are you having fun being a married woman?”
There was a mischievous lilt to her voice.
Myra stiffened but she smiled plainly as she answered, “Yes; I’m married. We’re just like any other family, so I guess my marital life’s pretty much average.”
When she saw that Tilly was on the verge of pressing further, she quickly switched subjects. “I’m going over to the Hart Group later to sign the contract. You should come with me.”
Tilly burst into a devilish giggle and quipped, “I was just about to tell you—I’ve signed up to be your assistant and Mr. Xavier has already approved my application! Myra, I’ll be working with you from now on!”
Upon hearing this, Myra blinked and then grinned. She shot Tilly a teasing glare as she said, “As long as you don’t muck things up for me.”
“As if! I promise I’ll follow all your orders down to every last word!” Tilly promised, sticking out her tongue playfully.
They looked at each other, exchanging a heartfelt smile.
By the time they arrived at the Hart Group, they saw that Leo and Mr. Logan were already waiting for them. Upon seeing Myra and Tilly, the two men hastened over to greet them.
“Miss Stark, Director Hart is expecting you upstairs.”
They were both well aware that Myra held a special place in their director’s heart. In fact, they had seen what happened to Lily, the disgraced designer from the Hay Group. As far as they were concerned, her career in Bradfort City was over.
In other words, the Sunny Bay Project had been set aside for Myra from the very beginning.
Presently, Myra nodded in greeting and went up the building with Tilly in tow.
The contract signing process went smoothly and after everything was done, Mr. Logan suggested for them to adjourn to the Ritz Carlton to celebrate. Myra made no objections. After all, she ought to thank the Hart Group for the opportunity to work with them. She also wanted to express her gratitude to Tony for helping her out.
Everyone had drinks in the private room at Ritz Carlton. On several occasions, Mr. Logan and Leo came up to Myra to clink glasses. Her alcohol tolerance was only average and at some point, she began to feel tipsy. However, just as she thought she could take a breather, Tilly, Leo and the others pushed her to give a toast to Tony.
Tony had been silent throughout the entire dinner and the least excitable too. The employees from the Hart Group dared not approach him to make a toast, and it might have something to do with his cold demeanor, or perhaps it was because he was their superior. Myra and Tilly, on the other hand, were making friendly conversation with everyone.
With Tilly having such a bubbly personality, the table was in a cheerful uproar within seconds.
Presently, Leo winked at Myra as he persuaded, “All things aside, Miss Stark, you should know that Director Hart played the most important role in your company’s successful procurement of the Sunny Bay Project. You must make a toast to him!”
“That’s right, Myra! You have to make a toast to him!” Tilly chimed in, buzzing with excitement.
Myra blinked hard, forcing herself to stay awake, then stood up and raised her glass in Tony’s direction.
Indeed, she must toast to him.
Her heart softened when she thought about all those times he had come to her aid. She delivered her speech in a gentle tone, saying, “Thank you, Director Hart, for the help you’ve given all this while. Here’s to a wonderful and bountiful partnership between the Hart Group and the Chase Group. Cheers!”
Myra’s eyes looked brighter in her mildly-inebriated state and there was a pink flush on her cheeks. She was unaware of how sultry she looked at that moment, with the ends of her eyes curved upward and her soft lips parting ever so slightly. Having ended her speech, she gulped down her red wine.
Everyone cheered and applauded at the end of her toast.
Tony, on the other hand, was looking casual in his white shirt, having taken off his suit jacket after coming into the private room. His sleeves were still cuffed meticulously but he had loosened the top two buttons, revealing the subtle beginnings of a well-toned chest.
