However, just because Myra could not strike against Kris now, it did not mean that she never would. Myra did not see the need to back down after the other girl had provoked her.
A searing pain drew her from her thoughts. She hissed in protest and looked up to meet Tony’s dark gaze. His orbs were a dark, depthless ocean that was devoid of emotion. The pain ebbed away just as quickly and he softened as he tended to her wound.
“You don’t have to bother yourself with this anymore. Just leave everything else to me.” He sounded cool and distant, like he was trying to suppress his anger. Nonetheless, his words warmed her.
Myra watched as he fumbled slightly to treat the wound on her arm. For once, he wasn’t his usual graceful self. Abruptly, she reached out and wrapped an arm around his lean waist, murmuring, “I think it’s time we go public with our relationship, Tony.”
She no longer wanted to brood over or consider what could happen if she disclosed her relationship with him. To hell with them all, she thought grimly.
Tony’s gaze darkened. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the woman embracing him. There was no way to tell what he was thinking, but his icy demeanor thawed significantly. He threw away the Q-tip he was holding and drew Myra closer to him before he answered quietly, “Okay.”
It was a dark and moonless night, but there was an unmistakable warmth in the atmosphere.
He watched as she slowly drifted into sleep in his arms. A cold, dark gleam returned to his eyes that had only moments ago been lit with endearing warmth. He rose, looking like the devil himself since he would unleash his wrath tonight.
In a small, civilian building that was tucked away in the countryside, screams of agony pierced through the quiet night from behind an open door.
Elliot was bursting with glee as he fell in step behind Tony, angling for praise as he said, “So, what’s-his-name has confessed to everything—it turns out that Kris really did promise him a long list of favors in return for his cooperation and she also drilled it into his head that Myra was interested in him, which led him to assault her in the first place. But, don’t worry, Tony—Lucas and I have plenty of experience in dealing with men like him. He’s going to pay one hell of a price for laying his dirty hands on Myra!”
To the back of the building was a steel door with darkness behind it.
Elliot turned on the light. Although it was dim, it illuminated the room just enough for them to make out the unmoving figure of a man, who lay at a close distance in front of them.
The man desperately wanted to move, but he could not.
When he had been brought out of Zion Club by Deputy Mayor Hart, Thomas was filled with dread. He knew then that his career as a government official was over, but he had clearly underestimated the consequences that would befall him when their car was stopped on the way to the police station. Before he knew it, he’d been kidnapped and thrown into another vehicle by a group of large, muscular men. They had brought him to this godforsaken place, in a location so remote that he doubted he could find it on his own, and began to torture him relentlessly. Presently, there was a bone-shattering pain in his arms and legs and he wondered if he could end up permanently disabled.
He had the realization that someone was taking their revenge on him when he was blindfolded on the way here, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had no way to save himself.
Upon hearing voices outside the door, Thomas broke down once more and howled into the dimness, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please let me go! Please spare me! I promise I won’t do it again… I promise! I didn’t mean to hurt Miss Stark—I was deceived by someone else into doing it! Please spare me!”
Meanwhile, Tony had already stepped forward. He was expressionless as he regarded the crying, begging mess of a man in front of him.
There was no mercy or compassion in his handsome features and no warmth in his cold, hard gaze either. He had one hand in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette.
Thomas lifted his head and when he met the pitch black of Tony’s eyes, he couldn’t help but shudder. “D-Director Hart!”
He wanted to stand up, but his arms and legs were useless. He could only wriggle on the floor to inch closer to Tony, his movements punctuated by panic and fear. He wanted to reach out to grab onto Tony’s pants. “I’m begging you, Director Hart; please spare me! I didn’t mean to hurt Miss Stark. I didn’t know that she was your woman! If I did, I wouldn’t have even thought about doing those things to her! This was all orchestrated by the Stark Family—Kris and Cameron both had a role in this! They framed me! I had nothing to do with this, Director Hart… Please let me go!”
Thomas had never once encountered anything as terrifying as this and he knew that no one would believe him even if he lived past tonight to tell the tale. In fact, he suspected that he would only invite the wrath of the devil before him if he so much as breathed a word about this.
Tony was dressed in a neatly-pressed black suit, which only made his towering silhouette seem colder. He appraised Thomas with disinterest and flippantly lifted his foot to step hard on the latter’s right hand.
There was a loud crack followed by Thomas’ blood-curdling howl. He was rolling on the ground in pain by the time Tony lifted his foot.
As though he was disgusted, Tony turned away without giving Thomas a second look. He carelessly threw the cigarette butt on Thomas’ writhing body and his gaze was flat as he addressed Elliot, “Knock him out. Then, start gathering evidence on all the bribes he’s taken and the frame-ups or illegal things he has done in order to eliminate his competition over the years. You can hand those over to Captain Fowler when you’re done with it.”
“Got it!” Elliot smirked in dark anticipation. He glanced behind Tony’s shoulder at the man whose eyes had widened out of fear, then drawled coldly, “He’s as good as dead now.”
Indeed, Thomas would not have ended up in such a dire position over Myra’s incident alone. After all, he had only been a pawn in someone else’s scheme and he would have gotten off with nothing worse than a demotion and a warning. However, now that they had evidence of all the dirty deals he’d made, he really was as good as dead.
As he thought about the storm that lay ahead of him, he panicked. Within seconds, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted.
Meanwhile, the air in the Stark Residence seemed to have dipped to freezing point.
The situation here was not quite as violent as the one that had befallen Thomas. Tony had spared them—or rather, that was what Cameron assumed. However, he grew angry at the thought of how Tony had shown him the audio recording as well as the video of Kris meeting with Thomas, thereafter using those as leverage to force Cameron into surrendering five percent of his shares to Myra. It was the only way to keep those incidents under wraps. A seething Cameron slapped Kris hard across the face.
A resounding crack seemed to echo off the walls as Cameron’s palm made contact with Kris’ face. Not even Rachel, who was pregnant and doted on Kris, dared to speak up for her daughter.
“You incompetent, foolish girl!” Cameron thundered.
He had the choice of not giving five percent of his shares in Stark Group to Myra, but Thomas was a hopeless case now. He wasn’t sure how much evidence Tony had gathered on all the backdoor deals made between Thomas and the Stark Group, and seeing as the company still had a couple of ongoing projects, he did not want to risk an investigation from the authorities. It would only bring a halt to those projects and cost him to lose a lot!
Meanwhile, Kris was slapped so hard that the impact caused her head to turn to the side. The beginnings of an angry-looking handprint were now showing on her left cheek and the blood vessels near the corner of her lips were throbbing beneath the delicate skin. Her fists clenched at her sides as she protested, “Dad, I didn’t think that Tony would show up at Zion Club. If only there was more time, then Myra would have been ruined and Tony would have stopped liking her! He wouldn’t have come and threatened us either! I could have taken over Myra’s place and gotten close to Tony, we—”
“You could have replaced Myra and gotten close to Tony? How ambitious of you! Who do you think you are? What makes you think you have what it takes to get Tony to notice you?” Cameron glared at his daughter icily. He had never found her as moronic as he did at this moment.
He continued, “Do you really think you’d still be standing here in one piece if you weren’t my daughter? Do you know that Thomas is going to be thrown behind bars for life? You were this close to making me his cellmate!”
Kris turned a ghastly shade of white as she heard this. Rachel, on the other hand, hurried over and rubbed soothing circles on Cameron’s back, saying, “Cameron, please calm down. Kris knows she’s made a mistake. She isn’t as incompetent as you say and I’m sure there are other reasons behind this mishap. Let her finish speaking.”
