Standing before Love - Season 1 Episode 99

“But…” Tilly knew that she was going to miss Myra a lot, but she also knew that what Myra said was true. She was just a girl from a regular family, and her pay elsewhere wouldn’t be as high as what Chase Group was paying her now. “You have to keep in touch with me, Miss Stark. We can still chat even if we’re working in different companies,” Tilly uttered.

For the first time that day, a broad grin surfaced on Myra’s face. “Of course.”

After that, Myra felt a lot more reassured—it was probably because she had gotten her hands on the divorce agreement. She started to let go of the Sunny Bay Project as she handed most of her workload over to Tilly. On the fourth day after Sean had left, Myra drove to the Chase Group building as usual. She led her car into the basement and was heading to her usual parking spot when she found herself distracted by the luxurious Aston Martin Taraf that was parked beside her.

There are only a few people in Bradfort City who can drive a car like this. Since this person has come over to the Chase Group, he or she is probably looking for Sean. Is Sean back from his business trip already? Myra didn’t think too much about it; she simply thought that she would head over to look for Sean if he was back in the office. She quickly parked her car at her usual spot before she headed up in the elevator. In accordance with Tilly’s request, Myra had been slowly organizing all of her architectural design projects and other design collections for her.

Myra had only been organizing her files for a while when she received a phone call from Tilly. She picked it up with a smile. “Hello—”

“Miss Stark! Miss Stark! Ahh—” Before Myra could say anything else, Tilly’s terrified screams came from the other end of the call. Her screams were tangled up with a mixture of several men’s questions and growls.

Myra’s face fell immediately. “What’s going on, Tilly?!”

“Miss Stark…” Tilly was sobbing as she finally seemed to have gotten hold of her phone again. “Miss Stark, there have been some riots going on at the construction site. The foreman, Chris Harvey, would like to meet you. He wants to talk about how the workers have stopped their work; he also wants to ask about the workers’ payment. He said that Chase Group… isn’t paying them…”

Riots at the construction site? The expression on Myra’s face turned into a serious one. The Sunny Bay Project had been proceeding smoothly all along; she never encountered any issues in the past. She even asked the finance department about the workers’ salary previously, and they mentioned that they would receive the funds for the company soon; there shouldn’t have been an issue with their salaries. “Stop crying, Tilly. Hand the phone over to Chris—there must be some sort of misunderstanding here.”

Once Myra gave her orders, the phone was immediately handed over to someone else. Soon enough, a man’s hoarse voice came on the line. “Are you Miss Stark?”

Myra didn’t wish to delay such matters. She knew that she had to take things into her own hands, so she hastily picked her coat up and rushed toward the elevator as she spoke on the phone. “Yeah, that’s right. Chris, please help me to let the workers at the construction site know that Chase Group will pay them their salary soon. I’ve already asked the finance department about this. Our project can’t be delayed as Chase Group would suffer significant losses for every day that the work isn’t complete. The workers will have to go on with their work.”

“I can’t care less about your losses. How are you going to expect the workers to be motivated to work when they aren’t getting their pay?” Chris shouted aggressively from the other end of the call. “The company has owed us two months’ worth of salary. Do they not have enough money to feed us? My men and I aren’t pushovers! We’re going to bring this to the court if you don’t pay us!” His words were followed by the voices of a bunch of men agreeing to his statement.

“Please calm down.” The Sunny Bay Project would be completely ruined if such matters were brought to court, and Chase Group would surely have to cover all the losses. Not only that, Hart Group would probably put all of the blame on Chase Group as well. Myra took a deep breath before she continued and said, “Chase Group is a relatively reputable business; of course we would never commit such horrible deeds of not paying our workers. Director Chase has been away from the company recently and we don’t have the power to make our own decisions, but he’s coming back today, so—”

“I don’t want to listen to your bullsh*t! I want you here at the construction site now. Otherwise, I’m not going to let your young colleague go!” Chris’s aggressive growls came from the other end of the call before the line was cut off.

Myra pressed her lips together when she heard the beeping sound of the busy signal on the phone. The moment she stepped out of the elevator, she ran toward her car and flung her door open before she hopped in, started her engine and sped off.

The man who had been seated in the backseat of the Lagonda Taraf watched as Myra made her every move. He then narrowed his eyes when he noticed the anxious expression on her face, sucking his thin lips inward as he watched her.

Soon enough, another man opened the door to the driver’s seat of the Taraf. That man had a tidy and proper appearance; he was also dressed in a well-tailored suit. However, his face was expressionless as he got into the car and turned toward the man—whose face was covered by the shadows—in the backseat. “Director Hart, I’ve handed the documents over to Miss Fisher. She said that she’ll always be grateful for your help, and that these documents can be considered as her way of repaying you,” the man uttered politely.

“Always be grateful for my help…” The man in the backseat let out a slight chuckle, a hint of mockery in it. He took the documents over and tore them apart without taking a look at them. Soon enough, a spark of light came from the backseat. A bright vermillion-colored fire lit up in the air, creating thick clumps of smoke.

“Drive.” The man’s deep voice came from the backseat.

The driver shuddered slightly before he answered, “Alright.” Then, the car slowly came into motion.

Myra sped through her entire journey. She was contemplating whether to make a police report; she didn’t know how things would turn out in the end. She gave Sean a call, but he didn’t pick his phone up. She then made another call to Richard, but he didn’t pick the phone up either. Her calls to the project manager and the design director were ignored as well. It’s like everyone just agreed on keeping their phones away from them today! Out of desperation, she decided that she would give Leo a call, who was quick to answer it.

“Is anything the matter, Miss Stark?” Leo was still as friendly as ever—his attitude toward her hadn’t changed after her unpleasant encounter with Tony that night. Myra went straight to the point. “Leo, there are riots going on at the Sunny Bay Project’s construction site. Those people have held Tilly hostage, and I don’t know how to deal with this matter now. Do you think it’s possible for you to send some men over to control the workers at the construction site?”

Once he heard the sound of the car engine on the other end of the call, Leo quickly lowered his fountain pen before he responded in a serious tone and asked, “Where are you now, Miss Stark?”

“I’m rushing to the construction site right now.” After all, Myra was worried that something bad might happen to Tilly. “I wanted to call the police, but I was afraid that things might get out of hand. Since I couldn’t contact anyone else, I had to call you…”

“Miss Stark, please stop your car somewhere; don’t go to the construction site just yet.” Leo’s expression faltered as he quickly ran toward Tony’s office. However, he then knitted his brows together as he recalled that Tony wasn’t in the office that day. “Listen to me, Miss Stark—I’m going to inform Director Hart about this right now. Don’t go there just yet. Director Hart will make sure to handle this,” Leo said in a worried voice.

Will Director Hart deal with this? Of course, I wouldn’t have to feel worried about this if he’s willing to take matters into his own hands. However… “All right. I’ll leave it to you, then. Thank you.” Myra slowed her car down. But after the line cut off on the other end, she stepped on the gas and rushed toward the construction site once again. It would take nearly two hours for Leo to rush to the construction site from where his office is. I cannot—and will not—leave Tilly alone for such a long time.

It only took Myra 30 minutes to arrive at the Sunny Bay Project construction site. When she got there, the entire place was empty. She walked toward the central area and heard the voices of men shouting. Soon enough, she was faced with an empty piece of land; all the workers who were supposed to be at work were either gone or had gathered in a group a distance away from where she stood.