Standing before Love - Season 2 Episode 3

Initially, Sean was still in the United States when the incident happened; he had no choice but to return early after realizing how serious the matter was. He already suspected that there might have been some mistake and had wanted to talk it out with Myra, but seeing her hostile attitude toward himself angered him even more. Recalling the photo that he’d just seen in Lyla’s phone, rage thrummed through his veins.

Seeing Sean on his side was more than enough to give Mr. Xavier a confidence boost. “I know Miss Stark is just reluctant to admit it. Nonetheless, you should know that we’re not making blind accusations at you right now, Miss Stark. We have witnesses and proof. Come on, Felicia—tell her what happened.”

After she was signaled by Mr. Xavier, a woman timidly stepped forward from the group of secretaries. She took a quick glance at Myra before looking down right away, seemingly intimidated by her. She stuttered, “Miss Stark had come looking for Director Chase on the day he left for his business trip, but I tried to stop her from going in.”

The woman paused and took a breath before continuing in a steadier tone. She said, “I told her that the Director wasn’t in and mentioned that there were lots of confidential documents in his office, so she wasn’t allowed to enter. However, she was persistent and argued that she wasn’t just anyone. I couldn’t stop her and watched her enter the office; I could only wait outside because I was too scared to follow her in.”

“Miss Stark left the office only a moment after she went in. Her face was pale and she looked quite panicked, so I looked her up and down. I saw that her handbag seemed flat and empty when she went in, but it was bulky when she came out. I even saw several A4 papers sticking out from the top corner of her bag. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but the incident last night made me remember about this. I didn’t want to hide this any longer, so I reported it to Mr. Xavier.”

The woman finished her story in one long breath.

Sean’s expression grew darker after hearing that woman’s anecdote. Looking Myra dead in the eye, he demanded, “Do you have anything else to say?”

Myra’s eyes went round with disbelief as she broke into a half-hearted laugh. “Does it mean that I stole the documents just because I went inside your office?”

She had indeed entered his office that day, but she never saw the so-called private documents containing confidential information, let alone stealing them. More importantly, why would she even need to steal something like that?!

The timid secretary seemed to be terrified of Myra as she chewed on her bottom lip anxiously. She said, “No one else entered the Director’s office after you left.”

Mr. Xavier let out a loud scoff. “If you feel wronged, just ask everyone who was in the secretary office. Ask them if they’ve seen anyone else stepping into the Director’s office.”

“There’s no need for that.” Myra looked at Sean with piercing eyes and stone-cold malice. “I want to check the CCTV footage—not just the ones after I left, but footage of the office throughout the entire day!”

I’m clearly being set up!

However, why was she being blindly accused of stealing some documents? Above all that, she shouldn’t be the only suspect—they only realized that it was missing three days after she visited the office. The people who entered before her should have been considered as suspects too!

Mr. Xavier’s eyes flashed with a hint of panic, but it quickly dissipated after receiving a reassuring glance from Lyla.

“I, too, feel that we should check the footage.” Lyla tugged on Sean’s arm from his side as she purred and said, “Sean, let’s make it fair.”

Lyla’s thoughtful and considerate facade made it seem like she was being gentle and kind to Myra in front of everyone, but none of those people knew that Myra was actually Sean’s wife, who was currently being accused by the others.

Her mouth twitched at the thought. “I see—all of you simply decided that I was the culprit without even looking at the CCTV footage… Mr. Xavier, your level of intelligence is indeed befitting of Chase Group’s Design Department Director.”

Both Sean and Mr. Xavier tensed slightly. Sean stared at Myra with his lips pursed into a tight line. He seemed angry for a moment, but he reverted back to his icy cold demeanor almost immediately. He said to Mr. Xavier, “Tell the guys at the control room to send me CCTV footage from the past few days.”

Before long, the files were transported to his computer.

In order to save time, the secretaries brought more laptops to observe the footage separately; each device had several people hovering over it as they watched the footage at a higher playback speed.

After a round of filtering, they concluded that Director Chase’s office was empty except on two days where there were visitors.

The day that Sean had gone on his business trip, Richard had entered the office at around 7.00PM. He had placed a set of documents on the desk.

As Richard walked past the camera with the document facing upward, the CCTV captured the words atop the papers clearly—Hilliville Project Negotiation Results.

Holding the document in his hands, he went straight toward Sean’s desk and placed it there.

“Miss Stark, this document contains confidential information belonging to the company; because it was leaked, Hart Group successfully sold the property in Hilliville to our potential clients from Hong Kong right under our nose with a price 1% lower than what we offered. We’re experiencing a capital chain rupture because of this lost opportunity,” Richard explained.

Sean’s office desk was located not in the middle of the room; it was toward a corner of the office, and next to his desk were a variety of potted plants. In one corner of the CCTV footage, another set of A4 papers could be vaguely seen as they stuck out.

Myra flinched internally at the mention of Hart Group, but her eyes followed closely on another figure in the CCTV footage as it entered the office on the same day as her.

To her surprise, it was Lyla!

In other words, Lyla and Myra were the only ones who had stepped foot into Sean’s office besides Richard. Myra was sure that there was only a single set of Divorce Agreement papers on his desk, not the ‘Hilliville Project Negotiation Plan’ or whatever it was…

It’s her! It’s Lyla! She switched the documents… She did it and put the blame all on me!

Myra went in front of the laptop and replayed the footage which showed Lyla; she couldn’t

Lyla was indeed in the office—in fact, she had gone in there twice. She only strolled around the room the first time as she looked around casually. After lounging on the sofa briefly, she got up and left. The second time, she was seen admiring the view by the window before she moved behind Sean’s desk. Not even 10 seconds later, she left with nothing in her hands. Besides a few moments here and there where her movements had cast a shadow over the documents, the set of A4 papers were in place the entire time.

Nonetheless, Myra was sure of it! She knew that Lyla must have switched the two documents within a split second!

Up next, the CCTV footage showed Myra entering the office.

What happened next was exactly how it was explained by the secretary earlier—Myra barged into the office despite the woman’s efforts to stop her. She went straight to the restroom before walking up to the desk. Seeing the set of documents, she picked it up without hesitation and shoved it into her handbag. Then, she rushed out of the office.

At the door, she even insisted on not taking anything from the office when being questioned by the secretary.

Mr. Xavier was overjoyed as the footage played. He turned to Myra with a look of wicked satisfaction, his eyes gleaming with triumph. “What do you have to say now, Miss Stark?”