Standing before Love

Tony let go of her soon after.

Following his line of sight, she saw Belle standing alone nearby.

She seemed to be hurt and upset, glancing in their direction every now and then.

Myra suddenly felt a surge of disappointment as Tony made his way toward Belle’s direction. She breathed in deeply and continued to practice her posture and swing, just like how he had taught her.

Seeing that Tony was approaching, Belle couldn’t help but chew on her lip like a sad puppy. She looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes and asked, “Tony, is that woman… your girlfriend?”

She’d initially expected herself and Tony to get along romantically, but before anything could happen between them, her father had stormed off in frustration; he even told her to give up on getting together with that man.

Racking her brain for a reason, she figured it could only be that woman who was trying hard to learn golf at a distance.

It was no secret that Tony wasn’t one to mingle and had never been involved with another woman; even his secretaries had always been men. However, she clearly saw him getting awfully close to that woman as he taught her how to play golf moments ago. How could she believe that there was nothing going on between them?

Tony was craving for a smoke. He was holding it in earlier because Myra was there, but now, he could finally take out his packet of cigarettes in peace and lit one up between his lips.

“She’s not.” His movements were casual yet crude, but it looked elegant on him. Belle was a little fascinated as she watched him.

His words were surprising to her, but what he said next was even more so. Upon hearing them, her hands squeezed into tight fists—

“But she will be.”

Belle studied the woman nearby who was trying to get the hang of golf clumsily, thinking to herself that the woman was just an ordinary office lady living off the bottommost of the corporate hierarchy; she probably got by her everyday life at the beck and call of the people higher up. How could a woman like this…

Tears coursed down her cheeks. “Why?”

She wiped her tears. “What does she have that I don’t? Old Master Hart likes me, I have a much stronger family background, and I’m not lacking in appearance compared to her. Moreover, I just returned from studying abroad; I’m clearly better than her in every way possible…”

Tony turned as well, following her gaze. The woman was still focused on mastering the basic techniques. When he leaned in close to her on purpose just now, she didn’t jerk away like she used to. Could it be considered an improvement?

The clouds of smoke from his cigarette cast a blur around his mesmerizing, deep-set eyes. He replied, “She doesn’t have to be perfect; she already is as long as I’m with her.”

He wasn’t a man who liked to sweet-talk, but the tender affection he had for the woman could easily be heard from those words. Is he saying that she doesn’t need her to be perfect because he likes her the way that she is?

Belle was terrified at her own thoughts and took a step back, hot tears spilling down her cheeks once again like a stream of loose beads. Gritting her teeth, she cried, “You’ll regret choosing her over me one day, Tony!”

She wanted nothing to do with that stone cold statue of a man anymore. After screaming those words at him, she turned and made a run for the restroom.

Behind her, Tony took the cigarette from between his lips in his fingers and tossed it into a nearby bin, bearing a straight face the entire time. Turning to look at the woman in white, his eyes were instantly filled with a gentleness that could be described as love.

In his eyes, Myra was Myra. She had no need to become any more perfect, and she had no need to be compared to other women—she just had to be her, and it would be enough for him.

His phone suddenly rang. Picking up the call, a loud voice filled his ear. “Tony, have you really confirmed your relationship with Myra at Wilson Golf Club?!”

Tony’s brows furrowed as he looked around him on the spot.

“You don’t have to look around, Tony—there’s so many people around you. You don’t know how many of them have already captured the scene earlier!”

Elliot seemed to be able to see what he was doing. He added nervously and said, “Tony, Myra still hasn’t divorced yet. I heard that she’s been labeled as ‘your woman’ after that incident regarding the Hilliville Project. Are you sure you should be doing this now?”

Tony raised a brow and asked flatly, “Why not?”

Elliot choked at the rebuttal. Even though he was very much familiar with Tony’s bold behavior, it had reached a point where it was impressive even to him right now. He replied dully, “What if those two find trouble with her again…”

“Isn’t this why you’re here?” Tony asked before he could finish.

Elliot went silent; after processing what Tony actually meant by that, he was suddenly overcome with tears.

Taking a bullet for one another—this is what brothers are for!

Sean had clearly labeled Elliot as one of the men who had an affair with Myra. When Elliot bumped into that man at the airport earlier, that man had given him a death glare; it was as though he had really seen his unfaithful wife’s paramour in the flesh and was about to slice him into pieces.

Elliot wanted to express his dissatisfaction a bit more, but Tony had already ended the call. What was left in his ear was the beeping tone which signaled that he had been hung up on. Elliot continued sobbing.

After putting down his phone, Tony went to the nearby lounge area to get a fresh towel for Myra.

It was almost noon and the weather was getting warmer; beads of sweat gathered on her forehead.

Out of nowhere, a breezy feeling struck her face and Myra tensed up. Tony didn’t stop and continued wiping away the sweat on her face.

She tried to grab the towel from him to wipe her own sweat, but Tony swiftly passed the towel to an employee. “Elliot said that he needs to meet you for something, and he wants to have lunch with you.”

Myra was surprised. She suddenly remembered that she had come to look for Tony for a favor herself. However, why did Elliot want to meet her?

Tony seemed to have read her thoughts and said, “We can talk about your matter at lunch as well.”

Myra gave it a thought and nodded. After all, she didn’t have to go to Chase Group anymore; she had a lot of free time on her hands.

With that, the two of them went to the changing rooms to change out of their sports attire.

Just as Myra was about to leave, Belle blocked the exit and was waiting for her.

Her complexion didn’t look good at all. Her makeup was smudged, and she didn’t even bother cleaning it up. Her gentle, round eyes sharpened into daggers as soon as she saw Myra. “You’re Myra Stark?”

Myra had her back facing Tony and Belle during their exchange, so she was unaware of what had happened between the two. The hateful way that Belle was looking at her made her subconsciously want to avoid talking to her. She only nodded flatly and replied, “Yes, that’s me.”

“Huh…” The woman before her scoffed coldly. “I’ve looked into your background. You’re the daughter of the Stark Family, but you got married to Sean Chase of the Chase Family. As of today, the Chase Family announced that you stole some private documents from Chase Group and leaked it to Hart Group.”

Myra had just experienced the crisis of Chase Group’s confidential information leak firsthand, and she was still very sensitive to the topic. Seeing that Belle was deliberately trying to provoke her, her brows knitted in irritation. “Miss Bridgers, go straight to the point, please.”

“Leave Tony!” Belle blurted as she glared at her menacingly. “With your current status, you don’t deserve him—not after what you’ve done. Leave him! He’s not someone you can easily take advantage of.”

Her tone was unbelievably arrogant. Not only was she stating the fact that Myra was unworthy of Tony, but she was also reminding Myra that she alone would be the rightful daughter of the Hart Family, for she was on par with them in terms of wealth and status. Every ounce of expression was wiped from Myra’s face the moment she heard her.

“I believe you’ve misunderstood us, Miss Bridgers.” Myra willed herself to ignore the discomfort she felt as Belle was threatening and degrading her. “I have no intention of taking advantage of Director Hart, and I never wanted anything more with him. As for the Chase Group’s confidential information, I implore you to stay quiet if you don’t know the whole story. One more thing about Director Hart—”