Loving You In Secret

Chapter 9

The dial tone rang, but no one picked up the phone.

Five minutes later, Vicky Shaw tried calling Tyler Hart once more. This time, the busy tone appeared once the dial tone rang once. Thinking he was busy with work, she decided to stop for a while.

…

She tried again half an hour later, but the result was the same. Tyler rejected her call without any hesitation. It was then Vicky realized Tyler purposely refused to answer her call.

After taking a deep breath, she called a taxi and decided to go to Hart Corporation to look for him. Frankly, she did not truly want to ask Tyler for help. Nonetheless, she could not just desert Cece as she was the only person who was nice to her after she woke up from the car crash.

From Cece, she knew she used to be a notable young lady. After all, the Shaw family used to be a reputable family three years ago, but for some unknown reason, her family collapsed in just one night.

Vicky tried to investigate the reason from her diary and published news. There were less than ten people on her contact list, and neither of them had the same family name as her. Since she lost her family, she did not know who else could help her other than Tyler.

When she entered Hart Corporation, two of the front desk women stopped her. One of them asked, “Hi, Miss. Who are you looking for?”

Vicky stopped walking. “I’m looking for Tyler Hart.”

The women’s smiles disappeared as they looked at her curiously. “May I know what business you have with our CEO?”

Vicky looked at them and answered, “It’s regarding a very pressing matter.”

The other front desk girl frowned. “Do you have an appointment?”

Well, Vicky did not have an appointment. Since she was in a hurry, she straightforwardly responded, “I’m Missus Hart. Don’t you know me?”

The front desk women exchanged looks with each other. Clearly, they never saw the legendary Missus Hart. News regarding upper-class society was never within the reach of white-collar classmen like them.

The front desk girl thought for a while and said, “We have an order from the CEO that no one is allowed to enter without an appointment. If you truly are Missus Hart, why don’t you call our CEO? We have to go by the book and let you in only when he says so.”

Without a choice, Vicky could only try to call Tyler again.

Beep, beep, beep!

No one picked up the phone like before. Soon, it got cut off automatically because it rang for too long.

The front desk women looked at her with contempt as though she was dirty.

One of them, having noticed Vicky’s pretty face, grew jealous and sarcastically remarked, “What a joke. To think that Missus Hart can’t even get Mister Hart to answer the phone… Who are you trying to fool?”

“Do you think you can meet our CEO as you wished? How cheap can a mistress be these days?”

“You think you can seduce our CEO just because you’re pretty. I’ve seen many sl*ts like you, but none of them are so shameless to call herself Missus Hart.”

Their voices were not too loud; just enough to let Vicky hear how they despised her. Vicky did not expect to be treated so rudely and disrespectfully when she was, in fact, Missus Hart.

It had been three years since she married Tyler, and not even the employee of Hart Corporation could recognize her.

Vicky asked, “Is he here now?”

The front desk girl coldly replied, “I’m sorry. The company prohibits us from disclosing our CEO’s whereabouts to outsiders.”

The other front desk girl scoffed. “You’re Missus Hart, aren’t you? How can you not know if your husband is here or not?”

Staring at how evidently they disliked her by their expressions, Vicky turned and went to sit on the sofa in the lobby. The front desk women had categorized her as a promiscuous woman who wanted to seduce Tyler.

Since Vicky did not have the intention to leave, their words became harsher.

“Hey, I suggest you leave here immediately. Mister Hart will never meet you.”

“You’ll only pollute the air by staying here.”

“I’ll call security if you don’t leave!”

“Get out of here, now!”

At first, Vicky planned on ignoring them entirely. They were obliged to follow the company rules after all, so she did not want to make trouble for them. However, their attitude violated professional ethics, and they were solely venting out their feelings.

Vicky sneered when she saw how hostile these women treated her. It seemed like Tyler’s charm was greater than she thought.

She looked back. “Oh? So this is the professional ethics of the front desk women working in Hart Corporation.”

She took out her phone and pointed the camera at them. “I wonder if this video will make headlines if I upload it on the internet or sell it to a media company.”

She smiled. “The caption is… ‘The women at Hart Corporation’s front desk acted like shrews. Is it because the quality of the Hart Corporation’s employees is low, or is it the culture of the Hart Corporation?’

“Do you think the shares of Hart Corporation will plummet if word about this gets out?”

The women turned pale immediately when they heard Vicky’s words and were scared witless when she took out her phone to record them. Regardless of what type of woman Vicky was, their attitude and professionalism should not be affected.

If this video reached media outlets, it would affect Hart’s Corporation’s image, and they could not possibly bear that responsibility!

They panicked. Hart Corporation was well-known to pay well and offer better benefits. The corporation did not hire just anyone, even if it was just a front desk position.

The two women had worked with the business for far too long, which fueled them with a sense of superiority, and got a little carried away. This time, they provoked the wrong person. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

One of them quickly pleaded, “I’m sorry for being rude, Miss. Can you not upload the video to the internet?”

The other woman, not wanting to lose her job, apologized as well. “I’m sorry for our bad attitude. According to the rules, you’re not allowed to go up, but you can rest here in the lobby.”

Vicky was not here causing trouble. Since they apologized, she put down her phone and said nothing.

…

Time passed. The sky started to turn dark, yet Vicky had not eaten anything for the whole day.

She was afraid Tyler would leave should she go out to get food.

It was already after-work hours, and the two women merely glanced at Vicky silently before leaving.

…

The sky was getting darker. Vicky leaned back on the sofa and felt sleepy. It was hours long when finally, steady footsteps appeared in the quiet moment. Startled, Vicky woke up and turned to look.

The tall, muscular man was making his way out as long legs carried him forward.