Chapter 9

The dial tone sounded, but no one picked up the phone. Five minutes later, Vicky tried calling Tyler once more. This time, the sound of a disconnected tone is heard. Thinking he was busy with work, she decided to call him later. After half an hour, she tried again, but the result was the same. Tyler rejected her call without any hesitation. It was then Vicky realized Tyler purposely refused to answer her calls. Taking a deep breath, she flagged down 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 leave Cece in the lurch as Cece 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 somehow, her family collapsed in just one night. Vicky tried to investigate the reason from her diary and published news but turned up with nothing. There were less than ten people on her contact list, and none of them had the same family name as her. Since she lost her memory, 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, Ma’am. 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 Mr. Hart?" Vicky looked at them and answered, "It's regarding a very pressing matter." The other front desk girl frowned. "Do you have an appointment?" Certainly, Vicky did not have an appointment. Since she was in a hurry, she straightforwardly responded, "I'm Tyler’s wife. Don't you know me?" The two women exchanged looks. "I’m sorry, we really don’t know you." Clearly, they never saw the legendary Mrs. Hart. News regarding upper-class society was never within the reach of white-collar workers like them. The front desk girl thought for a while and said, "We have an order from Mr. Hart that no one is allowed to enter without an appointment. If you truly are Mrs. Hart, why don't you call him? 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. One of them, having noticed Vicky's pretty face, grew kind of jealous and sarcastically said, "What a joke! To think that Mrs. Hart can't even get Mr. 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 Mrs. 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, Mrs. Hart. It had been three years since she married Tyler, and none of the employees in Hart Corporation could recognize her. Vicky asked, "Is Tyler 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 Mrs. Hart, aren't you? How can’t you 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 seductress who wanted to throw themselves at Tyler. Since Vicky did not have the intention to leave, their words became harsher. "Hey, I suggest you leave here immediately. Mr. Hart will never meet you." "You'll such an eyesore 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 the two 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 whether 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 of the low quality of the Hart Corporation's employees, or 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. What type of woman Vicky was was one thing, and their attitude and professionalism was another. If this video reached media outlets, it would affect Hart's Corporation's image, and they could not possibly bear that responsibility! Both of them 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 been working in this company for quite a long time, which fueled them with a sense of superiority, so much so that they got a little carried away. This time, they provoked the wrong person. One of them quickly pleaded, "I'm sorry for being rude, Ma’am. 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 my 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 had 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 once she went 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 sounded. Vicky woke up with a start and turned to look. The tall man was making his way out elegantly.