Chapter 183

Rachel found it all laughable now. She’d finally seen just how good William was at pretending. His acting skills were honestly impeccable.

It turned out love could be an act.

Just as she expected, not long after she left William’s room, a notification popped up on her phone.

Her flight to Kahnwel had been canceled.

The smile that had lingered on her face earlier vanished, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

People like this really did exist. They didn’t love you, but they still refused to let you go.

That evening, the team-building event wrapped up smoothly around seven.

Those who had won prizes were beaming with joy, while those who hadn’t could only look on enviously.

Rachel had both her phone and the new laptop in hand. She handed the laptop to Cecilia.

Cecilia was overjoyed as she took the brand-new device and hugged Rachel tightly in excitement.

“Rachel, I’m so lucky to have a friend like you. You’re amazing.”

“It’s nothing. Now that you’ve got a new laptop, make sure you work hard with it.”

Thinking about how this might be the last time she’d see Cecilia, Rachel couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt and sadness. Cecilia had always treated her as a true friend, but Rachel couldn’t tell her the truth that she was leaving soon.

Rachel reached out and hugged her. “I’m lucky to have a friend like you, too.”

After all, even the man who had shared her bed could betray her. In the end, Cecilia was all she had left.

Just as everyone was about to board the bus, William called Rachel aside.

“Rachel, you go on ahead. Samantha’s still in the hospital. The doctor wants to keep observing her a little longer. Since it was a brain hemorrhage, if anything goes wrong, it might affect you too. I’m going to stay with her for now. Once I’m sure she’s stable, I’ll head back.”

He patted Rachel’s shoulder gently in a reassuring gesture.

“Be good and wait for me at home.”

Rachel had no objections. “Okay. Go take care of Ms. Judd. I’ll head home with Cecilia.”

William reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately before turning and getting into his car.

Once everyone was on board, some of the female colleagues started gathering and whispering to each other as usual.

“I saw Mr. Lewis walk off in the other direction just now. He must be going to see Samantha, right?”

“Well, what choice does he have? He’s basically cleaning up Ms. Lloyd’s mess. She was the one who pushed Samantha and got her hurt. If Mr. Lewis doesn’t step in and smooth things over, it’ll just get worse.”

“But you have to admit, Samantha’s got some serious tricks up her sleeve. She totally succeeded in luring Mr. Lewis over.”

Cecilia’s expression turned sour as she overheard the gossip. She frowned and couldn’t help but speak up. “Could you guys tone it down a little? What are you even saying? So what if Samantha has tricks? The fact is, she got in the middle of someone else’s relationship!”

“And so what if she did? Ms. Lloyd let it happen.”

“It’s not like she had a choice. Everyone knows Samantha was Mr. Lewis’s first love,” someone else chimed in. “When one’s first love shows up, nobody else matters.”

Rachel didn’t feel the slightest bit angry hearing their chatter. In fact, the more they talked like this, the more it proved how miserable their own lives were. They fed off other people’s pain to feel better about themselves.

Just because she wasn’t angry, it didn’t mean she wanted to listen to all this nonsense.

She stood up slowly from her seat. Her naturally cool gaze swept over the group. She hadn’t even spoken yet, but the aura she gave off was powerful enough.

Everyone immediately fell silent.