“It looks nice,” Rachel replied flatly.

Samantha stood there, still trying to appear embarrassed. “Rachel, please don’t misunderstand. I really didn’t mean anything by it. I actually tried to turn the bracelet down, but your mother-in-law insisted. I couldn’t say no.”

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed and began neatly putting the supplies back into the first-aid kit.

“It’s nothing. If she wants to give it to someone, that’s her business. It’s just a bracelet. She doesn’t need anyone’s permission.” She glanced at Samantha in surprise. “Is this the first time someone’s given you something that valuable?”

The pride that had just started to glow in Samantha’s eyes immediately dimmed. Her expression stiffened.

She blinked. “Of course not. William’s given me plenty of things before. Necklaces, for example, and the Eternal Heart pendant was from him too.”

“Oh? You two seem really close,” Rachel remarked. However, her expression remained calm as ever. It was as if she was talking about someone completely unrelated to her.

Samantha must have sensed something off. She quickly forced a smile. “Rachel, don’t take it the wrong way. William and I are just friends. He’s always seen me as his little sister.”

The sarcasm in Rachel’s smirk was impossible to hide.

‘Yeah, a special kind of sister,’ she thought to herself.

She stood and walked right up to Samantha. Her gaze briefly landed on the bandage on Samantha’s forehead. She slowly reached up and lightly ran her fingers along the edge of the gauze.

Something about Rachel’s touch sent an involuntary chill down Samantha’s spine. Her whole body tensed, and her voice trembled.

“Rachel, what are you doing?”

Rachel’s expression was ice-cold. “Why did you say I pushed you? You know it was Howard. Ms. Judd, you might want to be careful. Lying too often comes with consequences.”

For once, Samantha was speechless. She usually had a quick answer for everything, but now she just stood there in stunned silence.

“I know you want to be with William,” Rachel added. “But you don’t need to go behind my back and play these games. I’m not trying to fight you for him.”

Rachel’s fingers suddenly pressed down on the injury beneath the bandage, making Samantha wince and hiss in pain.

“Ouch!”

Samantha instinctively clutched at her wound. Her face turned pale as she stumbled back. There was something different in Rachel’s eyes. There was no longer just cool indifference, but something much more sinister. It felt like she was holding a blade to Samantha’s throat.

Samantha staggered. Her knees almost gave out. “What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to take a closer look at your injury. You said I pushed you, didn’t you? I had to see how serious it was.”

Rachel took two steps closer and gently cupped Samantha’s face in her hands. Her fingers found the wound again, and this time, she pressed hard enough to make Samantha cry out.

“Ahh!”

Only then did Rachel finally pull away.

Chapter 190

“It hurts, doesn’t it? You should really be more careful. Liars tend to pay for their lies.”

Samantha’s legs buckled as she stumbled back. At that moment, the bedroom door swung open, and William stepped in just in time to catch her before she collapsed.

He frowned and looked down at her. “What happened?”

“I-”

“Ms. Judd came to show me the bracelet. I noticed the gauze on her forehead was bleeding through. Since I had supplies on hand, I was about to replace it for her, but she was worried I wouldn’t do it right,” Rachel cut in smoothly before Samantha could respond.

Samantha froze. She was still shaken from what just happened and had no chance to defend herself.

William glanced down and saw the growing red stain on the white gauze.

He gently took Samantha’s wrist. “Go downstairs. Mrs. Jones will take care of it for you.”

Samantha nodded.

William helped her to the door and called down to one of the maids to tend to her.