Rachel took a deep breath. “I had something to discuss with Mr. Hunt.”

Helena rolled her eyes and muttered, “LS Enterprise is our company’s biggest rival. As the project director, it doesn’t look good for you to be too close to Mr. Hunt. People will start questioning things.”

“What was it about?” William’s sharp gaze locked onto Rachel. “This isn’t just your personal matter anymore. It’s about the whole team. You need to explain yourself.”

Rachel’s stomach dropped.

The way William looked at her and questioned her made her feel like she was being interrogated. Because of a single comment from Samantha, he now assumed Rachel was thinking of switching companies. He was convinced she had gone to Tyler to discuss it.

Rachel’s expression stayed neutral. “I can’t answer that right now.”

With the situation as messy as it was, any excuse she gave would sound wrong.

Besides, the relationship between Lewis Enterprise and LS Enterprise was delicate. Rachel hadn’t asked William or Tyler about their past, but she could tell there was tension between them. The two obviously didn’t get along.

William’s gaze grew more serious. “This is your only chance to clear your name, Ms. Lloyd.”

Rachel hesitated. She saw the warning in William’s eyes. This was the last chance he was offering her to prove herself.

Her eyelashes fluttered as she finally said, “Mr. Lewis, you believe Samantha when she says I’m planning to leave, but why don’t you believe me when I tell you otherwise?”

William’s brow furrowed deeper. “This isn’t about whether I believe you. This is about the company’s interests. It’s not just an explanation to me, it’s to the entire company. It’s about you being responsible for your role here.”

Rachel’s last bit of hope vanished with that sentence. So, in his heart, just a few words from Samantha were enough to destroy seven years of trust and love. She had come to her senses now.

She took a deep breath, then nodded slowly before saying, “I told you, it’s personal. I’m not ready to discuss it. As for the Trinity Project, I’m not going to deny that I made a mistake.”

Helena spoke up: “It’s not surprising you have the confidence to act like this, Ms. Lloyd. After all, you’re Mr. Lewis’ wife; no one can touch you. If anyone else acted like this, they’d have been fired by now.”

Rachel shut her eyes for a moment to collect herself, then opened them again and turned to face the group.

“Don’t worry. Your boss will never play favorites,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He was very fair indeed. So fair, in fact, that the scale in his heart had already tipped completely toward Samantha.

Just then, Samantha came rushing in from outside, slightly out of breath.

“William, we got the contract with Trinity Enterprise. Good thing I made it in time!” she declared.

A faint light flickered in William’s dark eyes. “You secured the contract?”

“Yep, here it is,” Samantha replied, handing it over.

William’s furrowed brow slowly relaxed. “Good work. Thank you.”

That was when Samantha noticed Rachel standing there and walked over to her.

“Rachel, if something like this comes up next time and you can’t attend a meeting, just let me know in advance. I can help. But this is a company matter. If anything goes wrong, none of us can afford the responsibility. You’ll drag William down with you,” she said, trying to sound like she was being helpful.

Chapter 24

“Exactly. Because of your mistake today, we almost lost everything. If the project falls through, we’ll all have to take the fall for you,” Helena added, nodding in agreement. “Even if you’re Mr. Lewis’ wife, you can’t just do whatever you want. If it weren’t for Samantha stepping in, I wonder how you would have explained this to the company.”

Chapter 25