William yanked Howard up by the collar, but instead of backing off, Howard even leaned in a little closer to deliberately provoke William.

No matter how furious William was, there was nothing he could do to Howard. The Lewis family simply couldn’t compete with the Ziegler family.

That was when Jim stepped in. He pulled William back and tried to smooth things over.

“William, let go. Howard was just joking around.”

William glared at Howard with barely restrained rage before finally releasing him. He turned to Rachel and signed, “Don’t take what he said to heart. It’s not true.”

Rachel didn’t speak this time. Instead, she began signing back, “What did he say? He spoke too fast. I couldn’t catch it.” William saw what she meant, and his expression relaxed slightly. “It was nothing. Just a stupid joke.”

“I see.” Rachel nodded calmly. The truth was, she’d understood perfectly well what Howard had said. She just didn’t want to embarrass anyone.

As for whatever William was doing outside their relationship, she no longer cared.

William’s phone lit up with an incoming call. Rachel saw him decline it, but whoever was calling was persistent because the phone rang again and again.

By the third call, William finally answered with a look of irritation.

“I told you I had something going on today, didn’t I?”

Rachel couldn’t hear what the caller was saying, but she could tell it was a woman’s voice. Most likely, it was Samantha.

William eventually stood up, covering the receiver with his hand, and walked over to Rachel. He mouthed the words, “It’s something from work. I need to take this.”

“Okay.” Rachel didn’t stop him.

William walked out of the hall with his phone.

Meanwhile, Howard had turned to Jim. “Gerald’s got a big birthday party coming up this week. I’m here to hand out the invitations. Thought I’d invite everyone to join the fun.”

He tilted his head to look past Jim and over at Rachel, where she stood at the foot of the stairs.

“You’re invited too, Rachel.”

Rachel nodded. “I’ll be there.”

After all, she was leaving tomorrow anyway. She could agree now and still stand him up.

Howard seemed to remember something else and walked over to her. He casually leaned against the staircase railing and looked her up and down with that same playful smirk.

“Rachel, you really ought to reconsider being with me. Look at William. That coward doesn’t even dare speak up. Trust me, he won’t protect you.

“You stick with me, and I promise no one in Yurelia City will ever dare lay a finger on you. We almost did it the last time. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I got back.

“Other women don’t even interest me anymore. If this goes on, I think I’m going to lose my edge. Rachel, you’ve got to take responsibility for that.”

Chapter 281 +25 BONUS

Rachel was absolutely disgusted. Apart from William and Samantha, it was scumbags like Howard that made her wish she really were deaf. She wouldn’t have to hear all this filth then.

But there was one thing Howard had gotten right. William couldn’t protect her.

Howard was already openly harassing her, and William couldn’t even lay a finger on him.

Rachel glared at him with revulsion. “Howard, today is an important day for my mother. Don’t say disgusting things like that in our house.”

“Oh right, your mom’s big day,” Howard said. “Relocating her grave, aren’t you? Totally slipped my mind. You should’ve said something. I’ll pay my respects to her later. But hey, let’s be real, if it weren’t for her butting in back then, you’d already be my wife.

“Hell, maybe if she hadn’t broken us up, she’d still be alive today. Meddling in people’s relationships surely brings some bad karma!”

“Howard, shut your mouth!” Rachel was shaking with rage. Her hand trembled as she raised it, ready to slap him.