“Yes, I can hear you now,” Rachel replied.

There were only a few days left. Honestly, she wasn’t even worried anymore if William found out that her hearing had recovered.

“Well,” Jenny said, “just a few days ago, someone came and said she was the new director at Lewis Enterprise. Said you were tied up, and she was sent in your place to discuss the deal.”

Rachel couldn’t help but sigh. Samantha calling herself the new director–was that just something she made up, or had William told her to say that?

If William had secretly put her up to it, then Cecilia had only ever been a scapegoat. A convenient excuse to clear the path.

No matter what happened that day–whether or not Cecilia had offended Samantha–Cecilia’s job was already lost.

Rachel suddenly remembered something William had said before. Samantha had just moved to Yurelia City, and many of the shareholders were unhappy with how she had been parachuted into the company. If she couldn’t show results soon, her position would be at risk.

If William really had helped Samantha land this project behind the scenes… then Rachel must’ve been truly blind. She had been nothing more than a stepping stone for Samantha.

Rachel snapped out of her thoughts and asked Jenny, “So, the proposal she brought–was your boss satisfied with it?”

“It was the same proposal you showed him last time,” Jenny answered.

For a moment, Rachel felt like she was standing at the edge of a cliff–and someone had just shoved her off. It was like someone had reached into her chest and twisted her heart so hard, she could barely breathe.

She remembered that her laptop had broken down before, and she had sent it for repairs. She had no choice but to use William’s temporarily. She had copied the proposal onto his computer and forgotten to delete it afterward.

Never had Rachel imagined that William would actually give her proposal to Samantha, and allow Samantha to present it to Trinity Enterprise–without saying a word.

What a way to take credit for someone else’s efforts!

William had so many chances to explain it to Rachel, so many opportunities to come clean. Yet, he didn’t say a thing.

He used her work, her ideas–and never even told her.

Was she just not worth telling?

“That’s all. Thanks,” Rachel said quietly. “I’m hanging up now.”

She ended the call distractedly, her mind elsewhere. For a few seconds, she stood frozen; then, she finally decided to go look for Samantha.

Samantha was at her desk, surrounded by a stack of documents. She looked completely swamped, barely staying afloat as a colleague came over to ask her for some data.

Without even looking up, Samantha frowned sharply, her expression cold–nothing like the sweet, obedient face she usually wore in front of William.

“Can’t you pull the data yourself? Can’t you see I’m busy?” she snapped.

“But when Ms. Lloyd was here,” the woman replied carefully, “she said she kept all the data ready. We could just ask her directly. It saved us from repeating steps.”

Samantha paused for a few seconds, then set down her papers and let out a dry laugh.

“Ms. Lloyd sure spoiled you all. Didn’t even make you do the basic work. But now I’m the department director, and what I say goes. From now on, you pull your own data. The company didn’t hire you to sit around and be pampered.”

She looked up sharply. “If you’re too lazy to pull the data, maybe Ms. Lloyd should’ve just done the whole project for you.” The woman looked stunned. It was probably the first time she had seen Samantha, who usually acted like a harmless little bunny, being this harsh. Her expression cycled between pale and ashen, taken aback by the sudden shift.

Samantha glanced to the side and noticed the woman was still standing there.

Her voice rose sharply. “What are you still doing here? Go pull the data!”

The woman turned in a panic and rushed toward the door–only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw Rachel standing there.

“Ms. Lloyd…” Her voice trembled, almost on the verge of tears. Realising Rachel was no longer the department director, she quickly corrected herself. “I mean… R–Rachel, I should get back to work.”

Rachel gently took her arm and leaned in to whisper, “I have the data for that project. Come see me later.”

The woman whispered back, “Thank you, Rachel.”

Then, she quickly slipped out, closing the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Samantha stood up and immediately switched into her usual sweet, agreeable act. Her hands moved awkwardly as she tried to sign.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, Rachel. These team members are just too lazy! They don’t even bother checking the data for their own projects. Instead, they expect me to do it. If everyone acted like that lady, I might as well become the team’s personal data assistant, don’t you think?”