“You look more like yourself today.”

Tyler sat up, grabbed a cigarette from the nightstand, lit it, and tapped the ash into the ashtray. Since he had just woken up, his voice sounded even deeper and huskier than usual.

Rachel loved hearing him speak in this voice. She picked up a pearl earring and held it up in front of the mirror. “Your family probably doesn’t like how I usually dress. For the sake of your reputation, I’ve got to at least pretend a little.”

If Tyler hadn’t been treating her decently, she wouldn’t even bother playing along. She firmly believed that if someone truly liked you, they would like you no matter what you wore or did. If they didn’t like you, nothing you did would ever be good enough.

“You don’t have to do that. Just be yourself,” Tyler said casually.

That surprised Rachel a little. Tyler was being unusually easygoing.

Still, it was one thing for him to say that. What she actually had to do was another. Basic manners and etiquette still mattered. She didn’t want anyone nitpicking and blaming her parents for not raising her right. She could lose face, fine, but she wouldn’t let Jim and the others get dragged down with her.

Besides, she was already done with her makeup. Tyler’s opinion came a bit late. Rachel finished applying her lipstick and stood up. She recalled the spending spree from yesterday. At first, she thought Tyler deliberately didn’t mention it, maybe waiting for her to bring it up herself.

After thinking it over, she decided she should be the one to speak up. She had bought those things impulsively after all. “You saw the bill from yesterday, didn’t you?”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah. Why?”

“Cecilia’s children needed a tablet. She couldn’t bring herself to buy one, so I used your card. I’ll transfer the money to you later.”

Tyler answered offhandedly, “It’s fine. It’s just a tablet.”

Rachel was taken aback. “You’re not mad I spent your money on someone else?” Just then, Tyler’s phone buzzed. It looked like work.

“Yeah. Go ahead and have breakfast.”

Tyler took one last drag from his cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray, and got up. Rachel went downstairs to find that Wanda had already made breakfast. The delicious smell filled the air, and her stomach growled audibly.

The sound echoed through the living room. She exchanged a glance with Wanda, both of them breaking into slightly awkward smiles.

“Ms. Lloyd,” Wanda called out, “come have a seat and eat.”

“Thank you, Wanda.” Rachel sat down and was just about to pick up her fork when her phone buzzed. It was a call from Cecilia. She swiped to answer.

“What’s up?”

“The sky’s falling, that’s what! You snatched William’s project, and now he’s found out you’re planning to cut ties with the Lloyd family. He leaked that info to Sky Tech Enterprise. Now that they know you won’t be in charge—and it might be Yvette instead—they’re threatening to pull out. They’re even accusing us of contract fraud, saying we used the deal to pull projects for Lloyd Enterprise and didn’t protect the interests of our partners!”

Rachel frowned. “When did this happen?”

“Just now! Rachel, why did you get into a fight with the Lloyd family and talk about severing ties? Isn’t that a bit much?”

Just hearing it made Rachel furious again. “They tried to marry me off to Howard!”

“Howard? Are they insane?! That’s like throwing you into a pit of fire! Why didn’t you tell me when we met yesterday?”

Rachel shoved a sandwich into her mouth. It was a big deal, sure, but she still needed to eat. Food first, war later.