“Someone snatched the right to manage Project Oasis!”

“What?!”

William was bewildered to hear the news, and his face darkened.

Rachel’s heart started racing.

Tyler made his move so swiftly. He just had a car chase with Howard, and barely two hours had passed–and yet, he already got hold of Project Oasis?

This man was frightening indeed! Many were vying for the rights to manage Project Oasis, but all of them failed.

William never expected to lose the rights to manage Project Oasis so easily. He had urged Samantha to nail down the details and begin execution as soon as she could, lest something bad happen.

Project Oasis, being a public welfare project, was therefore not bound by many terms and conditions. Anyone could fight for the management rights. If the people in charge were satisfied, they would sign the contract. The only thing affected would be the allocation of work.

“Which company was it?” William asked.

Arsen hesitated, then stammered, “It’s… It’s Mr. Hunt of LS Enterprise.”

“Tyler Hunt?!” William roared. “I’ll head over right now! Gather everyone for an emergency meeting!”

“Yes, sir!”

After hanging up, William gestured anxiously to Rachel.

“Bad news! Tyler seized the rights to manage Project Oasis. I’ve got to rush back to the office right now.”

William hurriedly put on his shoes.

“Come with me.”

Rachel readily agreed. “Sure. I’ll see if there’s anything I can help with.”

Both of them rushed to Lewis Enterprise. When they arrived, all their colleagues had gathered in a room, abuzz with hushed discussions.

“What’s going on? Didn’t we talk about launching Project Oasis just two days ago? How did someone else snatch the management rights for it? The media’s probably all over the news right now. We’ll certainly be in the headlines tomorrow for getting the project snatched right under our noses!”

“This is all a big joke!”

“I’ll be so embarrassed to say that I’m working for LS Enterprise. We’ll be the butt of everyone’s jokes for making such a blunder!”

“Who do you think will have to take responsibility for this?”

“Who else but the person-in-charge? Whoever is overseeing the project will have to shoulder the responsibility.”

“What bad luck for Ms. Judd. She barely became the director for two days, and something so rotten happened. I wonder if she’ll be able to hold on to her position.”

“You’re thinking too much. She’s Mr. Lewis‘ first love, the woman of his dreams. How could he allow anything to happen to her?"

Rachel subconsciously glanced at William.

Chapter 56

+25 BONUS

His sharp, handsome features had an icy, impersonal veil over them. His lips were pursed, and he clearly looked upset.

Rachel couldn’t be sure if he was upset because Tyler had seized the management rights of Project Oasis from him, or because people were gossiping about Samantha.

What William did next gave her the answer she was looking for.

He stepped forward, his incisive gaze sweeping across the room as he snapped icily, “Is it your place to be talking about your superior like this?”

Everyone fell silent and returned to their seats. The atmosphere in the room was so tense, you could cut it with a knife.

From the fierce look in William’s eyes, anyone could tell that he was at the peak of his anger.

“Anyone who dares gossip about their superior will be fired immediately!”

Rachel looked impassively at William defending Samantha so fiercely, blatantly protecting his first love just because he thought Rachel couldn’t hear him.