Chapter 543

As soon as Tyler spoke, William finally shut up.

Rachel didn’t even need to press further. She already understood what that meant. William had lied to her. The barbecue shop owner hadn’t moved his stand for William’s sake. It was all because of Tyler.

Rachel clenched her fists, veins bulging slightly across the back of her hand. All these years, she had trusted William–and in the end, it had all been a lie. She took a deep breath. Her eyes filled with contempt as she looked at him.

“William, there are so many people here. Do you really feel no shame at all?”

She didn’t need any more proof. She was absolutely certain now that William had lied. The only thing she couldn’t quite figure out was why Tyler had helped her back then. After all, they barely even knew each other at the time. But now wasn’t the time for those questions.

William’s expression turned dark. With so many relatives watching, he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and disappear.

A few people tried to break the tension.

“Alright, since Tyler’s already made up his mind, maybe we should just respect that. There’s no point in pushing it further now.”

“Exactly. Today is Mr. Thomas’ birthday. Since we’re all here, let’s take our seats.”

“Yes, yes. Let’s go sit down.”

“We’re here to celebrate Mr. Thomas’ 80th birthday. Hopefully, we’ll all be back together for his 90th!”

Just like that, the awkward atmosphere was temporarily defused. Everyone knew that with Tyler’s personality, continuing to escalate things would only backfire. If it got out of hand, none of them would be able to clean up the mess.

Just then, Mrs. Jones, one of the maids, came over.

“Everyone, feel free to look around for now. When dinner is ready, I’ll come get you. You’re welcome to stroll through the garden until then.”

“Right, let’s take a walk in the garden. We’ll come back when it’s time to eat.”

Tyler leaned forward slightly and asked Rachel, “Do you want to stay here, or come outside with me?”

“I’d rather go with you.”

Even if no one said anything out loud, Rachel could feel the way they were looking at her–like they wanted to swallow her whole.

“Let’s just get out of here.”

Tyler nodded. “I assume I won’t need to lead the way. You probably know this place better than I do.”

Rachel didn’t know whether to feel proud or just awkward–something about the way he said it didn’t exactly sound like a compliment.

The two of them walked out of the living room together.

From behind, Thomas watched them leave. He was so angry, he gripped his cane and muttered through clenched jaws, “What a disgrace to the family-”

Meanwhile, William could only turn to him for help.

“Grandpa, you have to do something! We can’t let Rachel and Tyler end up together. If word of this gets out, it’ll ruin our company’s reputation.”

William knew that on his own, he had no way of stopping Tyler or separating the two. He wasn’t a match for Tyler, not in power or influence. If there was anyone who could change Tyler’s mind, it was Thomas.

Thomas sighed helplessly.

“What do you expect me to do? You know your uncle’s temper. He’s not someone you can talk down to. You were the one who insisted on marrying Rachel in the first place. I told you back then she wasn’t the right kind of woman. She was deaf at the time. You two getting together was already the talk of the town. I warned you not to go too far with it, but you wouldn’t listen. And now? Look at the mess you’ve made!”