Chapter 703

Tyler stepped forward and patted her back lightly.

“Look at you. No one’s fighting you for it. Why are you drinking so fast? Relax, it’s all yours.”

But Rachel barely heard him. Once she caught her breath, she instinctively looked up at him.

“Since when did you have old flames? Haven’t you been single for years?”

People in Yurelia City nearly started suspecting his sexual orientation.

Tyler raised a brow in amusement. “Does an old flame have to mean I actually dated them? What if it was someone who liked me but never said anything? Maybe she just watched from the shadows and waited for the chance to help me out?”

Rachel nearly wanted to slap herself on the spot. If Tyler ever found out she was the one feeding him projects, would he think she secretly had a crush on him?

That’d be insane!

She fired back without mercy.

“Tyler, your narcissism really needs work. For all you know, this person could be a guy, not necessarily some woman pining after you.”

The smile lingering in Tyler’s eyes froze the moment she finished speaking.

“Our company’s surveillance system was sabotaged. The tech team couldn’t fix it, so they’ve been dismissed. And those three overseas contracts? Someone forged my handwriting and stamped them with our seal.”

Rachel forced herself to keep sipping her wine, feigning indifference.

“So what? Did you lose anything?”

“Nothing,” Tyler admitted calmly.

Rachel’s tone was casual. “Then what’s the problem? If there’s no loss, why stress? And if the contracts are clean, why not sign them? Tyler, can’t you let go of your bias for once? Try being a little rational. Your company’s on the brink of collapse, and instead of patching the hole, you’re obsessing over investigating some overseas partner. Don’t complicate things. Maybe it really is just someone trying to help you.”

Tyler cast her a cool, sidelong glance.

“Why does it sound so strange coming from you?”

Rachel blinked. “What’s strange about it?”

“If I recall correctly, back when you were at Lewis Enterprise, you treated contracts with the same scrutiny, as if you were reading them through a magnifying glass. I remember your colleagues saying that the deals you handled never had issues. But projects signed by others? Always trouble, one way or another.”

His eyes narrowed.

“And now, that same meticulous woman is telling me to launch a project without hesitation?”

That was when Rachel realized Tyler’s focus wasn’t even on the project. He was testing her.

Her heart skipped a beat. This man was terrifying. If she hadn’t caught on, she’d have walked right into his trap again.

But the words were already out. She couldn’t take them back. She could only try to steer around it.

She spread her hands with a helpless look.

“Your situation now is unusual. We have to adopt unusual methods. I’ll just ask you this. Is there anything wrong with the contracts? Anything in their proposal that dissatisfies you?”

“No, but I don’t believe in free lunches.”

On this point, he had always been uncompromising. And now, with everything that had happened, there was no way he would dive into the project lightly.