Chapter 42
Rachel woke up with a pounding headache, still feeling the remnants of last night's hangover.
She rubbed her temples and sat up, the blanket slipping off her shoulders. A chill ran through her as she realized she was only in a camisole.
"What the hell happened?" she muttered, trying to piece together the blurry memories.
Just as she was about to get out of bed, she noticed a man sleeping next to her. His bare chest and handsome face left her speechless.
She vaguely remembered drinking too much and hearing Michael's voice. Did she really hook up with a random guy because she was so upset?
The thought of sleeping with a stranger made her cringe. She grabbed her clothes from the chair and quickly changed, planning to leave some money behind, but her bag was nowhere to be found.
When she tried to leave her number on a sticky note, she saw a string of numbers already written there. Did the guy leave it, thinking she might bail early?
Rachel tore up the note and bolted from the room. Half an hour later, after a quick shower at home, she took a cab to the office, still reeling from the one-night stand.
As soon as she stepped out of the cab, a swarm of reporters surrounded her, shoving cameras and microphones in her face. The air buzzed with urgency and overlapping voices.
"Ms. Williams, who is the man in that audio clip?" one reporter shouted, his voice full of curiosity and accusation.
"The voice doesn't match the previous male model's. Can you explain?" another pressed, her tone sharp.
"Ms. Williams, are you at Skyline Corporation for work, or are you using your position as vice president to seduce men?" a third questioned, his voice dripping with insinuation.
The reporters bombarded her with pointed questions, their eyes gleaming with the anticipation of a scandal.
Rachel had no idea what audio clip they were talking about, but she quickly composed herself, not letting them see any distress, and tried to push through the crowd.
"Excuse me, please let me through," she said, her voice steady despite the chaos.
"Ms. Williams, are you avoiding the question because you're guilty?" one reporter shouted above the din. "We heard you divorced Mr. Smith because of your promiscuous lifestyle," he added, his tone laced with insinuation.
Just then, John pushed through the crowd, wrapping his arm protectively around Rachel. His eyes flashed with anger as he confronted the reporter.
"You said 'heard,' so is it true? I heard you're impotent; is that true?" John retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The reporter's face twisted with anger and embarrassment at John's sharp comeback, the crowd momentarily stunned into silence.
John pushed away the microphones, saying, "The male voice in the audio is mine. If you don't believe me, compare it to my voice. Rachel is my girlfriend. We're dating, but she prefers to keep it low-key. As for the rumors about her and Robert, they're false! We're all friends, and friends having dinner together is normal."
John added, "Also, my girlfriend and Mr. Smith divorced amicably. If you want to talk about affairs, why don't you ask Mr. Smith why he was visiting another woman in the hospital every day before he even divorced Rachel?"
"Alright, I've said my piece. Now, scram! My girlfriend's shy. You won't get any scoop from her. I heard Mr. Smith's getting remarried. Why don't you report on that and earn your bonuses?" John continued, pushing through the reporters and making his way out.
Rachel stayed quiet. With his arm still around her, John bulldozed through the crowd, escorting her into the Skyline Corporation building.
Rachel glanced back at the reporters who hadn't dispersed and gave John a thumbs up. "You're amazing."
If it hadn't been for John's frequent help after her divorce, she would've been in big trouble.
"We've known each other for over twenty years, and you're just now realizing how amazing I am?" John said, wrapping his arm around her as they entered the elevator. After pressing the floor button, he scrutinized Rachel. "You didn't come back last night. Where'd you go without your bag?"
John interrogated, "Were you out seeing another guy?"
Rachel's mind flashed back to the scene she saw that morning, and she felt sheepish.
"I wasn't feeling well last night. I saw you all having fun and didn't want to disturb you, so I left early," Rachel said without blushing, quickly changing the subject. "What's with the audio the reporters mentioned?"
John frowned, pulling out his phone and cursing, "Someone planted a bug in the room last night."
He played the audio for Rachel. The audio was from last night when John was teasing Rachel in the room. Later, Rachel explained the situation to Ella, but the audio had been deliberately cut and mixed with some suggestive sounds, making it sound incriminating.
"Whoever edited this really put in effort," Rachel said with a sneer. "Can we check the surveillance?"
"It's tricky," John admitted. "Too many people were in and out of the room last night. Questioning everyone might not lead anywhere."
Rachel understood, her expression turning serious. However, she had a clear suspect in mind for orchestrating this scandal—Mandy. She had just divorced Michael, had few friends, and almost no enemies.
Mandy had always had issues with Rachel, and last night, John had humiliated Mandy in the room, giving Mandy a motive to act against her.
But there was no evidence to prove Mandy was behind it.
While Rachel was lost in thought, John didn't miss a single expression on her face, sensing something was off. He pressed, "You really didn't find a guy last night?"
Rachel insisted, trying to stay calm. "I didn't. After all, no guy is as handsome as you!"
John was stunned for a few seconds, then looked Rachel up and down, seriously saying, "I do want to comfort you physically, but you're too skinny. I prefer someone more voluptuous, with a big chest and a round butt."
Rachel fell silent. When the elevator doors opened, she rolled her eyes as she walked out first. "If you have nothing to do, go back to your own company. I don't need your help here!"
"Rachel, how heartless!" John exclaimed, trailing after her. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have handled those reporters. Now that you've used me, you don't need me anymore? You're my girlfriend. Even if my company goes bankrupt, you're more important!"
Lily had just finished delivering some documents from Rachel's office when she heard John's words.
Seeing John holding Rachel intimately, her eyes widened. "Ms. Williams, are you two really together?" she asked.
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