"And?" Gabriel asked Mark as he returned.
"She seemed alright." Mark said honestly. "Not great, but alright. When I popped over, they had some takeaway."
"I'm glad that she's eating." Gabriel said in thought.
"She did ask about Eva." Mark said carefully. "She was worried that Eva overheard your argument and that Eva was upset with Claire."
Gabriel scoffed with disbelief.
"Eva is still in awe that Claire is being Claire." Gabriel smiled. "She laughed when Claire stormed off with two vintage bottles of wine, and Claire being the smart one, she took the finest bottles I've had with her, which only impressed Eva further." Gabriel looked down at his desk and the piles of paper on it. "Eva still doesn't know though. I don't know how to break it to her."
"Well, Claire's method worked, didn't it? It was fast and effective, but rather shocking."
"Yeah, but that's Claire. I am not nearly as brave as her." Gabriel said with a sigh. "Any updates on the media?"
"Well…" Mark hesitated. "We haven't found anyone responsible for the initial leak, and… I think someone is keeping the media going. I'm working on suppressing the news but every time I shut down a site, two more pop up. We're at the world scale now."
"No suspects?"
"Not yet."
Gabriel hid his face in his hands.
"If I release the statement, I doubt it'll be taken well."
"It won't." Mark agreed with him. "Not with how quickly this is spreading. It's gone viral."
"Is it really that newsworthy?"
"Well, it's you." Mark said with a smirk.
"I've spent my entire life laying low. I had no affairs, or real scandals, I didn't mix with a bad crowd. Why?"
"People like to glorify the lives of the rich."
Gabriel sighed at this, exhausted from the day, and increasingly anxious over the situation that started to feel out of control, never mind Claire's well-being.
Claire barely slept, even though Zoe snored on the bed beside her. Her mind was wandering further and further. She couldn't stop worrying over the lawsuit, and the stress of the swarms of reporters only made it worse, and the guilt over not starting with Gabriel's sister on a better foot. Not like it mattered anyways. She had two to four weeks before Gabriel was going to ditch her, or maybe even two to four weeks to live, if she's lucky, of course, to not be caught by Michael Moore any earlier. Part of her started to wonder if he was the one responsible for the scandal to ruin her completely. For the past few hours, it seemed that there were more and more news headlines that sounded like 'Claire Thompson, who is she and what is she doing with Gabriel Moore?'. Claire read the headlines again, trying to ask herself those questions. Who was she and what was she doing with Gabriel? She didn't know the answer. There was no logical answer she could give. She was no one, as proven by so many through her life, and yet, she married no other than Gabriel Moore, whose family was her sworn enemy. He should've been her enemy. He should've tried to kill her. Maybe he did? Maybe it was a long con? Claire quietly left Zoe's bedroom finding the way to the garden. She sat down on the step, sighing deeply, tearing down. She was only wearing Zoe's pyjamas, feeling the refreshing cold of the night. But she didn't care. She felt like she deserved to be miserable.
The phone that Mark gave her earlier in the evening vibrated, and Claire looked down at it. 'I know things are messy right now, but I hope that you can get some sleep, even if you're away from me.'
Claire stared at the message as a smile crept on her face. The following message pinged through almost immediately.
'I can see that you've read the message. Are you safe and somewhat okay?'
'I'm fine.' Claire replied shortly.
'That's good. I hope we can talk it through soon. Take care of yourself.' His messages stopped for a moment before the last one came through. 'I love you and miss you.'
Claire looked at a message silently, unable to get herself to reply to it.
The following morning, Claire was surprised by Eva not long after she came into the office.
"Good morning, Claire." Eva smiled at her brightly.
"Good morning, Eva." Claire answered, staring at a woman her age, walking in cheerfully.
"Two things." Eva said as she walked up to the desk. "I hope the wine was good and here's a coffee to help with an after-effect." Eva placed a cup in front of Claire. "And two, my brother can be a bit of a dick so take as much wine out of his cellar as you want. I can help you burn his house down too."
"What?" Claire looked at Eva in disbelief.
"Look, I don't know exactly what's going on, but from what I gathered, you're getting lots of hate from the media because of my brother. Now, I may just have a solution."
"Go on." Claire looked at her curiously.
"See this?" Eva took a platinum card out of her jacket. "That's Gabriel's personal card and I suggest that we use it and have one heck of a night out."
"What?" Claire asked in disbelief.
"I'm suggesting that after work, tonight, we go out. Invite all of your girlfriends too."
"I'm not sure whether that's a good idea." Claire said carefully.
"If I know one thing, it's that if you want to get at a man, you should just have fun."
Claire contemplated Eva's words realising that it definitely wasn't going to have any effect on Gabriel. He wouldn't care for her spending his money, and he wouldn't stop her from going out as long as she was safe.
"I don't…" Claire sighed looking at Eva who was very eager to be Claire's friend, which Claire didn't quite understand. "Okay." Claire nodded. "We can meet up at 6 pm." Claire offered.
"I know just the place." Eva winked. "Here's my phone number. Drop me a message when you're done for today." Eva trotted out of the room. Claire picked up a small business card with 'Evelyn Moore, Director of Finance, Williams & Sons Accounting'.
"Good morning, Claire dear." Gabriel said as he walked in. He had a shy smile on his face. "I've brought you coffee." He said but his smile vanished as he noticed the same cup of coffee on Claire's desk. "Sorry, I didn't realise that you already have one."
"Your sister brought it." Claire said, still looking at Eva's business card.
"Oh." Gabriel wasn't sure what to say.
"Look, I'm not going to argue over this." Claire said with a sigh. "I wanted you to release the statement as you're the one holding much more power than I am. But I get that it's not that simple. I am stressed out and I need some time to cool off." Claire explained quickly.
"I understand. I'm sorry that I've made it seem like I don't care about the effect it has on you. I really do. I've been working with the PR team and their advice was to wait it out, hence I've decided it was best not to act on it. I am sorry that it has such an impact on you."
"Mark told you, didn't he?" Claire asked with a sneer.
"Don't blame him. I might've pushed him to tell me what happened." Gabriel said as he walked around the desk. "Why didn't you tell me what happened?" He squatted by Claire's chair and grabbed her hand.
"I didn't want you to worry." Claire said honestly. "Besides, I think you've punched enough of people recently."
"I-…" Gabriel wanted to protest but he realised that she was right. He did lose his cool several times too many around her. "I see." He nodded looking down.
"I'd still like you to release a statement though." Claire said in thought. "At least in regards to our working relationship. You don't have to comment on our personal matters if you don't want to."
"I'll see." Gabriel said with a sigh.
"Did you tell Eva?" Claire changed a subject.
"No, I haven't. I wanted to deal with our issues first." Gabriel smiled weakly.
"Do you plan to tell her?"
"Of course. I'm proud to have you as my wife and Eva adores you."
"I'm confused by her."
"Why?"
"She brought me coffee and invited me on the night out." Claire said with a slight chuckle. "After seeing me name-call her brother and steal his vintage wine."
"You didn't steal the wine. It's equally yours as it is mine. I hope it was good though. You did pick the highest-end stuff." Gabriel smiled as he sat down on the floor beside her.
"Disappointingly, I've lost one bottle to concrete on the way to Zoe's." Claire admitted. "The other one was alright, but not worth the price."
"You've lost a £100'000 bottle of wine to the concrete?" Gabriel raised his brows.
"I've tripped." Claire said with a sigh. "I did cry over it if that makes it any better."
"No, it doesn't." Gabriel shook his head. "Did you hurt yourself?"
"Just scraped my knee." Claire admitted.
"Let me see." Gabriel said as he reached out for her leg. "Where?"
"It's nothing." Claire laughed as Gabriel tried to work out where she scraped her knee through the black tights that she was wearing.
"I'll kiss them both." He decided to peck both of her knees. "And don't cry over spilt wine. I'll get you more if you'd like."
"I'm already drinking more than I should so that's probably not the best idea."
"Maybe not." Gabriel let go of her legs. "Are you going out with Eva then?"
"She was VERY persuasive."
"She likes you."
"Yeah, I still don't get that."
"She idolises you. You're the first woman she ever saw in my proximity, and the first person to have the guts to stand up to me. You're her hero."
"That's a little bothersome, isn't it?" Claire asked with furrowed brows.
"Quite possibly."
"I should probably warn you that Eva has your…"
"My card. I know." Gabriel smiled.
"How?"
"Well, she is smart but it turns out that I'm smarter. I've hinted at the card and you guys hanging out last night."
"Wow, sublime messaging in real life?"
"Exactly." Gabriel nodded. "Use it and have fun."
"And Eva thinks that me going out with her will be a punishment for you." Claire laughed.
"Well, I would prefer to be there with you but I'll let you off for tonight. And I'd be more than honoured if you'll use my card and spend our money for once."
"Eva will, I won't." Claire shook her head quickly.
"Why do you keep wearing heels?" Gabriel mused, gently caressing Claire's feet.
"Because they look nice. Or so I was told. And it makes me feel more confident."
"They don't look comfortable."
"Why are you sitting on the floor anyways? There are plenty of chairs in here." Claire said pointing at the four chairs across her office.
"I didn't think it through. I just wanted to be next to you and now I don't want to move to get a chair."
"You're being ridiculous." Claire rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I know." Gabriel nodded. "Please use the card to go out tonight."
"What? Why?"
"It'll make Eva happy that she's helping you get back at me."
"I don't want to get back at you, Gabriel."
"You should." Gabriel smiled. "I'm a self-righteous asshole after all."
"Well, yes, a bit, sometimes. But…" Claire let out a sigh. "As long s it wasn't you leaking the photos of us from Sunday, this whole situation isn't your fault. I never had reporters and paparazzi in my face before so I never knew how bad they can get."
"They're vultures. They will exploit anyone for publicity, no matter how innocent or private they are."
"Should probably get used to it if I am to be with great Gabriel Moore." Claire laughed.
"I'm sorry. Being with me brings you nothing more than grief." Gabriel looked down sadly.
"Hey, don't be like that." Claire laughed grabbing his hand. "After all, without you, I wouldn't meet Eva and now I have a fan all on my own."
"Yeah, this might not be the best thing for you." Gabriel admitted. "She can be a little… I don't know."
"What are you going to do all on your own tonight? The house to yourself?" Claire asked curiously.
"I was wondering if I shouldn't see Jacque and Matthew. Maybe Alex if he doesn't want to kill me anymore."
"That sounds like a good idea. Be nice to Alex!"
"I'll try." Gabriel smiled. "Would you like to get lunch together?"
"Not until the scandal dies down. I don't really want to be seen with you in public right now."
"Okay. I understand." Gabriel nodded. He looked at his watch and huffed with dissatisfaction. "I need to get going. I have a meeting with investors this morning and I still need to prepare for it."
"Good luck." Claire said earnestly.
Gabriel stood up, at last, smiling at Claire but his eyes showed some pain. He knew that Claire was getting hurt because of him and he didn't have any control over it. He couldn't tell her that someone purposely tried to hurt her and he didn't have enough power to overcome it straight away. He was about to leave but there was one more question that was lingering on his mind.
"Hey, are we okay?" Gabriel asked, turning around just before he was to leave.
"Well, no." Claire laughed. "We are two very broken people. But otherwise, yeah, I think so. Why?"
"I'm just not sure whether you can see past it…"
"I am not going to leave you over it." Claire said gently. "Wouldn't be surprised if you would though."
"Of course not." Gabriel shook his head eagerly. "I know disagreements are normal but it feels like we're butting our heads a lot, and… I don't like seeing you this stressed out but I don't know how to back down."
"Don't." Claire said quickly. "I've said before that I need a bit of spice. It might be a bit much at the moment, but we'll make it through. At least until the next thing comes along, but we'll work it out when we get there."
"I love you, Claire." Gabriel said softly.
"I know." Claire smiled smugly which made Gabriel laugh. He left the office in a much better mood that morning.
Claire held onto the business card throughout the day, still hesitating. Part of her was a little scared of Eva as she wondered if she was more like her father than Gabriel, but part of her was curious to meet a person that grew up alongside Gabriel. She was Gabriel's sister after all.
She briefly spoke to Gina and Zoe who both were eager to meet Eva, and even more eager for a long overdue catch-up.
Not long after 5 pm, Claire dropped Eva a message, who responded within seconds as if she was waiting by the phone to hear from Claire - which she did. Eva was the type of woman who, once she set her mind, would get what she wanted, and as soon as she came across Claire, she decided to befriend her. She might've been a denier of love at first sight but she was a firm believer in friends at first sight. Claire was her type of person - outspoken, brash, courageous, and strong. At least on the outside. Eva was already curious about what Claire's mind was hiding, completely oblivious of the truth and what was right before her. As far as she understood it, the scandal was a misunderstanding at best, but she knew her brother enough to know that he liked Claire. Now, she needed to work out how much Claire hated him and whether she could play a matchmaker. One thing bothered her though, she heard Claire being referred to as Mrs Thompson. She needed to work out if Claire was in a relationship first, and what better way of making Claire open up than getting her tipsy or even drunk?
Eva was pleased with her cunning plan, smiling at the phone as soon as Claire send her a message, ready to execute her well-thought-through idea.
Claire was nervous to meet Eva, but having Zoe and Gina with her was reassuring. She gave them heads-ups that Eva didn't know of Claire's and Gabriel's relationship and they were keen to play that game, Gina for the sake of Claire and Zoe to see how long it'll take for Eva to put things together.
They met in the local bar which had probably the most overpriced drinks in the city. Eva was keen to buy the drinks using Gabriel's card, not realising that Claire swapped it for her own card which looked identical - after all, it was to access the same account but in that way, Claire could view her online banking statements and send the money back as soon as she could, so that Gabriel's finances didn't suffer because of her. Not like they would, the account had a disposable amount equal to millions for a single transfer, which was more than anything they could drink that night.
At first, they had a very superficial conversation, talking about the weather and some new places that opened up in the city. Eva got along with the group well, not surprisingly as Claire and her friends were truly welcoming to her, and Eva was very easygoing.
Then they've talked about their work and careers, and then their education and uni years, until moving into more personal aspects, including family and relationships. Zoe understood her assignment for the night and she was eager to talk about her new 'not-yet-relationship' with Mark and her previous endeavours, name-dropping a few celebrities. As Eva tried to ask Claire, Gina butted in talking about her Joe.
Eva realised quickly that her plan omitted several aspects. Firstly, Claire was amazing at evading questions, making it seem like she answered them without really answering them but deflecting them. It was truly impressive how well she did it, and it caught Eva off-guard. Secondly, Eva didn't think twice about how much alcohol it'd be needed to get Claire's mouth running. She considered herself to be a good drinker, but as she was getting tipsy, Claire was still untouched. What she wasn't aware of, Claire was having a mocktail or other non-alcoholic alternatives every other drink, with Gina and Zoe being clued in on that plan. They caught on very quickly to what Eva was doing and they came up with their own counter plan.
But even then, as the bar started getting busy and hours went by, while Eva was already on the drunk side, the three women were getting tipsy, forgetting about their plan and getting excited about more drinks, now eager to get the next round, getting louder and more confident.
"Let me tell you something…" Eva said whilst hiccuping and her words slurring. "You're my hero. You're such a bad bitch and I'm loving it!"
"Don't flatter me." Claire waved dismissively. "I'm just an idiot who can't shut her mouth when she should."
"So… what's the stupidest thing you've done?"
"By far it's working for your brother." Claire admitted with a laugh.
"Excuse me, are you that woman from the news?" Some man in his early thirties interrupted them.
"Hey, leave us alone." Zoe said sharply to him.
"You're Claire Thompson, aren't you?" He continued, ignoring Zoe.
"Yeah, and?" Claire asked as she turned to face him.
"Well, I can tell why he would promote you." He laughed. "You look even more splendid in real life. Let me get you a drink." He smiled walking away. The waiter came within moments with drinks from 'gentleman' by the bar.
"No, thank you." Claire said coldly. "Hey! I don't need your pitiful drinks! My promotion came with a sweet platinum card!" She yelled across the bar, waving the very platinum card at the man. Gina and Zoe had their mouths gaping open, but Eva roared in laughter. "If you can beat Mr Moore's special card, then we can talk!"
"Claire!" Gina exclaimed turning all red from second-hand embarrassment.
"They're already talking. It's already a scandal. Mr Moore wants to wait it out but I have another idea." Claire said with a slight smirk. "Let's get another round." Claire said going up to the bar, but this time she ordered the most expensive bottle of whiskey they had.