Gabriel was different kind of broken since Claire rejected him. Things didn't make sense. Nothing did. The way his father was with him didn't make sense. It didn't make sense that his father knew of Claire. He wasn't sure which of the stories was the truth but there seemed to be an invisible line connecting them all.
On one side, he had a beautiful wife that married him using a contract that he supposedly offered her with no feasible reason besides reasons that Claire didn't describe. She loved him though. Or maybe not. It seemed that she loved him when she first came to see him but now she was distancing herself and pushing him away. It seemed counterintuitive. But there was a chance that she might be crazy.
On the other side was his father who saved him after an accident and who implied that it was Claire who shot him.
He didn't want to believe either of the stories. He didn't want to admit that his father was cruel. And he didn't want to believe that Claire was crazy. He wished for all the good, and only good, to be true. He wished for it to be true that he was madly in love with Claire and married to her, and that his father was his ally and supporter. But one of those was not possible with the other.
With Claire's clear and very recent rejection that hurt his dignity, he didn't attempt to follow her. Not yet. Not while she was grieving such a big loss. A loss of a mother was an incomparable pain that even with his memory all messed up, he remembered well enough.
But Claire remained on his mind every day. He didn't dare to admit how much she affected him. Not to anyone around and even he was in denial of the extend of his own feelings.
He had a particularly rough day when a young woman, not older than her mid twenties, walked into his office. She just paraded in without anyone attempting to stop her. Gabriel didn't recall having any appointment at that time.
A bouncy dark curls decorated her head. She had dark blue eyes that didn't seem to fit her face. She was young but something about how she carried herself made her seem beyond her years. Gabriel stood up, with some level of nervousness and expectations. It wasn't very frequent that he had someone in his office without prior appointment. Last time he saw someone in the company without an appointment was Elise Cooper who put up a dramatic scene and said something so obscenely ridiculous that he could not just ignore her.
"Hi, Mr Moore." The woman smiled momentarily but it was far from a genuine smile. Her casual tone and lack formality put Gabriel on edge. It wasn't arrogance, he could tell that much from her mannerism.
"Hello." Gabriel looked at her in surprise. "Who are you?"
"Rosa Summers from International Crime Agency." Rosa answered as her smile vanished. She automatically pulled out an ID and showed it to Gabriel, equally automatically putting it away afterwards. She must've done it many times before.
"What brings you here, Miss Summers?"
"It's Agent Summers." Rosa corrected him. "I have been playing with an idea of seeing you for a little while. Perhaps, I shouldn't have come to see you. However, I am curious and I have a few questions." Rosa started.
"Yes? How may I help?"
"Claire mentioned that you had troubles with your memory." She brought it up immediately. She watched Gabriel carefully, analysing his micro expressions.
"Claire?" Gabriel asked more confused as to how Claire was involved with Rosa than the name Rosa used. He knew that Elise was Claire. She told him that.
"She's also known as Elise Cooper." Rosa clarified unnecessarily.
"I know. How do you know her?" Gabriel furrowed his brows and he watched Rosa with equal reservation as she watched him.
"I worked on your case." Rosa answered honestly. "It is a shame that things went the way they did. I have tried to prevent it, but I didn't expect that Claire or you will act so recklessly." Rosa's eyes started to travel around the office. She walked up to the bookcase, looking at the spines of beautifully bound tomes. Gabriel fidgeted uncomfortably.
"What do you mean?" He asked, unsure what his exact question even was. There was a lot in that question that words couldn't convey. Rosa looked sideways at him for a mere moment, returning her gaze to the shelf. She pulled something out from between the books and then walked towards Gabriel's desk, placing it on it. It was a small device with now ripped wires. Rosa looked around the room again, she walked up to the lamp in the furthest corner and ripped another similar device.
"Have you heard of Group X?" Rosa asked as she went on all fours, checking under the desk.
"No…" Gabriel said quietly, something hazy appearing in his head. "I don't think so."
"I mean, you did, but you don't remember it, do you?" Rosa clarified.
"No…"
"I guess that they are not as important to you though because what has happened was not necessarily their remit." Rosa pulled yet another device from underneath Gabriel's desk. Gabriel's face was pale as he studied one of the devices that she placed in front of him so nonchalantly. His eyes widened as he listened to a slightly chaotic explanation. "Claire did so much to fix the wrongs and bring justice to so many people." Rosa started checking under the rug as she lay on the floor. "She paid for it with her career, your relationship, and then she almost got herself killed. And well, you've paid a price for it too." Rosa pointed at Gabriel's shoulder. "To prevent further damage, Claire faked her death and became Elise Cooper. What I never predicted was that Claire went herself to bring everything to an end. And you went after her. Once I got there, you were both gone." Rosa stood up placing yet another device. "National Crime Agency dissolved the task force that dealt with this entire fiasco. Everything was compromised. And then, I found out that you were alive and merging the company with your father. As Claire did, I believed that you saved your ass by doing whatever your father wanted you to. I wouldn't blame you. Honestly, it was a shit situation. By pure coincidence, I found Claire. I met her at an airport as I was coming back home from a mission." Rosa looked around the room one last time before she flipped in the chair opposite Gabriel. "She told me that she tried to approach you but she couldn't. She told me how you didn't believe her and pretended not to know her. And it clicked. You didn't remember more than you didn't know her."