Chapter 20 - The Gadfly (2/2)
And as if on cue, the music resumes, the thump-thump-thump of the DJ's beats suddenly energizes the crowd, and everyone resumes conversation.
Gabriel looks at her. ”What's that you're wearing?”
”It's a bathrobe. Isn't it obvious?”
”No,” Gabriel says. ”Underneath that. Why are you so swaddled with cloth? No one's gonna steal your merchandise here.”
Claire pouts. ”I was looking for you. If we're a couple, it's awkward that I'd be standing alone here without you.”
Gabriel makes a small laugh. He's over the recent sour episode. ”I was just right beside the door when you walked in. I had seen your mouth falling open when you saw the party. It's so easy to impress you.”
”No, it's not—”
”—See, you were so taken in by that man!”
”Well, I couldn't stand there and do nothing while he ȧssassinates my character.”
”That's a big word, 'assassinate'.” Claire smiles. ”No one can ȧssassinate your character, Gabriel. You are a shining work in progress, but those who do know you know the real you. There's no need to prove anything to the world at large.”
Gabriel sighs. ”That's easy to say if you don't have a hundred companies riding on the prestige and integrity of the Gabriel Tan name. My name has a lot to do with my companies' corporate image. You besmirch my name, it might affect the stock value of dozens of companies, big and small.”
Claire stares at Gabriel's face and sees earnestness; this man isn't bluffing. He really believes in what he's saying. But there's only a small thing: isn't Gabriel aware of how people generally regard him as a monster? The receptionist at his very office, Mrs. Gomez, for example. And of course, the very deal he has with her: he wouldn't make her this extraordinary deal of employment if people—his previous executive ȧssistants—could stand him.
Suddenly, the DJ stops the music and takes the mic. ”Let me just acknowledge the presence of one of our esteemed guests, the CEO of Lifestyle Maxx Cosmetics. The only, the only—”
Both Gabriel and Claire look to the direction of the pool entrance coming from the mansion's garden. Everyone waits with bated breath.
”Miss Michelle Alcantara!”
Everyone oohhs and aahhs when Michelle appears, walking down the edge of the pool in her incredibly sėxy two-piece swimsuit.
Claire is stunned; when she glances at Gabriel, she sees his mouth slowly falling open as Michelle approaches them.
Then Michelle faces the crowd, lets the spotlight glorify her voluptuous form, before she dips in the pool and mingles with the jet-set crowd.
And all the while, Claire stares at the whole spectacle looking like she's been bitten by a snake: she's white as sheet, swaddled in that fluffy bathrobe that makes her feel like she's the ugliest woman on planet Earth.