Chapter 121 - The Utter Wrongness (1/2)

Claire is on the verge of tears as she runs out of the doors. Blood pounds in her ears, and she almost didn't hear Dean when he asked, ”Where to, Miss Claire?”

”What?”

”Where would you like to go?”

”I need to see Gab,” she says. This couldn't wait. This couldn't be simply relayed on the phone. It needs to be said up close and personal.

If Dean had questions, he didn't say it. He just focused on the road and calmly, if not speedily, tried to reach Gabriel Tan's building, which is a few blocks away.

Claire replays everything in her mind, and somehow, despite all the red flags about Miguel, she couldn't believe it. Miguel knew what she had gone through with Jake Magno. He knew and he empathized. So why would he even do that? Is he insane?

Claire shivers in the backseat. She's not sure how serious Miguel was about his intention to harm her, but she has read too many crime novels to avoid thinking it could have gotten worse. Miguel could have succeeded in overpowering her, then bringing her to God-knows-where, and maybe, after the gruesome deed, that crime escalating to full-blown murder isn't too unthinkable. A chill runs down her spine; how easily the dream could have turned into a nightmare.

Claire is so deep in her thoughts of self-annihilation and drama that the door opening up surprises her. Dean extends a hand to help her out.

She grabs it, like someone drowning would grab a lifeline.

”Would you like me to accompany you, Miss Claire?” There's concern in Dean's voice. After all, one look at her and it's clear something's indeed very wrong.

”Thanks, Dean. But I can manage,” Claire says. She even manages to smile.

Claire steels her nerves and soldiers on, although her crumbling sense of certainty is betrayed by her uneven step. She feels as though the walls are closing in around her, and yet, she must find Gab before Miguel gets hold of him.

She isn't sure how she got up all the way to Gabriel's penthouse. The next thing she knows, the door opens to Gabriel with his arms wide open, so happy to see him.

”I missed you like the desert missed the rain,” Gabriel whispers to her ear, his arms tightly around her.

There's a lump in her throat; in her mind, Miguel in that darkened lobby, saying hurtful things to her. ”I missed you too, Gab,” she manages to whisper back, although her voice is hoarse. She even returns his embrace.

Gabriel is animated, like she has never seen him before. ”It's great that you're here!” he says, pulling her in one arm toward his study room. ”You're just on time!”

Claire is puzzled for a moment. ”Did anything happen?”

Gabriel smiles. He opens the door theatrically. And there, on his big-ass iPad, is Miguel on FaceTime. ”He has already forgiven me,” Gab says cheerfully. ”I told you my dear brother wouldn't be able to resist me. We're like two peas in a pod.”

Claire is white as sheet. She glares at Miguel on the screen. Miguel, in turn, waves at her like what happened just minutes earlier never took place. ”Hi, Claire,” he even says cheerfully, his tinny voice sending a chill down her spine. For some reason, all Claire could see are Miguel's perfect white teeth on the iPad screen. ”How are you doing?”

Claire freezes for longer than normal. In her head is a storm of conflict and contradiction. Her gut reaction is to scream her lungs out, ”Murder! ****! Et cetera!” She feels like her head is going to explode.

But Gabriel turns to her and so innocently says, ”That's why I love my brother. I'm glad he's already past my silly little prank the other night. Isn't that great?”

Claire turns to him. Her true emotions possibly quiver on her face that Gabriel's brow knits in confusion. ”What's wrong, honey?”

There's a lump in her throat. And in a split second, she almost chooses to spill the beans and tell Gabriel EVERYTHING—everything that happened, every little machination that Miguel has been doing behind his back, down to those dark few moments at the lobby of her office building.

But then again, on the crest of that wave of anger is a memory of that night, not so long ago, when Miguel was a kind human being who sat with her in the dark lobby of some hospital, waiting for Gabriel to wake up. Where's that kind human being now? Where was he when this insane version of Miguel was in the lobby of her office building?

”Anything wrong?” Gabriel says, lovingly tucking a tendril of her hair behind her ear. ”What seems to be the matter?”

Claire glances at the iPad and sees Miguel gazing at them, watching this scene. Did she see a glimmer—just a glimmer—of worry in his eyes? Is he afraid she'd confess and tell on him?