This Crazy Rich Boy

At first, Jake thinks Bella's hand would ċȧrėss him up his thɨġh, and he welcomes it—for once in his life, he's not the aggressive one in this foreplay. If Bella wants to touch him down there and waken the dragon, right here in this bar, then so be it. He could die tomorrow. So Jake closes his eyes in anticipation.

Yet, what he doesn't see is how Claire deftly grabs with her other hand the glass of whisky, still with its contents, and with the strength of her entire being, smashes the glass against Jake's face.

The pain is instantaneous, and it drowns him. He tries to open his eyes, and sees only her blurry silhouette against the dim light of the bar. "What the…"

Claire kicks him in the groin. Unbelievable pain explodes there, and he doubles over. Jake couldn't believe this is happening. He attempts to stand up but his vision whites out once again as Claire slaps him across the face so hard that the momentum sends him falling on his back.

"Stay away from me," Jake hears Bella mutter as she stands over him. "And stay away from Gabriel. Drop all those stupid charges. Because if you don't…"

Jake feels Bella's warm breath in his ear. He cowers in fear, expecting another blow from this surprisingly strong woman. "Please don't," he whimpers like a wounded puppy.

"Sure," Claire whispers. "But know this. I'm only not suing you to high heavens because I'm giving you a chance to go away, to start a new life elsewhere, outside this city. So take this opportunity. Get away. Drop all your made-up, gadfly charges against Gabriel. If you're still in this city tomorrow, I'll go straight to the district attorney's office and file a massive case against you. I'll find all the women you date-raped in the past, I'll go big on social media and tag you as a sėx offender, I'll do everything to send you rotting in jail for the rest of your life."

"You…you can do that?"

"Oh, yes," Claire says. "And more. Gabriel is only being patient with you because he's inherently a good person. But me? I'll use Gabriel's resources to make your life a living hell, I will testify, and you know how charming I can get with people. So consider this the best deal you'll ever get: before the massive shit hits the fan, get out of our lives."

Jake Magno says nothing. He groans in pain and tries to get up. But Claire digs her heel on his groin, sending Jake crying out in pain. "I didn't hear you say yes," she says.

"Y-yes," Jake whimpers. "Yes."

"You're gone tomorrow."

"Yes," Jake says, trying to look at her but could not because of the blood in his eyes. "I-I'll go."

Claire gazes at him for a moment, and without saying a word, turns her back on it all. She walks out of the bar like it's just an ordinary day, like she didn't just smash a man's face and threatened to ruin his life. The chauffeur, upon seeing her with bloodstains in her hand, dutifully gives her a box of tissue and a hand sanitizer.

What Jake Magno doesn't realize as he lies there on the floor of this nondescript bar is that Claire, or Bella, took a big gamble when she did what she did. Claire knew that Jake valued his public persona—he's a sales person after all, whose career depended on reputation and social network, and showing him that she's not afraid to go public and do damage, even if she'd end up damaged as well, would compel him to cave in. The ace up Jake's sleeve as far as harassing Gabriel with a lawsuit is that Jake knew Gabriel hated bad publicity and would do everything to avoid it. Of course, Jake also hated bad publicity, but he had been bluffing and had no intention of going ahead with it—he was just waiting for Gabriel to make a settlement offer, probably in millions of bucks. When Claire as Bella walked into that bar, all feisty and seemingly a woman with nothing to lose, Jake's confidence in his own scam fell down like a house of cards. Worse, Bella isn't bluffing—he indeed was an almost-victim, and she can back up the charges against him.

On the other hand, what Claire didn't know when she walked into that bar is that the four bodyguards Gabriel had ȧssigned to protect her were also there, posing as customers, ready to jump into action should Claire appear threatened in any away. But awesomely, Claire handled herself very well. The bodyguards were secretly impressed with the woman's "balls," which can also be regarded as utter recklessness. Yet, it worked. And like all other men who abuse women, Jake Magno's true colors are revealed—he's really a yellow-belied low-life who couldn't hold a candle to a woman like Claire.

As for Claire, the truth was, she really did "dive" into that situation with her eyes closed. Her heart pounded madly in her ċhėst—she had never done anything as gutsy as this before—yet she held on to logic and the fact that she's on the side of truth.

Unfortunately for Jake, Claire still intends to file a case against him—but only after this whole charade of pretending to be Gabriel Tan's fiancée is over. She'll never let the likes of Jake Magno get away unscathed.

Being driven back to the Residence, Claire wonders what came of her, really. Where did she get courage to do that? Maybe it was pure, simple outrage. She couldn't swallow what Jake had done to her. Sure, it was unconsummated, but still. He drugged her. And she knew that in those moments between when Jake succeeded in bringing her to his house and Gabriel knocking on the door, Jake probably had a little fun with her as she lay there unconscious. She couldn't live with the fact that someone, some idiot she doesn't even respect would get away with such a stunt. She's probably crazy for setting up that date, but she was crazy with anger and an overwhelming sense to right what was wrong.

And even as she sits there in the backseat of that Benz sedan Gabriel has ȧssigned to serve her, Claire seethes with rage, her brain going through like a fine-toothed comb how she'd give Jake Magno what he deserves. Just you wait, Jake, until all this is over. Until Gabriel no longer cares about bad publicity.

As soon as she steps into the lobby of the Residence, Dale greets Claire. "Good evening, Madam. Miss Cassandra has been waiting for you at the lounge."

"For what?" she says.

Dale apologizes. "I'm not privileged to know of such things, Ma'am."

Miss Cassandra's sipping a blood-red ċȯċktail when Claire finds her. She stands up upon seeing Claire, holding her arm with clammy hands. "Oh my God, Claire. There's something you need to know."

"And good evening to you, too," Claire manages to say, half as a joke, and half as a way to diffuse nerves. "What is it?"

Miss Cassandra gazes at her. "It's about Michelle Alcantara. Remember, Gabriel's former fiancée?"

"Oh, yes, the evil bitch," Claire says matter-of-factly. "What about her?"

"She's coming to the office tomorrow," Miss Cassandra says breathlessly. "And I don't know what she'll be bringing, but my contact says it's going to hurt Gabriel. Really, really hurt him."