This Crazy Rich Boy

"What merger are you talking about?" Gabriel says, but deep inside he already has an inkling—and it all feels ugly. Like someone has pulled out the carpet from under him.

"Come on, Gabriel," Michelle says, still with that smile on her face. "You know what I'm talking about. The merger. The one you and your chief finance officer have been cooking up with one of my companies. Relentless Holdings, remember?"

Michelle's words burn in Gabriel's brain. Relentless Holdings. Oh my God. How did this happen? This is impossible. Whatever happened to the supposed due diligence performed by his top finance persons, his legal team? Gabriel grinds his teeth. He feels betrayed. He smells a rat. But who among his people, he has no freaking idea.

"I'm here because I need to personally take care of my business interest," Michelle says, parking her ȧss on one of Gabriel's luxuriously cushioned seats.

"No," Gabriel says, and it comes off almost as a yell. "Get out."

"Oh my," Michelle says, appearing offended. She glances at Claire who's standing in a corner, as if to say, "Look how I am being treated here by your boss."

"Get out, Michelle, before I forget that I have already come to terms with what you've done to me."

"Come on, Gab," Michelle says. "Past is past. Let's move on. Start acting like an ȧduŀt. I come here bearing the dove of peace."

"No," Gabriel mutters. "Get up and get out. Don't force me to throw you out."

Michelle bolts up in outrage. "How dare you. The ink hasn't yet dried on the contract, yet you're starting to self-destruct. I have a right to be here!"

"The only right you have is to get out of my fuċkɨnġ face," Gabriel hisses. He's all red in the face. His eyes are on fire. Even Claire starts to feel like she should get out, too. Don't get in this man's way. Gabriel turns and sees on his desk his trenta-sized Starbucks drink, and in a mad moment flings it with such fury in Michelle's general direction. Michelle ducks just in time; the coffee explodes like a supernova on the white lacquered wall.

"You're crazy," Michelle huffs, her eyes round and bulging in disbelief. "You're crazy! You could have hit me, Gabriel!"

"Get out!" Gabriel hisses.

"Alright, alright!" Michelle yells. "But I'll come back. You better be straight in the head when I do, Gabriel. I have a significant stake in this new company. Stop acting like a child or—"

Michelle never finishes her words as she dashes out when she sees Gabriel trying to yank out a painting off the wall to throw at her.

"Jesus Henry Christ, Mister Tan," Claire mutters after Michelle slams the door shut. "You're throwing furniture at a woman! You could have hurt her!"

Gabriel never manages to throw the painting, which he currently holds awkwardly. "Goddamn it," he says, hyperventilating. "Goddamn it. Who are the idiots who…Who…" He turns to Claire. "I can't even begin to fathom what has happened, Claire. Either my people are such monumental idiots, or somebody betrayed me."

"I don't understand," Claire says, still standing a safe distance from him. "What merger is she talking about?"

"My holdings company," he says. "Months ago, we started exploring ideas to further expand our business, so we sought partners with the particular business expertise that we need. One of those who aggressively proposed was a company called Relentless Holdings. Their proposal was good. It was the most equitable, as far as these mergers go. But it turns out Relentless is owned by Michelle."

"How could that happen?" Claire mutters, her mind reeling from the gravity of this realization. She's as stunned as Gabriel. "Didn't you investigate first?"

"That's what I'm trying to wrap my head around," he says. "We didn't just jump into this thing. We did due diligence. I saw the numbers. None of the data pointed back to Michelle Alcantara, goddamnit."

"That's not…" Claire stops, staring at him like she's trying to connect something. "I don't understand. You broke up with Michelle only a couple of weeks ago. You started working on this merger months ago, you say. If that's true, then Michelle has been doing things behind your back for much longer than you knew."

Gabriel stares at her. He looks at the painting he's carrying and quietly returns it on the wall. "I know that, Claire. That's why we're here now. That's why you're here now. What I didn't know is that she's been trying to cheat on me even through my business. I couldn't find one good reason why she would send one of her companies—which was totally unknown to me—to try to undermine my control."

"Hmmm," Claire sighs. "The proposal from Relentless seemed so good because, as your fiancée, Michelle knew everything."

"You see what kind of snake I'm dealing with here, Claire."

"Now I have a ton of things to settle. This is a massive failure on the part of my own legal team, my finance team. Oh, God. Heads will roll, goddamnit. Heads will roll. I won't stop until I find out whose fault this is."

"Is there anything I can do?" Claire says, her voice quiet. She knows she might actually be utterly useless, but she had to ask. She's hoping Gabriel would at least ask for a hug. She wants to tell him what Michelle told her, how Michelle didn't believe his new engagement. But she feels that would only add to his growing sense of failure. If Gabriel, right now, at this mad moment, asks her for a kiss, she might be persuaded to give it all to him.

But Gabriel, his mind is already elsewhere. "No, thank you," he says. "I just need to be alone."

The words sting. She didn't expect that. "Okay. I'll be out there if you need anything."

Gabriel says nothing.

As she walks out of the room, everyone is standing and staring at her. "Alright, people. The show's over," she yells. That sends everyone scampering back to their cubicles.

Back at her desk, Claire tries not to overthink Gabriel's words. "No, thank you," he said. "I just need to be alone," he said. Not even a "no, thank you, Claire." Like she didn't matter. Claire sighs. The plot thickens. And things are getting uglier. She's no longer sure if she can even stand being here for the remaining days of her contract. Because as things stand right now, Claire couldn't see the point of it all.