Chart of Trust

As the morning came, Gabriel realised that he was alone in the room. His heart sunk as he expected the worst. In panic, he stood up and put the shoes on, running out of the room and into the hotel corridor. His mind went to the worst scenarios possible as he tried to recall whether he felt Claire leave or if he remembered a hint of her willing to vanish. She didn't want to leave England again. But she wanted Michael down as much as he did and he was willing to act as a bait to get him.

"I didn't expect you to be up this early, cuore mio." Claire's soft voice sounded behind him.

"Oh my God, Claire, where did you go?"

"I've got us breakfast." Claire showed him a bag in her hand. "I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd be of use."

"You can't just leave without a word." Gabriel was clearly unhappy as they've walked back to the room.

"I didn't." Claire squinted in annoyance and she pointed at a piece of paper by his metal arm brace.

"I'm sorry. I must be paranoid." Gabriel sighed as he read a small note saying 'went to grab some breakfast. Be back in a few.'

"Understandable. On a positive note, I found chocolate hazelnut croissants, croque monsieur, and a decent coffee." Claire passed content of the bag to Gabriel. "I also made a few calls. I hope that you do not mind. The apartment we viewed can be ours as early as today."

"Seriously?"

"Well… it might belong to Elise Cooper for our safety. But technically yes."

"That's fantastic. How did you manage?"

"Pierre's offer of transferring money between accounts came to be useful. I had some leftover money to be enough for a deposit."

"You cashed your own bounty money." Gabriel smiled as he started eating. "I applaud you."

"I thought that was what any financially responsible person would do."

"I suppose. I never thought of that kind of scenario before."

Claire's phone pinged and she distractedly looked at the message. Her face lost the smile instantly.

"What's the matter, Claire dear?"

"It's a message from Pierre. We should avoid looking at the news for our own sanity." Claire reiterated the message.

Gabriel paused and looked at a blank tv in the corner of the room. He wasn't going to listen to Pierre's advice and turned it on. His face turned pale as soon as he heard his name.

"Shit." They've said in unison.

The journalist on the screen accused Gabriel of falsifying evidence in order to get his father's fortune. The ridiculous accusation stirred enough of motion that people were protesting. Not only that, the Diamond Corporate's shares went down drastically - again.

Gabriel's phone started ringing. He looked apologetically at Claire before he answered the call.

"Mark." Gabriel said to the device which he knew now might be tracked. Or maybe not. He wasn't certain about anything at this moment. His entire existence was a big question mark. After all, his mother was alive even though he thought her dead, and his father is after him very much so wanting him dead. And Claire was alive.

The past few months seemed increasingly surreal.

Gabriel listened to Mark patiently before saying "do a half-arsed job of shutting the news down. This isn't going to stop. Just pretend like we're trying."

As he disconnected, he looked back at Claire who slowly ate her croissant and sipped on a coffee. It wasn't a tranquil sight as he could see the effect of everything that was happening in the dark circles under her eyes, her greyish skin, and much slimmer figure. But she still forced a weak smile on when she spotted his blue eyes on her.

"He is so predictable." Claire mused out loud as she noticed Gabriel's gaze.

"Yeah." Gabriel agreed with a smile creeping onto his face. "How well were you doing at Harris Studio?"

"Why?"

"I've lost a significant amount of our assets and finances. At this rate I will have to depend on you."

"Don't be a drama queen. What is it? 0.5% of loss?" Claire tilted her head.

"5% and going." Gabriel mumbled before he reached for his half eaten breakfast. "Or 12% of the peak value from a few months ago."

"I am on a lower salary than when I was at the Diamond Corporate." Claire answered honestly. "I might not be able to afford your lavish lifestyle." She then snickered unexpectedly.

"What's so funny?" Gabriel looked at Claire in surprise.

"I've remembered what Gary told me just before I became the head of the department about you." Claire smiled. "He told me that you're the kind of the man that won't recognise his wealth until you lose it."

"He got some things right." Gabriel grumbled.

"He did." Claire sighed and then looked back at her phone that pinged again. "Sooo…" she smiled much more truthfully. "The apartment is ours."

"That's fantastic." Gabriel nodded.

They both listened to the tv and the ridiculous news that was very clearly going after Gabriel's reputation. After breakfast, Claire managed to finish going through the apartment purchase with Pierre's help.

They have managed to collect the keys to the apartment they viewed just a day before, standing in the middle of the empty and still unfurnished living room.

"What now?" Gabriel asked turning to face Claire as if he expected her to have all of the answers.

"I don't know. By this point, I'm usually dead." She joked which was net with half a scoff.

"Too early, Claire dear, too early."

"Why don't you fake die too? We can be both fake dead, cash in the bounty, and live somewhere in the countryside till the end of our days." Claire shrugged.

"Maybe that would have been a better plan than the current no plan." Gabriel looked around the flat nervously.

"You don't have your own spies, do you?" Claire tilted her head.

"No, do you?"

"I was always the one spied on, I'm afraid."

"Uh-huh." Gabriel nodded. "We will need one heck of counselling after this."

"Yes." Claire sighed. "And as for a plan…. I cannot say if I trust anyone right now. Pierre kept me safe but I won't make a bet that if he is found or threatened that he won't buckle."

"I cannot guarantee Jacque's loyalty to lie with us either."

"Jacque has been your friend for years. I would say his loyalty is more with you than Pierre's with me."

"Jacque's loyalty might lie closer to me but not you, and Pierre's might be with you more so than me."

"I suppose." Claire rubbed her face as she felt increasingly defeated whilst Gabriel took out a small notebook out of his suit's inner pocket. He ripped a sheet of paper out and started scribbling on it.

"Let's see then." He mumbled as he started writing the names down. "You have Zoe and Gina quite high up. I would give them at least 90% certainty."

"Yeah. They have too much to lose though. Their weak spots are easy to exploit. Now, Mark is somewhere in between but closer to your name. I'd bump him at about 95% certainty. His main weakness would be Zoe."

"I suppose Alex is in the middle." Gabriel said quietly.

"He is much closer to 100%. He was already a part of this mess on a different level and didn't bat an eye. My family as a whole will be near unchangeable to any threat or danger."

"Yes." Gabriel starting writing down the names near the top of the page, with Alex in the middle, right between their names. "You have Eva quite high up too."

"That's true." Emilia agreed.

It was weird to plot the names across the page based on their trust. It was weird to plot a chart based on someone's trust. Looking at it, it was hard to determine if they should trust anyone at all.

Claire didn't ask a question that lingered in her head - how much could they trust each other?

She broke Gabriel's trust irreversibly when she faked her death. She wasn't sure if she was ready to head an answer to that question.

Gabriel flopped onto the floor as he continued writing. Claire sat down beside him.

"We might be a little too broke to afford a new furniture, fine dining experiences, and an interior designer." Claire mumbled as she looked around.

"We will work it out."

"How will you live on non-billionaire wave?" Claire's eyes widened as she realised that Gabriel cannot safely get any of his own funds without drawing attention, and she gave him everything back, meaning that she couldn't get those funds either. Her salary wasn't the smallest, but definitely not high enough to be able to afford the lavish lifestyle they had before.

"I was at uni before. I can manage." Gabriel chuckled. "Although, I am sorry that I will struggle providing you with anything you may want."

"I've got you. I'll manage. But… I may have to ask Sam for a raise."

"I have a few bits left around mum's and dad's home."

Claire looked down at Gabriel as he wrote another name down, raising her brows. It was still weird to know that he was a part of her family.

"Not sure if it will be any help, but I had a bit of furniture left in my shitty apartment. At the very least, there was a bed. It was a decent bed. It was one of the few things I bought completely new. My fear of bed bugs won't allow me to buy it second hand."

"So as long as we can get it here, it's all good." Gabriel smiled. "There's lots of your belongings in a secret storage."

"What secret storage?"

"Before I burnt the villa down, I've packed up all that I could that was yours. I couldn't part with it. I've packed your clothes, books. I think I even got your desk and chair from the study in there."

"That's useful, although mildly concerning."

"Proposed course of action: I'll try rescuing Mark but with a gazillion bodyguards around me and then I'll appoint Gordon as the new CEO before I start playing hide and seek.

"And I'm going to see what Pierre has in store for us. I might pop over to see Samuel. And then… what are we going to do then?" Claire felt powerless, but different kind of powerless. She had Gabriel and that gave her a new strength, but she knew that Michael could be around literally any corner in the city.