Chapter 78

Chapter 78

"Ms. Guise, are you free to grab a coffee? I need to talk to you about something."

Eva and I weren't exactly rivals, but she had gotten involved with Michael knowing full well he was married.

Plus, with all her unreasonable behavior afterward, I really didn't have a good impression of her.

Still, I was curious about why she wanted to meet, so I agreed.

Before leaving, I told Joanna to make sure Melissa got some proper rest.

Melissa said she wasn't afraid of Michael, but until the divorce case was won, she couldn't stop worrying. She wasn't eating or sleeping well.

She was getting older, and I couldn't bear to see her wearing herself out like this.

When I arrived at the coffee shop, Eva was already there, sitting elegantly in her seat.

Seeing me come in, she waved at me. "Over here."

I sat down across from her, and she called the waiter over to order coffee for me.

I raised my hand to stop her. "No need, just water for me. I'm on medication."

The waiter nodded and left.

Eva still had that calm, elegant look about her, exactly the same as when I first met her.

Yet someone like this had such low moral standards.

I didn't want to waste time, so I got straight to the point: "What do you want to say?"

Eva took a sip of her coffee, put down the cup, and looked me over carefully.

Her staring made me uncomfortable. I frowned and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Eva smiled. "Just curious."

Curious about what?

Curious about how I dared to turn against Michael?

If I cared less about appearances, I would've rolled my eyes at her.

I didn't want to waste words with her. "Just tell me what you want. We're not friends, there's no need to catch up. Please get to the point."

Eva nodded, crossed her hands on the table, and spoke gently: "I'm here today to apologize for being the other woman. Honestly, I have nothing against you personally, but I did wrong by you."

I found this somewhat laughable and looked at her mockingly. "Isn't it a bit late for apologies? You knew I existed."

I'm no saint, so naturally I couldn't tell Eva I didn't mind what happened between her and Michael. That would be too fake.

Eva clearly knew I wouldn't be nice to her, but she didn't get upset. She smiled and nodded. "True, I'm not making excuses for myself. I just want to explain that I didn't love Michael as much as you might think. Michael is handsome, he deliberately seduced me, and I'm no saint either, so we were just using each other."

This surprised me a bit.

Eva might lack morals, but her thinking was more open than many people's.

According to her, she just wanted a physical relationship with Michael, without using love as an excuse.

One for money, one for looks.

Eva just didn't expect Michael to be even more despicable than she imagined, even going after his sister-in-law, which ended up dragging her into a scandal.

I had no interest in her confession.

"You didn't just call me here to apologize, did you?"

Eva nodded. "Do you know why I suddenly exposed those two online?"

I pressed my lips together uncomfortably. Matthew had already confessed earlier, so I knew Eva exposed them not just for revenge, but also to connect with the Griffin Group.

Eva caught my expression and smiled.

"I'm still here because of Mr. Griffin. Honestly, I don't understand why Mr. Griffin would be interested in you, but he does seem to care about you."

Eva's words were really unpleasant.

She continued: "I'm here to give you some advice. With someone like Mr. Griffin, if you get with him, even if you can't marry him, as long as he's willing to give you resources, it's much better than dragging things out with Michael."

I'd experienced Eva's way of thinking before, so I wasn't surprised at all.

"I'm not the same type of person as Michael," I replied coldly.

Eva tilted her head and looked at me. "Of course, I believe you're not right now. But when you reach my age, you'll understand that sometimes money is more reliable than men. Having money is more practical than having a marriage. Someone like Matthew could give you enough resources to last you years."

I admitted her words had some truth to them, but I really couldn't agree.

After all, I could make my own money. Though I couldn't compare to Matthew, I'd achieved financial freedom and didn't need to do whatever it takes for money.

My material desires weren't that high.

But I didn't bother explaining to her. Our views were clearly different—we were on different paths, and more talk would be pointless.

"All this talk is just because you want to score points with Matthew. If you convince me, Matthew will naturally remember your favor."

The apology was fake; matchmaking was the real goal.

Eva was quite straightforward and didn't hide it. She nodded. "I'm doing this for myself and for you. Think it over."

I didn't argue with her, but since I was here, I had to achieve my purpose.

I didn't mind using Matthew's name.

"Since you want Matthew to owe you a favor so badly, let me ask you to do something. If you can do it, go claim credit with Matthew yourself."

Eva's eyes flashed, and she agreed readily: "Go ahead."

When I left the coffee shop, it was getting dark. As soon as I got in the car, I received a call from Joanna.

Joanna sounded anxious, almost crying: "Claire, come back quick! Mom got a call from the Sinclair family, I don't know what they said, but she got really angry and went over there. I couldn't stop her."

My face changed immediately.

Melissa had already been stressed about the divorce for days. I had no idea what the Sinclair family said on the phone that could make her rush over there.

I started the car immediately and asked calmly: "Where are you now?"

"I'm downstairs getting a cab. Mom just left."

"Okay, take your time. I'll go check it out first."

After hanging up, I drove straight to the Sinclair family's place.

Since I didn't know if Melissa had arrived yet, I decided to go upstairs first.

If she was already there, I could intervene. If not, I could wait downstairs and intercept her.

I hurried upstairs and knocked on the door, waiting quietly.

I didn't hear any arguing inside, so Melissa probably hadn't arrived yet.

Just as I was thinking this, I heard a familiar female voice from inside.

"Coming, coming."

Hearing that voice, I froze for a moment, my brow furrowing slightly.

Was I hearing things?

While I was lost in thought, the door opened.

The woman standing in the doorway was smiling. When she saw me, she paused, then showed a smug smile: "Claire, what are you doing back here?"