Chapter 182 Another Blunder
Gabriel was satisfied, but noticing his two male cousins sitting motionless on the opposite sofa, he raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you two buying anything?"
Chase, who held a high position in the state government, smiled helplessly and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm a bit strapped for cash..."
"I already said I'd reimburse everything!" Gabriel commanded domineeringly. "Buy something! You absolutely must get a few pieces for your wife."
Upon hearing this, Chase was quite pleased. He immediately turned to his wife beside him, holding out his phone. "Here, take a look. If you like anything, buy several pieces. Gabriel has more money than he knows what to do with anyway."
"Perfect, I was just needing some new outfits for the holidays. Let me see." Chase's wife took her husband's phone with a beaming smile and began her shopping spree.
Ryan lounged back with his legs crossed. "I'll pass—I'm flying solo these days."
But Gabriel smiled and called him out directly. "Ryan, with all your rumored girlfriends, shouldn't you be sending some holiday gifts?"
Ryan nodded repeatedly. "Good point. Free clothes are free clothes—might as well take advantage."
All the cousins and younger family members were studying the social media shopping page, except for Emily, who stared at the unbelievable scene before her with an extremely sour expression.
Gabriel noticed her and smiled warmly. "Emily, see anything you like? I'll get it for you."
Emily was absolutely furious and said mercilessly, "These no-name brands? I wouldn't want them even if they were free!"
Wendy had seen many luxury brands, and honestly, they often came from the same factories—the main difference was brand markup, which didn't necessarily mean better quality.
But even so, Emily remained ungrateful.
"Gabriel, what exactly are you trying to do? Didn't she file for divorce? The court date was already set—why was it changed? Did she have second thoughts? I told you from the beginning, she's manipulative! You've been deceived by her appearance!"
Emily had come tonight specifically to ask Gabriel why the court hearing from a few days ago had been canceled.
She knew Gabriel was avoiding her now, deliberately preventing them from being alone together, so she could only "run into" him at the Sterling family gathering.
But what she didn't know was that Gabriel being sued for divorce by Arabella hadn't spread throughout the family.
Therefore, when she said this, the group that had been immersed in shopping immediately changed color, all turning to stare at Gabriel in shock.
"Gabriel, what's going on? Arabella filed for divorce?" Wendy was the first to ask, her words full of concern.
She was one of the few people in the Sterling family who had a favorable impression of Arabella.
The rest muttered in confusion, "Gabriel not asking for divorce himself would be generous enough—how could she be the one insisting on it?"
"Exactly... After Gabriel treated her so well, what an ungrateful wretch..."
At these words, Gabriel shot a cold look their way, frightening the speaker into immediate silence.
Only then did Emily realize she had let something slip, her expression immediately becoming panicked and embarrassed. "You... you didn't know about this?"
"We'd heard about marital troubles, but we assumed it was just drama. After all, with the Sterling family's status, who would be crazy enough to actually want a divorce..."
"Enough!" In the past, Gabriel had mostly ignored his family's disparaging remarks about Arabella, never defending her even in her presence.
But now, he couldn't bear to hear a single word belittling her.
Emily knew she had caused trouble again and immediately looked at Gabriel with a pitiful, wounded expression. "Gabriel... I'm sorry, I... I didn't know... but it is the truth, and everyone will find out eventually."
Gabriel suppressed his temper, not bothering to respond, and got up to walk toward his twin children.
Although Joanna wasn't sitting with the younger generation, she had been listening with pricked ears to what was happening.
Seeing her son approaching with a cold expression, she warned him before he could speak, "Dinner's about to be served—don't you dare take the children and leave again! Your grandfather William established this tradition of mandatory family gatherings."
Because during the New Year, everyone had their own nuclear families to attend to or other relatives to visit, they couldn't always all be present—so the Sterling family had an unwritten rule that everyone had to return for this annual gathering.
Hearing his mother invoke William, Gabriel couldn't say anything more.
This was the first family gathering since his grandfather's death—he couldn't very well break the rules his grandfather had established while alive right after his passing.
He could only suppress his displeasure and sit alone to one side.
Those cousins and younger relatives who had angered him were quite perceptive—seeing his displeasure, they immediately made substantial purchases and came to him with their receipts, seeking credit for their spending sprees.
Gabriel's face was stormy, but he didn't forget to keep his promise, transferring money to reimburse each purchase.
After leaving his side, everyone whispered quietly, "What's gotten into Gabriel? Is he actually in love with that woman?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"But what about Emily..."
"He doesn't love her anymore."
These words were spoken at just the right volume to reach Emily's ears.
She stood there frozen, wanting to angrily turn and leave but feeling that fleeing would be even more embarrassing.
Thinking of all those years of Gabriel's devotion and the grievances she had endured, she convinced herself to continue enduring—she'd consider it karma.
Regardless, she would never reconcile with Dominic.
Ryan saw her tears falling pitifully, got up and handed her tissues, whispering a reminder, "Emily, why put yourself through this? Gabriel's heart isn't with you anymore—can't you see that? You're still a socialite; even divorced, you'd have plenty of good options. Why degrade yourself like this?"
Emily took the tissue and tearfully wiped her eyes, sobbing pitifully, "Ryan... you make it sound so easy. Feelings can't just change like that—I'll never love anyone else for the rest of my life..."
Ryan shook his head helplessly, not knowing how else to persuade her, and simply walked away.
————
Arabella was woken early in the morning by Ella's phone call.
"Darling, you're my golden goose! Do you know how successful yesterday's post was? As of now, the sales generated through our social media account have exceeded a million!"
Arabella had set an alarm to wake up during the night for pumping, and was still groggy this morning, but her foggy brain was instantly jolted awake by Ella's high-pitched excitement.
"A million? That's incredible!" She sat up, zeros flashing through her mind, equally unable to believe it.
"The brand contacted me last night—they're extremely impressed with our sales conversion rate and want to strengthen our partnership going forward." Ella was genuinely thrilled, chattering endlessly about future plans and dreams.
Arabella lost all desire to sleep and opened the social media post on her phone, seeing there were indeed many comments below.
Acting as her own assistant, she immediately went online to reply to comments, interacting with readers and thanking them for their enthusiastic support.
What she didn't know was that beyond the success on her main social media platform, she was also opening up new territory on TikTok.
When work hours arrived, Mark came in excitedly announcing, "Arabella, I told you so! You're about to become a major influencer!"