Chapter 193 Unspoken Support
Samuel smiled awkwardly. "Mrs. Sterling, this house is quite small, and the decor is rather simple."
"I think it's perfect. I'll take this one."
"Alright, I'll handle the transfer paperwork over the next couple of days. You might need to come in once to sign some documents."
"Sure, thank you for taking care of this."
Actually, this house had been acquired through debt settlement—Gabriel had never even bothered to look at it, just left it sitting empty.
But Arabella genuinely loved it. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, simple yet tasteful decor, fully furnished and equipped. She could move in immediately.
She was already imagining settling in and having the children come to stay for short visits.
A wish she thought would take years to fulfill had suddenly come true, lifting her spirits considerably. For a moment, she almost thought that a certain someone wasn't quite so detestable after all.
Declining Samuel's offer to drive her back to the studio, she stayed behind to start tidying up the place and video-called Sophia to show her around the house.
"Wow... I have to say, Mr. Sterling really takes care of you! You talk about leaving with nothing, and he still insists on giving you a house."
Arabella replied ungraciously, "He's just worried that if I live somewhere too shabby, the children will suffer when they visit."
Sophia rolled her eyes. "You're getting a great deal and still complaining! Just look at the news—plenty of wealthy people are even more calculating than ordinary folks. During divorces, they'd rather see their spouses dead than give them a penny. The fact that he has this much consideration—would it kill you to say something nice?"
Arabella didn't respond, thinking to herself that outsiders knew far too little about Gabriel.
If he hadn't made that demand about spending one night a month at the house, she might actually feel grateful.
Meanwhile, after leaving the complex, Samuel called Gabriel.
Learning that Arabella had chosen the cheapest, smallest property available, Gabriel wasn't surprised at all.
If she were the materialistic, gold-digging, vain type, perhaps his obsession with her wouldn't run so deep.
"Let her have what she wants. Handle the transfer paperwork in the next couple of days."
"Yes, I'll take care of it quickly."
"Also, does that house have electronic locks or regular keys?"
Samuel replied, "Regular keys."
"Get me a spare set."
"Will do."
After hanging up, Gabriel stroked his chin with one hand, his expression quite pleased and anticipatory.
When she was living at the studio before, it wasn't a private space, which was rather inconvenient.
Now that she was moving out to live alone, plus they had their agreement—Gabriel couldn't wait to contemplate the romantic possibilities.
He thought about calling her and reached for his phone.
But just as he was about to dial, he hesitated.
Being so eager would be rather undignified.
The more desperate you seem, the more annoying people find you. Why bother?
He should go for the element of surprise instead—like showing up at her place after work to remind her it was time to honor their "contract."
Heart racing with anticipation, he opened Facebook and glanced at his subscriptions, spotting an update from that familiar account.
He immediately clicked on it.
The first post was a movie review about a currently popular social drama film dealing with marriage and love—with a very dark ending.
The second post was a sponsored ad.
He opened it and scrolled down to find personal care products, skincare items, hair dye, and so on. Quite a diverse business range.
Compared to the lively discussion under the movie review, the sponsored post had much lower engagement, with barely a thousand views.
How could the deep-pocketed Mr. Sterling allow such a thing? He immediately pressed the intercom. "Evelyn, come in here."
Soon, the efficient and capable Evelyn entered upon command. "Mr. Sterling, you wanted to see me?"
"These products—women use all of these, right?" He showed Evelyn the page on his phone.
Evelyn leaned in for a closer look and quickly understood, though her eyes showed surprise and confusion. "Mr. Sterling... are you saying you need me to get everyone to buy these personal care items?"
The key issue was that these were consumable daily products—even mobilizing a few people wouldn't generate much revenue.
After all, they weren't used up in a day or two; a household might stock up three or four bottles for an entire year.
Gabriel had naturally considered this point. He tapped his finger lightly, an idea forming. "Talk to the administrative department. It's nearly the end of the year, and the company should give employees some holiday bonuses—we'll purchase these brands, one set per employee."
Sterling Group, including headquarters and branches, employed two to three thousand people. One set per person would generate millions in sales!
Evelyn was stunned by this revelation!
"Mr. Sterling, if we're making bulk purchases, the company could negotiate with manufacturers for better prices."
Gabriel glanced at her. "Is the company short on money?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant." The company's performance had been excellent these past two years, as everyone in the industry knew.
Evelyn hesitated before continuing, "But if we purchase this way, Mrs. Sterling might notice something unusual—do you want Mrs. Sterling to know about this, or would you prefer she doesn't?"
Gabriel thought for a moment, then sat up. "No need for her to know. So, have each branch office make their own purchases, but make sure they all go through her channels."
This way, he could generate business for her.
"Understood. I'll arrange everything properly." Evelyn felt a line of black marks appear across her forehead, silently complaining as she took her orders and left.
Having to make large purchases while keeping it secret meant spreading out the orders—quite a workload.
Gabriel was really going to great lengths to win back Arabella.
Only, this strategy seemed rather clumsy.
Who would have thought the cold, domineering CEO was actually such a lovesick fool!
---
Arabella hadn't finished tidying the house when Ella called.
"Arabella! Today's sponsored post was just a secondary promotion, and it completely sold out!" she exclaimed excitedly, her voice particularly high-pitched.
Arabella stopped what she was doing, her face lighting up with surprise. "What do you mean? Those personal care products sold well too?"
"Yes! I just contacted the manufacturer—they said they prepared two thousand units and sold every single one!"
Arabella was also stunned.
Based on their follower count, they had originally expected to sell maybe a few hundred units at most. To have it sell out instantly was incredible!
"Even though we only have 800,000 followers, our conversion rate exceeds accounts with two million followers. Arabella, you're like a money tree!"
Arabella felt a bit embarrassed. "Could it be because it's almost the holidays and people's purchasing power has increased?"
"Even then, it couldn't increase to this level! Plus, I just talked to the manufacturer—they're advertising on other platforms too, and their results are nowhere near ours!"
Really?
Arabella was stunned and quickly sensed something unusual.
"Could it be... someone helping behind the scenes again?" That was the only possible explanation; otherwise, there was no way to account for this sudden windfall.
"Honestly, I think so too. But last time it was Manuel helping out—it can't be him again this time, right? If he keeps supporting you like this, we'll owe him way too much!"
Arabella held her phone, standing on the balcony and staring into the distance, lost in thought...
For some reason, she found herself suspecting Gabriel again.
The last women's clothing campaign they did—those sales figures definitely couldn't have been sustained by Manuel's help alone.
While their account had quite a few active followers, it certainly couldn't achieve an eighty percent conversion rate.
Add to that this sudden success with personal care products, and it became even more suspicious.
After finishing tidying the house, Arabella returned to the studio.
Ella showed her the data feedback from the manufacturer, which further confirmed her suspicions.
"These accounts all used our blog followers' discount codes to make purchases, and since each person bought quite a lot, besides the discount we offered through our platform, the manufacturer gave additional discounts."
Ella continued while looking at her, eyes full of confusion, "I asked Manuel about it, and he said he's been on a business trip these past couple days, too busy to even notice today's blog update."
Huh?
Arabella looked up at her. "It wasn't Manuel?"
"No." Ella shook her head, thinking for a moment before suggesting, "Maybe... you should ask Gabriel? If he's been quietly supporting you this whole time, you should at least thank him, right?"
Arabella turned toward the stairs, muttering, "If he has money burning a hole in his pocket and wants to throw it around like that, what's it to me?"
That did make sense.
After all, she hadn't asked for it, much less forced that man to buy anything. Why should she go out of her way to thank him?
If he wanted to quietly do good deeds, then let him continue.
When he didn't get any response, he'd naturally give up.