Chapter 38 You're His Legal Wife!
Dominic truly valued Gabriel as a close friend, but when someone put horns on your head, nobody could just sit there and take it.
The living room fell into an awkward silence again, with no one speaking.
Gabriel wanted to advise Dominic to coax Emily and just bring her home. But remembering the promise he'd made the night before to never interfere in their marriage again, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips.
It was Elara who finally sighed and broke the tension, "Alright, let's let this media storm blow over gradually. You all need to keep a low profile during this time and not give anyone more ammunition."
She then looked at Dominic, her expression uncomfortable but her tone considerably gentler, "Dominic, take Emily home. At the end of the day, this is your life together. Even as parents, we can't interfere too much. Whether or not to keep this baby—that's for you two to decide together."
Elara was quite reasonable and diplomatic, giving Dominic plenty of face in the process.
Dominic immediately responded, "Alright, I'll take Emily home in a bit. We'll have a proper discussion about this."
Emily, hearing that he still intended to convince her to terminate the pregnancy, immediately protested, "I'm not going back! I'd rather get divorced—I'm having this baby no matter what!"
Dominic was speechless.
This scene really wasn't appropriate for Gabriel to witness.
Fortunately, his phone rang at just the right moment.
"Mr. Davis, I need to take this call." Seeing it was his assistant calling, likely with urgent business, he immediately stood and went outside.
"Mr. Sterling, the police caught that influencer. As soon as she heard about potential jail time, she immediately gave up who was paying her. You'll never guess... who was behind the smear campaign?" Ralph Cook's tone was serious on the other end.
Gabriel was irritated and about to call him out for being cryptic when something occurred to him, his brow furrowing, "Don't tell me it was someone from the Sterling family?"
"Mabel Simpson."
"Mabel?" Gabriel was shocked.
He never would have expected to be sabotaged by his own people.
"Last month, you demoted Mabel's brother, Harold Simpson. He was quite upset about it at the time. I don't know if he's been holding a grudge, but he apparently saw this as his chance to orchestrate this whole incident."
"I see. Keep this under wraps for now. I'll handle it when I get back."
After hanging up, Gabriel took a deep breath, then turned back to say goodbye to Billy and Elara.
Seeing him about to leave, Emily instinctively started to get up to see him off, but Elara quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back down onto the sofa.
Dominic caught Emily's gesture, suppressed his displeasure once again, then stood to walk Gabriel out.
Outside, the once-close friends faced each other but didn't know what to say.
In the end, Gabriel just nodded in acknowledgment and walked away.
Dominic watched him leave, his expression much colder than usual.
————
Gabriel didn't go to the company but returned to Sterling Manor instead.
Joanna was surprised to see Gabriel come home in broad daylight. Realizing what this was about, she quickly approached, "Gabriel, did you get that online mess sorted out? You have no idea—so many people called me today asking if it was true. I told them all off!"
"Gabriel, I'm talking to you! Where are you going? Gabriel? And another thing—Mary called me early this morning, saying Arabella wants to divorce you again. Is that true? Didn't you explain things to her? Even if you're going to get divorced, it can't be for this reason, or you'll be at fault, and she'll take half your..."
Joanna followed Gabriel from the main floor down to the basement level, through various turns, chattering nonstop the whole way, but Gabriel didn't respond.
Only when she mentioned Arabella wanting a divorce again did his expression change slightly, and he looked back at his mother, "Why did Mary call you about this?"
"How should I know! Probably because she was afraid to tell you directly. She wanted me to talk some sense into you both—said the twins are too young and it would be heartbreaking for them to lose their mother. I feel bad for the children, too, but her personality really is awful, so difficult to get along with. I..."
"Don't worry, we're not getting divorced. The twins won't lose their mother."
Gabriel knew Arabella was planning another divorce, but he had no intention of going through with it.
Once these rumors were proven false with evidence, he believed that the woman would stay.
Entering the security room, looking at dozens of monitors surveilling every corner of Sterling Manor, Gabriel bent down and rapidly typed on the keyboard, quickly pulling up footage from several cameras in the main house's living and side rooms from a few days ago.
Joanna was confused, "What do you need the surveillance footage for?"
Gabriel didn't answer but instructed, "Tonight, have Aunt Isolde bring Mabel back for a visit."
Joanna's aging eyes couldn't make out what footage Gabriel was copying before she saw him turn and head back outside.
"Gabriel, what are you up to! Why do you want Isolde and Mabel to come back?"
"Just do as I asked!"
With a pile of work waiting at the company, Gabriel left Sterling Manor and headed to the office.
Around noon, news broke online about a mega-celebrity evading $300 million in taxes.
The news immediately exploded across the internet, with netizens condemning the star in droves. Suddenly, no one cared about the romantic drama among the wealthy elite anymore.
When Arabella saw the news, she couldn't help but marvel at the power of capital.
Sophia felt the same way.
"The Sterling, Kingsley, and Davis families combined could shake all of Luminara. There's no way they'd let this kind of scandal hang around forever—they had to find new headlines to bury it! Though that celebrity isn't exactly innocent either, evading that much in taxes. It was bound to come out eventually!" Sophia had just moved to Luminara and hadn't found work yet, so she had plenty of time to chat during her boredom.
Arabella said nothing, gripping her phone with her mind somewhat blank.
Sophia noticed her friend's distraction and hesitated, "Arabella... are you okay? Did Mr. Sterling explain what happened? You two didn't fight, did you?"
Arabella snapped back to attention and said calmly, "No, we're fine."
"That's good. But I saw online that he and Emily are childhood sweethearts, and they really do seem close. You... you should use this opportunity to make him cut ties with her completely."
"Mm..." She was still distracted.
"Don't be shy about it—you're his legal wife, you have every right to be assertive! Besides, you gave him two children. He should treat you well! Having an affair is inexcusable no matter what."
Sophia was speaking the truth, but Arabella found it ironically amusing.
If she had that kind of confidence, Gabriel would have cut ties with Emily long ago, and this scandal never would have broken.
She'd originally planned to keep this from Sophia—after all, this sort of thing was like a scar, and tearing it open left you bleeding and in agony.
But thinking about the divorce, finding an apartment, getting a job—solving all of this on her own in a short time wouldn't be easy.
And Sophia's husband was a lawyer, so at least regarding the divorce, he could offer some help or advice.
After much consideration, she suddenly said out of the blue, "Sophia, I'm planning to divorce Gabriel, but he won't agree to it. When the time comes... I might have to go through legal proceedings. I'd like your husband to recommend a good divorce attorney."