New beginning: Billionaire love story

Claire cursed under her breath as her car rolled to a stop at the entrance of Metacortex. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the mass of journalists crowded around the front entrance. She didn't need this today. Not after everything that had already happened. She could see their cameras, microphones, and eager faces all craning to get a shot of her, hungry for a reaction, for a statement.

"Perfect," she muttered sarcastically.

She had no choice. She'd have to get out of the car. There was no way around it. But as soon as she opened the door, Metacortex security stepped in, forming a protective barrier between her and the vultures. Well, they looked like vultures to her in that moment. As soon as Claire stepped out of the car, she could hear the loud clamor of voices crashing over her.

"Claire! Claire! What's your take on the scandal with Alexander Harris?"

"Is Metacortex going to cut ties with him?"

"Do you think the company will survive the bad press?"

Claire kept her head down, determined not to let them see her face. She wasn't going to give them anything. Not a single reaction. She just walked, head down, eyes focused on the building ahead, while security blocked the crowd, guiding her inside. Once she was safely through the doors and the noise was muffled by the walls, she let out a long, shaky breath.

"I hate the press," she mumbled to herself, catching a glance of the journalists still lingering outside, hoping for another shot. "Like, what do they expect me to say?"

Shaking her head, Claire headed straight for the elevators. Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she slid her card through the reader and jabbed the button for her office floor. As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, she leaned back against the cool wall and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her nerves.

Ding.

The elevator doors opened, and Claire straightened herself, striding out with purpose. She wasn't in the mood for any more nonsense today. Pushing open her office door with more force than she intended, she marched in and found Matthew lounging on the couch. "We need to do something," she announced in a sharp, business-like tone.

Matthew, startled, looked up from his phone. "Uh, hello to you too, Claire," he said, blinking in confusion. He quickly sat up, his phone forgotten on the couch. "What's going on? Do what?"

Claire was pacing now, running her hands through her hair in frustration. "Alexander. This whole ridiculous situation. The press is hounding me, asking for my thoughts, and I can't even go anywhere without getting ambushed." She paused and shot him a look. "It's all over the news. The video of him yelling at that employee is trending."

Matthew stood up, now fully alert. "Wait, wait-who's behind this? How did it even blow up?"

Claire stopped pacing, crossed her arms, and looked Matthew dead in the eye. "Claudia Wright."

Matthew's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, what? Claudia Wright? But didn't she just release an apology video, like, a few hours ago? I thought she was all about making peace with everyone. Why would she do this?"

Claire let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. But it looks like she's got some personal beef with Alexander, and now we're all caught in the middle of it. This video resurfacing? It's not just bad for him-it's bad for our company. The stock market's going to react. The whole situation is a mess."

Matthew furrowed his brow, clearly trying to process everything. "So... what do you want me to do about it?"

Claire took a step closer to him, her eyes narrowing in determination. "I need your help. We've got to find something on Claudia Wright. Something we can use to blackmail her."

Matthew blinked in surprise, raising an eyebrow. "Blackmail? Claire, this really isn't your problem. Why are you getting involved in this? Isn't this Alexander's mess to clean up?"

She let out a humorless laugh. "Oh, please. Do you really think Alexander's going to handle this? The man can barely go five minutes without arguing with someone. Waiting for him to deal with Claudia is like waiting for snow in July. If I can get this sorted out, then why shouldn't I?"

Matthew scratched his head. "Okay, but... blackmail?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, what do you suggest, then? Send her a polite email asking her to stop ruining everything?" She threw her hands up in frustration. "Claudia's the type who only understands one thing leverage. If we don't find something to hold over her, she's just going to keep coming for us, and who knows what else she'll pull next?"

"Alright, if that's what you want. It's been a while since I've done things like this." Matthew looked slightly excited, and Claire found it amusing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You pretend to be concerned but deep down, you enjoying this aren't you?" Matthew flashed Claire a grin.

"I'll start digging into her background, see if there's anything we can use."

Claire gave him a firm nod. "Thank you, Matthew. I'm done with people like Claudia thinking they can just do whatever they want and get away with it. If she's going to play dirty, then so are we."

Matthew nodded, grabbing his laptop from the table. "Okay, I'll see what I can find. But we're going to need something solid if we're really going to take her down."

Claire nodded, her eyes hard with determination. "Don't worry. I have a feeling Claudia's hiding something. No one's as perfect as she pretends to be."

Matthew sank into the couch, his

laptop perched on his knees, fingers flying over the keyboard. Across from him, Claire sat at her desk, her eyes glued to her screen. She leaned to dig up anything that

in, trying

could serve as ammunition against Claudia. Ever since Claudia had taken over as CEO, she'd been obsessively crafting a new, polished image, seemingly trying to scrub away any trace of her past.

But Claire and Matthew? They weren't about to let her get away that easily.

They'd been hacking for hours, combing through Claudia's digital life, looking for any footprint she might have left behind. Claire's fingers tapped rhythmically on her keyboard as she smirked. "Gotcha," she muttered under her breath, eyes glinting with mischief. Matthew glanced up. "What'd you get?"

With a satisfied grin, Claire spun her laptop around to show him. "Her Twitter account. It was set to private. Now?" She clicked a button and smirked wider. "Public."

Matthew chuckled, shaking his head. "You're bad."

Claire leaned back in her chair, arms folded across her chest. "Not as bad as she's about to look. Let's see how long it takes for her to notice."

They both continued digging, scrolling through Claudia's posts, her comments, and anything that could paint the perfect picture of hypocrisy. It was almost too easy-she had spent so much time trying to erase her past, that she probably assumed no one would be able to find the things she missed.

Suddenly, Matthew sat up straighter, his eyes wide. "Wait, hold up."

Claire's head snapped toward him. "What?"

"I found something." He stood up, moving quickly to her desk, his laptop clutched tightly in his hands. "Here, check this out."

Claire leaned over, watching the screen as Matthew pulled up a video. The footage was grainy, probably a few years old, but there was no mistaking the scene.

Claudia was sitting at an outdoor

restaurant, surrounded by a group of her equally obnoxious-looking friends. In the middle of laughing,

she picked up her glass of wine et

and-without even glancing at the waitress standing beside her she tipped it over, pouring the red liquid down the poor woman's front.

"Seriously?" Claire scoffed, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. "She's out here trying to act all high and mighty, and this is how she treats people?"

Matthew nodded, pulling up another tab. "There's more. Look at this one."

The second video showed Claudia at

some sort of fancy gala. This time, she wasn't just being a jerk to the waitstaff she was berating someone, maybe a personal assistant, shouting at them about some trivial mistake, all while smiling for the cameras. The assistant stood there, looking like they wanted to melt into the floor, while Claudia just continued her

tirade.

Claire shook her head, letting out a low whistle. "Wow. And she's out here acting like she's some kind of saint. Unbelievable."

"Right?" Matthew chuckled. "And she's trying to take Alexander down? Please. The public's gonna eat this up."noveldrama

Claire's eyes gleamed with a hint of satisfaction as she grabbed a flash drive from her desk drawer. She handed it to Matthew. "Collect everything. Every video, every post-anything that makes her look like the real Claudia." Matthew nodded, popping the flash drive into his laptop and starting to download the files. "This is gonna be huge. Once we leak this, there's no way she can recover from it."

Claire leaned back in her chair, smirking. "Let's see how she likes the taste of her own medicine. She thought she was being smart, cleaning up her digital mess, but no one's that clean."