Blood?

Third person's POV

"Drake!" Moira gritted out, her chest heaving with frustration.

After a moment of inhaling and exhaling deeply, she went to grab her damaged phone from the floor, turning it over to examine the cracked screen.

"Damn it!" She hissed, then grabbed her briefcase and made to walk out of the office.

However, when she yanked open her office door, Katherine nearly fell forward. The secretary had been hovering at the door, her hand calculatively on the doorknob.

"Mrs. Sinclair! I heard another noise and..." Katherine was saying as she steadied herself against the doorframe, but stopped mid sentence as she noticed Moira's briefcase.

"You are leaving? But what about the Garcia settlement?" She asked with wide eyes.

"It can wait." Moira replied with urgency.

"You said you want to finish every--

"I said it can wait!" Moira snapped, cutting the secretary short, then immediately regretted her tone.

"I'm sorry, Katherine. This isn't like me at all, I know." She admitted.

"That is what worries me. You never leave work early. You never lose your composure. And now you are throwing things?" Katherine's voice softened as she stated her observation.

Moira swallowed hard.

"I'm fine. I just need to handle something quickly." She said, wanting to sound as if all was well but she was failing.

"The last time you said you were 'fine,' you worked through a fever until you nearly collapsed in court." Katherine pointed out with concern.

"This is different." Moira maintained sharply.

"How?" The secretary deadpanned.

"Katherine, please." Moira's voice carried a warning note.

"At least let me reschedule your afternoon appointments—" Katherine was saying but Moira didn't have the patience to let her finish.

"Do whatever you need to do. I have to go." She said firmly, already walking away.

"But— Just... take care of yourself, okay?" Katherine's concern was evident in her voice.

Moira straightened her blazer as she got into the elevator and exhaled sharply.

In the parking lot, she slipped into her car, gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.

"What the hell are you planning, Drake?" She mumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Welcome home, Mrs. Sinclair!" Phoenix called out cheerfully, dusting the entrance hall vase.

"Would you like me to prepare—" The maid was going to ask if Moira would need anything but the latter brushed past her without any acknowledgment.

She was totally out of sorts. She headed straight for Drake's bedroom and pushed the door open without knocking. She could see he was at home as the car he went out with two days ago was now in the parking lot.

Drake looked up from his laptop, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, this is unexpected. I thought you would be at work until closing. Don't you have that big settlement to handle?" He asked.

"Cut the games and explain what you meant on the phone. Now." Moira snapped at him.

"I meant exactly what I said." Drake replied with a calm but infuriating smile as he closed his laptop.

"No. No, you didn't mean that." Moira shook her head firmly, stepping further into the room.

"How can you just call and say you are moving out of our matrimonial house? What is really going on?" She demanded. Drake shrugged slightly.

"That is exactly what I'm going to do. And when the press asks—because they will—I will tell them I cheated on you and you kicked me out." He said simply as if he was telling her how great the weather was.

Moira felt the blood drain from her face.

"Are you insane? Do you know what that would do to our families?" She asked him.

"Of course I do." Drake leaned back in his chair, looking so relaxed.

"It will be the scandal of the year. The press will have a field day. My business and reputation will suffer. The business deal our parents are currently in the middle of, will fall apart. My family's reputation will take a hit. Your reputation will also suffer that the city's most admirable attorney couldn't keep her husband. Everyone loses." He listed on gently.

"Then why? What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment?" Moira asked, her voice cracking.

Drake's face hardened as he stood, walking around his desk.

"You went back to work after just two weeks of our honeymoon. You knew how that would look. The media's already speculating that something is wrong with our marriage because you looked grim in one of our recent picture."

"Since you seem determined to feed those rumors, I might as well give them something real to talk about. Let me be the villain you apparently want me to be." He spat out

"That is not fair and you know it!" Moira protested and like that, her tough facade crumbled.

Moira's tough facade crumbled.

"I never wanted that. I went back because I was bored! You are never home. You disappear for days without a word. What am I supposed to do? Sit here and stare at the walls?" She demanded solemnly and she hated how weak she sounded.

"I told you what I wanted on our wedding night." Drake began, his voice cold.

"I told you you can do whatever—or whoever—you want in private. Just be the perfect wife in public. Is that too much for you to do for me?"

"But why should we be doing that?" Moira's voice softened, taking a step toward him.

"We love each other. Don't we? Have you forgotten everything we have shared together? All those years growing up together? What changed?" She asked, desperate for a response.

Drake's expression shifted, something dark passing behind his eyes.

Then, he turned away from her, walking to the window. For a long moment, he said nothing, his shoulders tense beneath his expensive suit. Moira also stayed silent, waiting for a response.

Finally, he took a deep breath, his shoulders sagging slightly.

"I need your help, Moira." He announced in a very low voice.

"I'm dealing with... something. Something I can't tell you about yet. If you really love me like you say you do, just... be my wife. For the public." He added firmly.

Moira stared at him, words failing her. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, Drake's phone beeped. He went to his desk where he kept it and opened it.

As he checked the message, his face became completely expressionless.

"I need to go out. Right now. Don't wait for me, I'd be late." He announced abruptly, already moving toward the door.

"Drake--" Moira called out, wanting to hold him but stopped frozen as she caught a glimpse of something dark staining his collar when he walked past her.

"Blood?"