You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Seven: Public Backlash

Gabriella sniffled staring at the newspapers that were on her desk, it had been two weeks since Georgina had sold her 'tragic' story to the press and everything had gone completely downhill for Gabriella. 

It had been a horrible shock to come into work and discover that they all knew about Joe being her baby's father; it was all over the news and Gabriella was even afraid to leave her apartment now. 

Gabriella had never imagined that this would happen to her, she had people spit at her in the streets and call her horrible names; worse of all the business that she had spent the last couple of years of her life building was suffering. 

Forevermore had lost ninety per cent of its business since the scandal had come out, Gabriella was just grateful that she had such good friends and that they were all happy to still work for her. 

Gabriella had no idea what she would have ever done without they, they might have been shocked by what had happened but they had all rallied around her disgusted that Georgina had sold the story like she had. 

Georgina had been pictured in Italy enjoying a holiday with some friends, something that she had clearly paid for with Joe's money and she didn't look the least bit upset about her relationship. 

"You should stop reading them," Theresa said stepping into Gabriella's office, she had tried to insist that Gabriella could work from home but she knew that it was never going to happen. 

The entire business could go under at any moment and everyone wanted to stop that from happening; they loved the business that they had all worked so hard to build up. 

Gabriella sighed, she had already stepped back from appointments especially with the horrible looks that she got from some of the clients; she didn't know what to do anymore and she was so scared that her entire life was just going to collapse.

"Any word from Joe?" Theresa asked a little disgusted that the footballer had been completely silent when it came to all the rumours; he had been quite lucky when it came to Georgina's version of the story. 

Everyone could see that Georgina had twisted things to make Gabriella look worse that she did, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that when Georgina returned from her holiday that she would go straight back to Joe like nothing had happened. 

Gabriella shook her head, she wasn't surprised he had only called her to warn her that Georgina knew the truth and then his agent had taken over; he was doing his best to mop up the mess that had been caused. 

"He's an idiot," Theresa said shaking her head, she was worried about her best friend and she knew that there was still every chance that something could happen to the baby with all this stress. 

It wasn't going to get any better anytime soon and Joe needed to step up, he had promised to be there for Gabriella and so far he was already letting her down. 

Theresa watched her friend, she hated the lies that Georgina told and she had a plan to make things better; she was going to make sure that no one would ever believe a word that the woman said again about her best friend. 

Theresa had been doing some research and she had found something interesting, she was sure that it would make interesting news from the press and make them back off Gabriella for a little while so that she could rebuild a little. 

Georgina had a past just like everyone else and Theresa wondered why no one else had ever come across this little bit of information; she would make the blonde suffer for what she had done to Gabriella.

***

Joe kept his head down as he got ready to head home, everything had changed since the story had come out about him and Gabriella; he had seen the horrible headlines and he hated what had happened. 

Jonathan Barnett had told him to keep his head down and just focus on football, he didn't want this to completely ruin his career; things would take time to calm down and Joe needed to concentrate. 

The one thing that did worry Joe was that he hadn't been able to go and see Gabriella, he had seen pictures of her in the magazine and he couldn't help but worry that she was losing weight and looking tired every day. 

The last thing that Joe wanted was something to happen to his baby girl, he hated that he wasn't able to visit her but the press would have a field day especially after the story that Georgina had told. 

Joe's parents had been shocked when Joe had confirmed that the story was true, they hadn't known what to say but they were pleased to hear that he wasn't going to turn his back on his child. 

They had even travelled up from Shrewsbury to be with Joe while the press went into media meltdown about the story of the year; they were a little curious about Gabriella and wanted to meet her when it was possible. 

Louise Hart had even confessed her concerned when she had realised that Gabriella was losing weight, it wasn't something that was meant to happen when a woman was pregnant and dangerous for the baby. 

Joe quickly left the locker room so that he could head home, he didn't want to hang around and he knew that his team-mates were pleased that this wasn't affecting his game. 

Joe doubted that he would forgive Georgina for what she had done, he planned to cut off her cards when she got back and he knew they were going to have to have a long talk when she returned from her holiday.

***

"Are you sure about this?" Francesca asked wrinkling her nose as she looked around the strip-club, she had no idea why Theresa had dragged her here; she had said it was something to do with helping Gabriella. 

Everyone at work was worried about her and they had all noticed that Gabriella wasn't looking well; they didn't want her stressing and it was going to affect the baby if they didn't do something. 

"Of course... Georgina will not see this coming," Theresa replied with a smile, she had found out quite a few things about Georgina when she had been planning her wedding; she had quite a few interesting secrets that she had worried Joe would find out about. 

Francesca nodded her head, she looked around trying to see why they had come to this place; she would much rather be at home with her husband and two sons. 

"There he is," Theresa said spotting the man that could help them, she shouldered her bag and quickly hurried over to the stripper before he could disappear; she had been asked by Georgina to hire him for the hen party. 

Georgina had made it no secret that she spent a lot of time with this stripper, she had even hinted to Theresa that she had slept with him a couple of times and Theresa knew this was the key to getting back at Georgina for what she had done to their friend. 

"Can I help you?" the stripper asked eyeing the two women, he was about to go on his break and he didn't want more women grabbing at him; Francesca eyed him wondering how this was going to help Gabriella.

"Let's have a talk," Theresa insisted knowing that if she pushed the right buttons then Georgina's dirty little secret was going to come out and ruin her precious image.