“His… final words?” Hailey said slowly.Luther nodded. “I told him that I would do anything to make it up to him. I begged him for forgiveness and asked him not to die on me yet.“But I knew. We both knew. He was running out of time. He was already bleeding out, and the life was slowly fading from his eyes,” he whispered.Hailey felt a stray tear run down her cheek. “Oh… father…” she murmured.“I can still remember the sound of his strangled voice as he told me what he wanted from me,” Luther said quietly. “He asked me… to take care of his wife and his newborn daughter.”Hailey felt a lump rise in her throat. “He… did that?”“Yes. At that time, Nina… Mason’s wife, and your biological mother… She had already given birth to you and was unconscious at the hospital, resting,” Luther said. “And I… I never knew. It turned out that Mason, after recovering from his illness, accompanied his wife during the last days of her pregnancy before returning to the hotel and then finding out the truth.
[Present Time]-Camille Parker sighed, letting the memories of the past fade away. What happened back then haunted her until now, with so many what-ifs in her head.Things like, had she made the wrong decision? Should she have handled the situation in a better way?Would it have been better for her and her family if she hadn’t let herself get swayed by her emotions?‘Now I know why they say that eighteen is still young,’ Camille thought to herself wryly. ‘I made a few bad decisions in the past, but I thought that I was already an adult, that I was mature enough to do whatever I wanted.’‘And now look at me, having ended up in a situation like this.’At that moment, Camille thought of Michael and how wonderful he had been earlier. A little flush crept to her cheeks at the thought of him.How could someone have changed so much in the span of almost fifteen years yet still felt like the same exact person back then?That was how she felt about Michael. Even though his appearance and pers
Camille felt her blood run cold. Indeed, she shouldn’t have underestimated Christian’s multiple sources of information. He knew everything that went on. He was meticulous like that.She wouldn’t even be surprised if he had sent someone to track her every move. He had done it several times before. He probably even knew that she was aware of it, but kept doing it anyway because it was fun.‘Sadistic bastard.’If she could name one of the things that Christian Callahan loathed the most, it was a betrayal. He wanted everyone under him to follow his orders and not question them. If they opposed, their lives were doomed.So when it came to punishments, he had no qualms about giving them out.Just like his father.“I am right, aren’t I?” he said. “It was him that you met earlier, the ‘old friend’ that you mentioned.”She should’ve known.He had been behaving suspiciously, after all. She had suspected it the moment he made her take the afternoon off, saying that he had an important confidenti
Camille shook her head. This man was unbelievable.“You’re a fool if you think that I’ll be brought in by that kind of stupid offer.” Her voice was filled with bitterness. “You never change, do you?”“Great men should never change,” Christian said arrogantly. “Now that’s too bad. Looks like I’ll have to resort to something else.”“What?”“Miss Parker.” Christian’s voice turned ice-cold. “Do you not remember the reason why you signed this contract in the first place?”Camille stiffened.“You agreed to be tied to me in exchange for keeping quiet about your family’s interesting piece of history, right?” His smile was pleasant, but at this moment, it looked demonic in Camille’s eyes. “As well as what I know about the McGregors and the so-called ‘Alexander Sterling’…”Camille felt panic bubbling in her chest. “No!” she cried out. “You wouldn’t!”“Oh, but I would, my dear. I am more than capable of such a thing.”“But you promised that you would leave them alone! What would be the differenc
Later that night, Camille received an unexpected text message from Michael.‘Hey Vanilla,’ the text simply read.She stared at the words on the screen, feeling a small piece of her heart break.She could still remember the words he told her just yesterday, about them remaining friends and secretly meeting, messaging, and calling each other. He had seemed really eager to connect with her after so long.She wasn’t dense. She knew that she had been Michael’s close and only friend back then, which was probably the reason why he grew attached to her.But she wasn’t foolish enough to assume that he’d been waiting for her for years now. Of course, they had been close, but not that close…Right?Camille sighed. There was no use overthinking things now. If she didn’t reply to him right now, she would never get the courage to do so.She had to at least give him some kind of warning. Or a sign.‘Hello,’ she texted back.And then the series of messages began, with them talking back and forth. It
“Madam, dinner is ready,” one of the maids called out as she knocked politely on Camille’s bedroom door. “Mr. Callahan says that he wants to dine together with you.”Camille felt an instant wave of irritation. “Tell him that I’m not hungry and that I’ll be going straight to sleep,” she snapped.“Oh, but Madam!” the maid exclaimed, sounding startled. “You can’t just… I mean, forgive my rudeness, but you cannot skip meals—”“Then please bring me a tray here, Harrietta,” Camille said, making her voice softer this time. After all, the maid did nothing wrong, and she wasn’t the one provoking her ire. “I’ll eat here in my bedroom instead of the dining room.”“I… Understood, Madam. I will bring it up for you right away.”Camille listened to the sound of footsteps fade away before letting out a heavy groan. That stuck-up creep was really getting on her nerves!He even dared to ask her to have dinner with him when he hardly ever did that before. He only did something like that after ordering h
The morning after, Camille woke up feeling like she just had a nightmare.‘If you could call Christian Callahan a living nightmare, that is,’ she thought venomously.‘That snake is planning something. I just know it!’The rest of the day went on as usual. She went to the company, did her secretarial work, ignored Christian’s unnecessarily flirtatious and obnoxious remarks, and left work in the late afternoon.‘Good thing that he has an important meeting later,’ Camille thought gleefully as she started packing her things. ‘I hope it finishes at midnight so that when he comes home, I’ll already be fast asleep.”The only reason they were able to live together all this time was because of their busy schedules. Sometimes Camille had to work overtime while Christian left early. Sometimes Christian had late-night meetings and extended business trips, leaving Camille alone in the apartment.It was the perfect arrangement for her because she could not bear to see Christian’s infuriating mug ev
As Camille entered the shop, the air was immediately filled with the delicate and soothing scent of flowers. The place was bathed in a soft, warm glow from the sunlight filtering through the windows.Wooden shelves adorned with potted plants lined the walls. The countertops displayed an array of bouquets and arrangements, each a carefully curated mix of colors and textures.The sound of trickling water echoed softly from a corner where a quaint tabletop fountain sat. There was also a hand-painted chalkboard on the wall that listed the daily specials.Overall, the interior was homey and quite comfortable.The clerk, a pretty young girl with honey-brown eyes, greeted Camille with a smile.“Hello, ma’am,” she said politely. “What kind of flowers would you like?”Camille smiled back. “I’d like to take a look around first if you don’t mind.”“Of course not. Feel free to do so.”‘Where is he?’ she thought as she went further into the shop.When she rounded the corner to go to the next aisle