The Miracle of You

They arrived home a few hours later after the party ended.

Camille was stiff the whole time while Christian gloated over the pained expressions he had seen tonight. First it was Michael McGregor’s and then Camille’s.

They were both so pathetic it was amusing.

For Christian Callahan, love was an unnecessary emotion. It was one of the ruins of mankind. It could make someone do foolish things. He did not want that kind of emotion to affect him personally.

He had been living in this world for more than thirty years now. He was confident that he had never felt anything resembling a romantic emotion and that he never would. He believed that imprinting in his brain that love was an unnecessary emotion would prevent him from falling into such foolish traps like the rest of the idiots in this world.

Needless to say, Christian had grown up not believing in love. His parents had been in an arranged marriage. They had no feelings for each other.

His father, Gregory, was more focused on his business while his mother, Pamela, was secretly in love with the gardener.

And she eventually ran off with this man, leaving her very young children with their father.

It was a scandalous affair, but one that Gregory Callahan simply covered up with his money and influence. He didn’t blink an eye and never looked for his wife again. Christian even suspected that Greg had known but kept quiet because he didn’t really care.

Christian and Patricia grew up without a mother and lived most of their lives without acknowledging her existence. Patricia was two years old when her mother left, too young to really remember her.

Christian, on the other hand, found it difficult to care for someone who had left him for ‘true love’.

He had hated the idea of love ever since. It was irrational. It was idiotic. It was simply unthinkable.

But interestingly enough, love was a useful weapon to use against people. Since love was a person’s usual weakness, it was easy to use it as a manipulation tool.

Christian liked to use ‘love’ to extract information from others. He didn’t date because he liked it. Most of the time it was because he wanted something from that person, be it their connection to someone influential, their skills, and their rank or position.

Other times it was out of curiosity and interest. Many women approached him, and oftentimes he let them. Either they were his target in the first place, or he was fascinated by what they wanted from him.

Because of course they all wanted something from him. Everyone had a hidden agenda.

Even if one of them was ‘love’.

He remembered Veronica. That beautiful model. She had the looks and the charm, but unfortunately she was greedy and wanted more from him. She was useful to spend time with, but that was all.

The moment she expressed that she wanted him to love her, it was over.

Amusingly, it was always the angry and upset faces of the women that satisfied him the most. It was so interesting the way they would go into these little tantrums and get mad at him just because he didn’t feel the same way. Was this the ‘love’ that people waxed poetic about?

If this was love, then it was idiotic and selfish.

Christian sat on the couch in the living room and folded his arms across his chest. “I presume that you understand now,” he began. “So, what do you think you should do about it?”

Camille glared at him. “What do you want?” she hissed.

‘Oh, dear Miss Parker,’ Christian thought. ‘Being so angry over a man’s own feelings. How pitiful.’

“Continue your little mission,” he ordered. “Get close to him. I won’t repeat this again, because frankly, it’s getting tiring.”

She gritted her teeth, but decided not to say anything.

“Not even a confirmation response?” he pointed out. “Maybe I’ve become too lenient recently. Do as I say, Camille, or else your family will be the one to suffer.”

That instantly caught her attention. “My… My family?” she repeated, disbelief taking over her features. “What the hell are you saying now?”

“I haven’t been twiddling my thumbs all these years, you know.” He picked up the folded newspaper from the coffee table and started reading the headlines. He preferred to see the news this way; reading articles on the internet was too much of a hassle. “Believe it or not, I have evidence in my hands that can ruin the reputation of the van Gowen family.”

Camille’s jaw dropped open. She stared at him incredulously. “Wh-Why do you keep bringing them into this?! If this is about Michael, you should be targeting him, not…”

Her voice trailed off brokenly as she realized what she had just said.

Did she really just suggest to Christian that he should be ruining Michael instead of her family?

The guilt began to eat away at her again, and she held back the urge to moan in despair. The mind games were too much now. If Christian continued to be like this, she would have no choice but to choose between the two.

It was either her family or Michael.

Christian seemed to read her thoughts, because his smile turned triumphant. “Unfortunately, as much as I’d love to focus my efforts on ruining Michael McGregor instead, it’s not so easy. He has quite the capable men at his side, especially that assistant of his. Your family, on the other hand, was doomed from the start ever since my father got involved.”

A wave of bitterness rose from the pit of her stomach. This was so messed up.

But then she started to have second thoughts.

Michael would be okay, right? He would be fine. Extracting a few business secrets wouldn’t hurt his company. He was far too powerful to let that make a solid dent in his reputation.

Maybe she could just do that, betray him once, and then stay out of his life from then on.

Because she knew that he would never, ever forgive her after that.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

It made her sick to her stomach, but she had to comply. She couldn’t let her own family suffer the brunt of her actions. If Christian Callahan said that he would do something, it was not a lie.

“…I get it. Fine,” she found herself saying in a dull voice. “I’ll do as you say.”