The Miracle of You

“Yes,” Luther said quietly. “As I said a few times, Mason was someone I admired. I felt he could dominate the business world if he tried hard enough, once time passed. Of course, the hotel was Mason’s idea, but I was involved in the process as well. Mason wanted me to be his business partner. The two of us worked together and made numerous efforts to make our ambition happen. And yet…”

He sighed heavily.

“It was all Mason, Mason, Mason. Mason was the spotlight, while I was only a background character. Even though I worked hard too, the people, even my own family, only admired Mason. It was… discomfiting, at the very least. I felt hurt and betrayed,” he said quietly. “It was wrong of me, but… I resented Mason a little back then. Even though I shouldn’t have felt that way, of course. I was young and immature.”

“Did my father know?” Hailey asked gently. “That you felt that way?”

Luther’s lips curved into a wry smile. “He probably did, but he never spoke about it or brought it up during the conversation. Not even when we had a few drinking nights together to deal with the stress.”

“Oh…”

“He respected me a lot and didn’t want to ruin our friendship. Even though my friends and family favored him, Mason didn’t let that get to his head,” Luther continued on. “Instead, while we were working together, he would praise me a lot. He would acknowledge my efforts and promise me that everything would pay off in the end. He swore that we would be partners until the end.”

Hailey fell silent. It was strange, to feel things for a father that she had never met before. However, listening to Luther tell her more about her father and his personality, she suddenly felt an odd sort of attachment towards the man.

At that moment, a thought crossed her mind, one that startled her because it was unexpected.

‘I wish I could’ve met him.’

“Well, to continue the story…” Luther said. “When the construction process was finished, we needed to start the business and plan the marketing and promotion. At that time, Mason fell sick with a nasty flu.”

He paused for a moment.

“It was… despicable of me,” he said hesitantly, “but I took that opportunity to shine. I handled everything else that was needed: hiring suitable staff, planning operations and services, and monitoring market trends, guest feedback, and financial performance. There was so much to do.”

“All by yourself?” Hailey asked in surprise. It mustn’t have been easy.

“Yes. Emilia helped me as much as she could, but being pregnant at that time, she could only do so much,” Luther said solemnly. “But I appreciated her. She noticed my efforts eventually and started cheering for me more than she did with Mason.”

Emilia had a guilty look on her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Luther shook his head. “No need to apologize, my dear. It happened so long ago.”

However, Emilia didn’t seem convinced. In fact, the guilt on her expression deepened further.

“But then…” Luther began. “It was later on that things started to fall apart. By my own hands, no less.”

Hailey blinked. “What do you mean?”

Emilia turned her head away and closed her eyes. Luther, on the other hand, looked very uncomfortable at this point.

‘What happened?’ Hailey thought, befuddled. ‘Why has the air suddenly become more tense than before?’

The sense of foreboding in her gut grew stronger, sprouting like thick vines that wrapped around her stomach. She was tense all over as she waited for Luther’s response.

“I… have been meaning to do this for so long now,” Luther said after a while, his tone becoming heavier with each word. “I was unable to do so with your father and mother, but now that you’re here, and now that I’m finally telling you this… then it’s time.”

Hailey felt her breath catch in her throat.

‘What is he talking about?’

“As Mason and Nina’s daughter, I have to apologize to you, Hailey,” Luther said brokenly. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry… for what?” Hailey said, nonplussed.

Emilia started crying again, though softly this time, as though she were trying to muffle her sobs.

“I betrayed your father,” Luther said somberly. “And I was the reason why he died.”

The vines grew thicker and wrapped around Hailey’s throat, choking her, suffocating her until she realized that she could barely breathe.

“Why? Why would you be the cause?” she blurted out. “Tell me what happened.”

If Luther was going to apologize like this, then she needed to know the full story first before deciding what to do.

Even though it was honestly strange to ponder on whether she was truly angry or not for the sake of her biological father whom she had never even known existed until now… The fact remained that the man before her, Luther van Gowen, was the one who had raised her ever since she was a baby.

But if he only took her in out of guilt…

Hailey felt her heart break into a thousand pieces at the mere thought.

Still, she couldn’t believe that Luther was capable of such a thing. There was no way that he would kill someone else. No, Luther was probably talking about himself as being the indirect cause of her real father’s – Mason’s – death. There was no other plausible explanation.

‘I’ve come this far now,’ Hailey thought to herself. ‘I want the entire truth, and I want closure. After that, I’ll decide what to do.’

‘And what to feel.’

Luther exchanged pained glances with Emilia before turning back to Hailey.

“Of course,” he said solemnly. “You deserve nothing less, Hailey.”

Emilia reached out and took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

Luther took a deep breath before speaking once again.

“I’ve mentioned several times how much I admired your father,” he began. “It is true. Even though we were young, ambitious men at the time, with nothing significant to our names, I could tell that he was destined for great things. His future was bright. All he had to do was pursue his ambitions, and life would treat him well.”

He fell silent for a moment, and suddenly there was hesitation in his expression.

“But there is one thing I haven’t mentioned. One thing – or rather one person – who is a major point in this betrayal,” he said quietly.

Hailey felt her throat dry up. “Who?”

“He was our main investor at the time,” Luther said. “He went by the pseudonym ‘Alexander Sterling’.”