The Miracle of You

“You can’t be serious,” Camille blurted out, and she could feel herself bristling at this point. “What are you really planning? Why are you so dead-set on tormenting me? What did I ever do to you?”

“Ssshh,” Christian suddenly said, pressing a finger against his lips. “Don’t be so loud. We’re at the lobby now.”

He was right.

When Camille cast her gaze ahead, she could see several employees staring at them from afar, wondering why they still weren’t exiting the elevator even though the doors were already open.

Camille could feel her cheeks flushing from both fury and embarrassment.

This jerk!

“I am not going there,” she said in a tone of finality as she walked off before the doors could automatically close, not even waiting for Christian to match her pace.

“Oh, come on, Miss Parker. Why the hostility?” Christian said lightly, and she suspected that he was dying of laughter on the inside. “L’Art Culinaire is one of the greatest restaurants in the city. I already booked a table there. You wouldn’t want my money to get wasted, right?”

“You have a lot of money, anyway,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Christian chuckled. They were at the exit now, and the security guards posted there gave a bow of respect towards the CEO. Behind them trailed Christian’s two bodyguards, acting like they were simply background props and keeping a respectful distance.

“I heard that they have a scrumptious new menu, so I’m itching to try it out,” Christian remarked. “Aren’t you curious as well? It might be to your taste.”

“No,” Camille said without missing a beat. “Is there any other restaurant you would like to dine at, Mr. Callahan? I’m afraid L’Art Culinaire is too far from the company, and we need to be back here in an hour.”

“No worries, my dear. The car is fast enough to get there within ten minutes,” Christian said, smirking as he entered the limo and sat on the backseat.

Camille clenched her hand into a fist, but she couldn’t do anything except slide into the passenger seat while the chauffeur drove. Even if she punched Christian now, she would probably get jumped on by his bodyguards the next moment. She couldn’t afford to get arrested.

Camille slowly clenched her hand into a fist.

She couldn’t believe that this was happening. She had never even gone at least a mile near her parents’ hotels. They had a chain of hotels and resorts all around the country, but she never went to stay there, not even once.

She was scared that she might see her family again. The same family that she had abandoned all those years ago.

And now Christian was deliberately taking her there. Even though there was little chance that she would meet her mother or father – since they were very busy people, and since they were usually adventurous people who liked to explore a lot of places they hadn’t been to before – Camille still felt apprehensive.

What if they recognized her?

What would she do then?

She wasn’t prepared yet…

‘Then again, Noah didn’t realize that it was me at first,’ Camille suddenly remembered. ‘Papa and Mama haven’t seen me in years. I doubt that they even tried to find me or figure out where I am now.’

‘Not like my brothers did…’

Camille could still recall the first time that Paul and Benjamin contacted her. It had been so out of the blue that it caught her completely off-guard.

She didn’t know how they had found her, only that they had to jump through a lot of hoops just to get her number. Surprisingly, it turned out that they had been tracking her since she left the country at the age of eighteen. While she was still living as Hailey van Gowen, they got her phone number but didn’t have the guts to call. Knowing she was safe and living under the radar, they decided not to provoke her anger and waited until the time was right.

When they finally did call her, she was living as Camille Parker.

Her brothers made efforts to get in touch with her, but her parents never did. It was another blow to her heart that stayed with her over the years, but on the other hand, she could understand why. They probably never cared about her that much in the first place.

Besides, why would they want to get in touch with their estranged daughter who had basically abandoned them one day and brought a scandal to their good name?

At this rate, even if they recognized her, they would probably just pretend not to know her.

And that thought stung even more.

“We’re here,” the chauffeur’s voice suddenly rang in Camille’s ears, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.

They had finally arrived at L’Art Culinaire.

It was, as expected, quite posh from the outside. There was a red canopy over the front door, and fancy cars were parked outside. From what she could see through the tinted glass windows, there were several silhouettes inside, indicating that there were multiple guests dining there.

But that wasn’t what caught Camille’s attention from the get-go.

It was the hotel building. VG Hotel.

The hotel that her parents owned.

The van Gowen family.

“Feeling a little nostalgic?” Christian suddenly asked from beside her, and even though she wasn’t looking at him at this moment, she could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

“No,” she said dismissively before forcing her gaze away and going towards the direction of the restaurant.

This wasn’t the time to get carried away by her emotions. As long as Christian was here with her, he would go through lengths to push all her buttons. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of giving him the reactions that he wanted.

“We should go now, Mr. Callahan,” Camille said in a professional tone. “Once we finish lunch, we must go back to the company and finish setting up your schedule for your business trip to Paris.”

To her silent relief, Christian didn’t say anything more and followed her inside the restaurant.