The Miracle of You

“You already know about the case of Mason Parker and Luther van Gowen, so I won’t go into great detail about what happened,” Gregory began. “I was one of their major investors, but I was not quite satisfied with the way that they did things. A stubborn fool he was, that Parker boy. He was the charitable type who never thought of doing things for pure profit in the long run. A waste of his intelligence, I’d say.”

“Just another fool who thinks that everything will be fine and dandy as long as he gives back to others,” Christian sneered.

“Exactly. Hence the reason why I went to Luther van Gowen and took advantage of his envy towards Mason Parker. He was an ambitious man, and he still is. He went so far as to betray his own friend. Another fool, but a rich fool in the end.”

Christian shook his head. “And then they got into that argument and went to the streets.”

Gregory nodded. “When Mason Parker got into a car accident, Luther van Gowen was the witness. Nobody was around to help them.” Suddenly, he let out a chuckle. “Or so I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was actually a witness to that very scene. And it was none other than Winston.” Gregory’s expression showed amusement. “He even caught a glimpse of the driver’s face.”

Christian’s brow lifted in surprise. “So that was what he knew,” he said. “Then why did he not file a witness report to the police?”

“He couldn’t. Not unless he wanted to offend one of the top families in the city.”

Christian blinked. “One of the top families? You mean…”

“We are one of those at the top, yes. But obviously, I was not the one who arranged the accident.” Gregory’s smile turned knowing. “It was someone who belonged to another prominent family. The McGregors, to be exact.”

Christian was speechless for a brief moment before the intrigue in his expression grew substantially. “The McGregors, you say? Who was it? This is the first time that I’ve heard such a scandal coming from that family. John McGregor is usually quite anal about having a ‘clean’ reputation.”

“They covered it up quite magnificently.” Gregory laughed. “That fool.”

“Now that I think about it, what does that have to do with you, then?” Christian asked. “Why is Winston fixated on you instead of the McGregors? Is it because he also found out that you were the one who persuaded Luther van Gowen to turn on his partner?”

“Son,” Gregory suddenly said in a calm voice. “Do you really think that Winston Berkley was the first affair that your mother every had?”

The implication took a moment to register in Christian’s mind. “…What?”

“The identity of the man who hit Mason Parker and drove off was John McGregor’s younger brother, Samuel McGregor.”

A wry smile played on Gregory’s lips.

“And Samuel was also Pamela’s first love.”

***

Before Pamela officially became part of the Callahan family, there was a guy that she became attracted to at first sight.

She first met him in high school. He was a year ahead of her and was known throughout the school as one of the wealthiest people in the country. He was also the typical popular boy, admired and envied by many.

Samuel McGregor.

He was good at many things. He had both the looks and the brains. But the one thing he wasn’t good at was sports. He didn’t like physical activities very much, preferring to play with his friends, study, and hang out somewhere cool.

And like all the other girls, Pamela Rutherford had a crush on him. She would “accidentally” walk by his classroom just to catch a glimpse of his handsome face. She would use many cute tactics to find him and subtly catch his eye.

And soon enough, by some kind of miracle, Samuel McGregor noticed her.

Pamela wasn’t the most gorgeous girl in school, nor was she the smartest. But she had this soft, angelic voice that instantly caught people’s attention. She was a member of the choir, and whenever she sang, people would stop to listen. She wasn’t the explosive type who could hit any high note. She was more suited to sentimental ballads.

And Samuel McGregor was one of those who was captivated by her voice.

With the initial attraction already in place, they soon began dating.

However, their families did not approve of their relationship. The first problem was that Pamela had been betrothed to another man – aka Gregory Callahan – since she was young, while Samuel’s parents wanted him to marry the woman of their choice, a fine lady who was in the same league as the McGregors.

This broke Pamela’s heart, and she was forced to end things with Samuel as soon as possible. Samuel also had to agree to this, as he was under pressure from his parents not to date a girl of lower social standing.

But even after they broke up, Pamela still had strong feelings for him. She continued to try to communicate with him and increase their interactions at school, no matter how superficial.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

At one point, Samuel even told her that he would convince his parents to let him marry her instead. Pamela held on to this promise for years, until the day Samuel actually did break his engagement.

However, by then, it was already too late. By that time, Pamela was now married to Gregory Callahan.

But that didn’t stop Samuel from communicating with her all the time. At first, Pamela was adamant about not responding to him since she was now married and she was reluctant to betray her marriage vows.

But as time passed, her conviction weakened, and her heart won out.

She could no longer keep deceiving herself.

And so began their affair, a secret one that Pamela did her best to keep hidden.

However, she seemed to have underestimated her husband’s powers of observation and cunning.

Unbeknownst to her, Gregory had been spying on her messages, especially her texts and phone calls with Samuel.