Chapter 140: Chapter 140

Camille was instantly at a loss for words.

This was probably the turning point. She had taken too long with her personal mission to take Christian down, so now she was paying the price for her slowness.

“…You’ll get your karma soon,” she finally managed to say. “You won’t get your way forever.”

He laughed again, his tone mocking. “Fighting me and my family is futile. We’re too powerful. We control almost everything in this town. I’m not someone to mess with, let alone fool.” He grinned. “Now do you understand, little bird?”

The nickname stung.

Little bird?

She felt revolted.

Christian wiped his mouth with a napkin and rose from the table without giving her a chance to react. “Let’s go home now.”

And she had no choice but to live together with this man.

Great.

***

When they finally arrived, Christian suddenly stopped and looked at her with a chilling smile.

“What is it?” she asked, instinctively taking a step back.

“I’ve let it go on for too long, but now that it has come to this, I can no longer allow it to continue.” He took a step closer. “I know, Miss Parker. I’m not a fool.”

Camille’s heart raced with fear. “What are you talking about?”

“I know that you’ve been gathering evidence behind my back,” he said, his unsettling smile never wavering. “I know what you’ve been doing. You think you were being sneaky? No. In fact, I’ve been watching you very closely. Closer than you think.”

Camille fought to control her breathing.

This couldn’t be happening. It felt like a cruel joke.

All her hard work, reduced to nothing, just like that? It was too wicked.

‘No, I can’t let it all go down like this. There has to be a way out somehow!’

“What are you talking about, Mr. Callahan?” she asked, her voice quivering.

Christian clicked his tongue and shook his head, his expression tinged with pity. “There’s no point in denying it. I already know. You weren’t born to be sneaky, Miss Parker. You were terribly obvious. Did you really think you could fool me, of all people? It’s not possible.”

‘Damn it,’ she thought. He really had planned to shoot her down with several bullets tonight.

“You probably thought that you’d get away with it when I didn’t say anything, but with you snooping around my files and using your position as my personal secretary, it was hard not to notice,” Christian said with a smile. “What amused me even more was your attempt to find employees who had a grudge against me. Those people who were ‘unfairly’ fired. You tried to get their testimonies against me. You even looked for evidence of embezzlement.”

What?

Camille’s brow furrowed.

She had been extra careful on who she met with. She was pretty sure that they hated Christian and wanted him to go down…

Had she been mistaken?

Had she truly underestimated the extent of Christian’s influence?

As if reading her thoughts, Christian said, “Did you not know, my dear Miss Parker? I have them all under my control. They’re all dancing in the palm of my hand. One word from me, and they obey or flee as I wish. That’s the difference between you and me.”

He leaned in closer, his voice cutting through her resolve. “You’re already the disgraced daughter of the van Gowen family. You were the one who chose to abandon them, to choose your biological parents — whom you’d never even met — over the ones who raised you all your life. You’re pathetic. You had everything back then. Maybe if you had stayed, you would’ve inherited the hotel business by now and be on the same level as me. But no, you’re only here because of your own stupid mistakes in the past. You should blame yourself, not me. You’ve dug your own grave, so you should lie in it for the rest of your life.”

At his words, all color drained from Camille’s face, and she suddenly forgot how to breathe. Fear curdled in her stomach, and her world seemed to close in on her, growing smaller and smaller.

She staggered, taking a few steps back, but he moved forward, closing the distance, causing her chest to rise and fall with rapid breaths. The air felt suffocating and heavy with his presence alone.

He reached out and grabbed her wrist, leaning forward with that same infuriating smile still on his lips.

Oh, how she hated that smile. She wanted to wipe it off his smug face. Better yet, she wanted to punch it out and make him bleed.

For the briefest of moments, she wondered about the repercussions of letting go of her restraint and beating him senseless right there and then. Sure, she’d probably end up in jail, or maybe he’d punish her even more, but at least it would satisfy her bloodlust.

She just wanted this man gone.

It was frustrating. It felt as if she were running ahead of him in a marathon with her eyes closed, but when she opened them, he was right there in front of her, running leisurely and smiling smugly. The image itself was so spiteful, it made her want to scream bloody murder.

“Now come,” he whispered in her ear, his breath sending shivers down her spine. “I will escort you to your room. I’m going to watch you destroy all the evidence on your laptop right in front of me. Don’t leave anything out. I know everything. I know more than you think.”

She yanked her wrist violently from his grip, her anger barely contained. “Shut up,” she said through clenched teeth. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control her emotions. “Just shut up.”

He laughed, the sound grating on her nerves. “So you have nothing to say in retaliation? How unfortunate for the former van Gowen heiress. How low you’ve fallen.”

“Shut your mouth,” she hissed, storming past him.

This night had been an absolute nightmare. Instead of the fear that had overwhelmed her, it was anger now, an anger so strong that it felt like a volcano was about to erupt inside her, burning with the hot lava of her unbridled rage.

Years. Years and years of collecting every piece of evidence she could find. Years of enduring all the snide remarks and humiliations, of working tirelessly just to try to escape this filthy situation, to break free from this suffocating birdcage.

But in the end, she was still just a bird, unable to flap her wings freely against the bars. At this thought, she was struck with a feeling of helplessness and indignation.

Right now, all she needed to do was think of a way out. She was an intelligent and resourceful woman. Nothing was impossible as long as she set her mind to it.

All she needed was a window of opportunity…