Hailey had definitely heard of the name Gregory Callahan.
Who wouldn’t?
Gregory Callahan, or better known as Greg and Mr. Callahan by his friends and the public respectively, was one of the most hardened CEOs in the country. He built his own empire from scratch and worked hard ever since he was young, so he was mostly known for his hard work and intelligence.
He was also ruthless whenever it came to decision-making and negotiations. He would not back down from anything and jumped at every opportunity that was meant for the benefit of his company.
He was cold and merciless to anyone who dared go against him. Also, he was quite meticulous with every process and detail, which included his staff. If anybody was even the slightest bit incompetent or had a weakness or even messed up just one time, he would fire them immediately and search for someone who was much more efficient.
Which wasn’t exactly difficult since everybody — rather, the professionals and the confident ones — wanted a job at the Callahan Group. Even though Greg Callahan was extremely strict and demanded perfection, he paid very well, a lot higher than above-average wage earners, and made sure that the rates and workload were fair enough.
The majority of the people preferred to keep their distance from him, for good reason of course. There were several rumors circulating around about Greg Callahan, and most of them weren’t good.
Some of them were mild and reasonable, but some were outright ridiculous. Nobody knew exactly what to believe, so they decided to steer clear of making enemies of the Callahan Group.
Hailey, who never wanted any attention in the first place, didn’t even plan on getting herself involved in business or politics or anything that could compromise her true identity.
However, fate decided for her otherwise.
Meeting Greg Callahan that day was only just the beginning.
***
Greg Callahan was, surprisingly, quite grateful to her for saving his daughter. She expected monetary compensation at most, but she never even imagined that he would grant her a favor, of all things.
Any amount she wished. Any living conditions she wanted.
Anything that she desired.
There was no hesitation.
“A new identity?” Greg Callahan said in disbelief. “What for?”
“For personal reasons. Please. Can you do it for me?”
Hailey knew that telling a stranger — especially Greg Callahan himself — would bring repercussions that she did not need in her life, so she firmly believed that she shouldn’t tell him the truth.
But then again, she shouldn’t have underestimated him in the first place.
Despite refusing to tell him the reason, Greg Callahan did a background check on her, perhaps so he wouldn’t get caught helping someone who turned out to be a criminal. He agreed to give her a new identity as thanks for saving his daughter and promised that he wouldn’t divulge what he knew.
In order to ‘reassure’ her, he even offered to let her attend university, with him paying all of the funds. He also promised her a position in his company if she did well in college, something that he added presumably out of his own generosity.
Out of desperation, Hailey agreed, especially since she knew better that having a degree and a stable job was what she needed in order to take care of herself and her family.
That was how she got bound to Greg Callahan because of one favor that turned out to be a birdcage that she had unknowingly trapped herself in.
***
After doing well in her university and graduating summa cum laude, she got that promised position in Greg Callahan’s company. She worked hard and put in a lot of effort in order to make her peers see that she was worthy of the position rather than someone recommended by Greg Callahan or someone who got in through connections.
Hailey — who was Camille Parker now — simply wanted to live a peaceful life with her family with a stable financial future. She worked hard, harder than anyone else, and rose to the top as Christian Callahan’s personal secretary and assistant thanks to her own efforts.
She worked too hard, however, and only thought about earning enough money that she never really went out much. She didn’t have many friends and couldn’t pay much attention to her interests. She only dated a few guys for a short period of time and never thought about marriage until the time even after she turned 31 years old, an age where most of her peers were already having a family of their own.
One day, Christian Callahan asked for her to come to his office.
“You called for me, sir?” Camille asked as she entered the room, bowing politely to her boss.
“Yes, Camille. Come over here, please.”
Camille never really liked Christian. Ever since the first day she met him when she was in college, his arrogance and flippant attitude turned her off.
She also noticed that he had a cruel streak to him, just like his father. Christian was also merciless whenever it came to his enemies, and he didn’t care about people’s feelings the way Camille did. He wasn’t empathetic towards his employees and only wanted results.
He was just like his father.
If Camille had a choice in the matter, she would never have worked for him. However, she was bound to the Callahans due to the extra two favors that Greg had granted her that day years ago, so although she was unwilling, she had no choice but to stay.
Which was why when Christian suddenly called for her here, out of the blue, and with what seemed to be a lone white folder on his desk, Camille was instantly wary.
Camille approached, and when she was near enough, Christian moved the folder closer to her and beckoned for her to open it.
Camille sent him a suspicious glance before reaching out to take the folder, opening its contents.
“I want you to be my wife,” Christian told her.
Those seven words made Camille’s heart instantly sink to her stomach.