Chapter 407 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“It’s fine,” Desmond assured her.

“Where are the others?” She asked, and Evelyn pointed to the car.

“Sonia and Bryan are seated inside already.”

“What about Candace?” She asked just as Candace walked through the door with both Jamal and Samantha while holding a brown envelope in her hand and a small traveling bag.

“Remember all I told you? Be on your best behavior. Miss Samantha here will take care of you and make sure you don’t be a bother,” she reminded him, and Jamal nodded as he sniffed back his tears.

“Please, can you help me give this envelope to Benne when he gets back?” She asked, and Samantha nodded as she received it from her.

“I wish we could take the kid with us,” Evelyn murmured to her husband sadly.

“We can’t,” Desmond said, and she nodded as she went to say goodbye to the kid.

“Make sure you take good care of the kid. You can hire a nanny if need be. Just make sure he has someone to attend to him round the clock,” Evelyn said to Samantha, who gave her a nod as she took the kid’s hand.

Inside the car, Bryan patted Sonia’s head which was resting on his shoulder, “We can cancel this trip if you are not up for it,” Bryan said, and Sonia shook her head.

“It’s just a headache, Bryan,” Sonia assured him.

“It’s not just a headache. You look pale. You’re running a temperature and are beginning to sweat,” Bryan complained.

“I’m pale because of my headaches, and I’m sweating because you refused to turn on the AC because you say I’m running a temperature. You are sweating too,” Sonia said in amusement as she watched him fuss.

“I’m going to make sure you get enough rest after we arrive, and if you don’t feel better twenty-four hours from now, we are going to the hospital,” Bryan said, and Sonia nodded.

“Sure. Just relax,” she said, and Bryan wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her forehead.

“I can’t. Not when you’re involved. You are my family. My baby,” Bryan said, and tears gathered in her eyes.

Even though she knew that Celsie and her family considered her a part of them, she never really felt like she belonged there. She loved them and all, but that was Celsie’s family, not really hers.

That was one reason she had always thought about having a child or getting married. Family. She wanted a real family of her own, not like the one she had with her mother and stepfather. She wanted to experience the sort of connection she had with her father before his death.

Watching all of them interact with each other as family in the last couple of days made her realize the extent of her loneliness and how much she craved a family. She felt like she was part of them, but she wasn’t really part of them.

Hence, hearing him call her his family stirred a lot of emotions inside her, and it made her feel like she finally belonged with someone. She felt at home in his hands. Home was no longer just a place. Home had taken the form of a person, and Bryan was home.

Tears trailed down her cheeks, and she used the back of her hands to wipe them off as Desmond and Evelyn got into the car.

“How are you feeling now, dear?” Desmond asked with concern in his eyes as he looked at her.

She nodded, unable to swallow past the lump that was still lodged in her throat after Bryan’s words.

“I think she’s spiking a fever,” Bryan complained to his mother, who reached out to feel her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Don’t worry, dear. When we arrive, I’ll prepare my special soup,” Evelyn promised, and Sonia smiled weakly, choosing to let herself be pampered since she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had pampered her.

“We are ready to leave, Adolf,” Jade said after she and Candace got into the car.

Inside Priscilla’s office at the She Can Heal Foundation building, Rebekah Miller had a satisfied smile on her face as she sat back on a couch and sipped from a mug of tea while she listened to Priscilla, who was giving her the details about her meeting with Celsie the previous day, as well as Celsie’s phone call a moment ago to accept the deal.

“I knew she was going to accept the offer. It was too good to be turned down after all. She is quite an ambitious young lady, don’t you agree?” she said, and Priscilla nodded in agreement.

“So it appears.”

“I will draft out the contract terms and send it across to your email. Get her to come down here and sign it as soon as you can,” Rebekah instructed.

“Yes, I will,” Priscilla said before leaning forward, “But if I may ask, why did you insist that we approach Celestia Miller? And why that much of a hurry too? No offense, I understand that her story was quite touching, but I think there are other ladies with even more pathetic stories than hers who could have benefited more from the money we are offering her. She has a good job, and from what I saw, she is doing well for herself. She also has Benedict Delgado, so what’s so special about her that you had to make us do this?” Priscilla asked, trying to understand Rebekah’s intention since it still didn’t sit well with her that she had approached Celsie in that manner.

Priscilla had been more than surprised when Rebekah called and asked her to reach out to Celsie with that outrageous offer, she had wanted to ask questions, but Rebekah had said she would stop by the office to get the feedback hence she had gone ahead to do as she was told, as usual, hoping to get answers from Rebekah when she met her in person.

Rebekah’s smile faltered since she hadn’t been expecting Priscilla to question her. She pushed the cup away from her and sat forward in an intimidating manner, “Other organizations are going to want to work with her as she’s still under the spotlight at the moment, so I figured we get to her first. It would bring the foundation more exposure and also more sponsors,” She said with a light shrug.

Priscilla looked at her, unconvinced, “Until now, we have never really been interested in such things so…”

“You might be the CEO in name, but I hope you haven’t forgotten who owns this place and who keeps the foundation running financially. You should know better than to question my decisions,” Rebekah said with disapproval, and Priscilla’s hands balled into a fist on her lap as she looked at Rebekah, who was seated across from her.

“I just want to be sure that you are not trying to do anything that might affect…”

“And what if I am? Are you going to get in my way?” Rebekah cut in challengingly, and Priscilla decided that it was time to take a step back.

Nothing good would come from provoking Rebekah. As annoying as she was, and as much as Priscilla hated feeling like the woman’s puppet, establishing a foundation had only been a pipe dream until she met Rebekah, and Rebekah offered to help her. Since then, Rebekah had brought her all the money and sponsors she needed to fund her work while taking the backstage.

That was how Priscilla got the fame she now had, and that was how she got the money she needed to sponsor the kind of lifestyle she had always wanted. She knew where she was coming from, and she didn’t want to go back there.

“There is no need to get cranky, Madam. I wasn’t trying to challenge your authority or anything. I know better than to do that. If you say we should do this, then we would. You are the one that truly owns this place after all,” Priscilla said with a pacifying smile, and Rebekah smiled at her with approval.

“Good. Try not to forget that I can throw you back to the gutters where I picked you from if you start growing wings,” Rebekah said with a cold smile.

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