Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress Chapter 119 - Fearing The Unknown

"So… I'm moving out," Katherine said in a small voice, her eyes looking anywhere but Damien's beautiful face. 

"What?!" his voice was stern, causing her to flinch at his tone.

She gulped. This was the reaction that she expected to see from him. Although she didn't like what was happening, this was the only way she knew that would make things a little better - moving out of the Royal Penthouse.

Besides, didn't they already talk about this before — that day when he let her stay in the penthouse? She was bound to move out.

Damien's brows knitted. It was a Friday, and the end of the month. They were supposed to have dinner that evening as it was Katherine's payday, instead, they were in his office — discussing her attempt to leave the penthouse to stay somewhere else. His eyes never left hers and he wondered if something happened again.

He was leaning at his desk with his arms crossed as he looked at Katherine who was standing in front of him. He could tell that she was hesitant with the way she was avoiding his gaze.

"Can you at least look at me?" he asked. 

Sighing, she raised her head and met his stare. "I know you don't want me to…"

"That's right, so don't." He didn't understand why they were even having this conversation. 

Walking forward, Katherine placed a hand on his chest, despite feeling the piercing stare from his eyes. "Don't be mad… this was the only solution I could think of."

Softening his gaze, Damien held Katherine's hand that was placed on his chest and brought it to his lips. "You're still not telling me why. How would I understand if you don't tell me?"

Katherine didn't want to relive it but she started telling him what happened earlier. 

It was after lunch when Katherine came out from the Royal Penthouse and was heading back to her desk at the top floor using the common elevator in the main office building. She was the only one waiting for the lift and when the door opened, she stepped inside and stayed at the far back since she was going to be the last one to get off. 

She had her head lowered as she checked her phone when employees entered the elevator on the next floor and started gossiping. 

"Have you seen her earlier? She is wearing an expensive brand again."

"That blue dress? How could she afford that? Do executive secretaries like her have a really high salary for her to afford it?"

Katherine's ears quirked upon hearing them. She knew they were talking about her again.

"Tch. Do you really think she bought it herself? Of course, Boss bought that for her." 

"How lucky. Boss clothed her… even gave her a penthouse. What a witch. Is she that good in bed?" 

"Probably. How could gold diggers like her sleep at night?"

"Does she even sleep at all? For Boss to shower her with lavish gifts… they're probably up all night. She's that good." 

The two of them laughed. "What a dirty wh.o.r.e. I still think she doesn't deserve the Boss. That model, Lexi, and our Boss suited each other better."

"I agree… they belong in the same social cla.s.s, they would look better if they got back together. Just who does this secretary think she is? She's a n.o.body."

The two women continued to talk bad about Katherine without realizing that she was in the same s.p.a.ce as them. Other hurtful things were said about her and Damien even when the elevator stopped on other floors to pick up more people. They continued to converse oblivious that Katherine was just right behind them.

The entire afternoon, Katherine convinced herself that it was better to move out of the penthouse, thinking that it was going to make everything fine.

As she recalled what happened in the elevator vaguely, Damien listened but his facial expression turned grim with each pa.s.sing second. She didn't even say much as it was uncomfortable to tell him the details. 'Such a tattletale,' she scolded herself, despite knowing it was the only reason why she came up with the decision to move out and she didn't want to lie to him.

It didn't matter that Katherine did not tell him everything, he was still going to find out later himself after this. He didn't need and want employees like those.

"I won't allow you to leave," he muttered.

"But-"

"Do you think if you leave now, they will stop talking behind your back?"

"So, you want me to turn a blind eye like I have been doing for a long time? I don't think I can handle that."

Damien was in a dilemma. How could he make her stay? "You know, you don't even have to work anymore. You could just stay with me… You don't have to worry about anything else."

Katherine didn't know why, but instead of feeling touched, she thought that she actually felt insulted. "You want me to depend on you and do nothing? Wouldn't that make me look more like a gold digger?" She didn't raise her voice, but with the way their conversation was going, she was afraid that it will turn into another fight.

He panicked. Cupping her face with both of his hands, he spoke gently, "You know that I never thought of you like that. Let's not turn this into an unnecessary fight, okay?"

She sighed and calmed down. She was getting too sensitive and irritable lately as it was almost that time of the month. Nodding, she allowed him to continue.

"Let me take care of you. All you have to do is stay by my side. You can do whatever you want and not think about anything else. Let me do all the worrying while you just… stay pretty."

Katherine rolled her eyes when he used what she told him back then. Breathing out a sigh, she held both of his hands in hers and squeezed them. "Damien… I like you a lot. I really do. But I'm not that shameless to live off you. My conscience won't let me. I want to try and stand on my own so I can at least look at myself in the mirror and see that I'm somehow worthy to stand next to you, even though I don't really know how that's going to be possible.

"So… please… let me move out."

"I really don't think that's a great idea. I need you close by, Katherine. I can't allow you to move out."

She shook her head. "That reason isn't enough, Damien…"

He clenched his jaw and contemplated before he said, "It's not safe for you."

Katherine raised a brow and softly chuckled, "How is it not safe? And where is safe, really? Anywhere can be a dangerous place."

Damien rubbed his nape with his hand before he pushed himself off the desk to retrieve a folder from one of his desk drawers. He grabbed her hand and brought her to the leather sofa to sit down for a serious conversation that he didn't think he would have with her this soon.

"Before I show this to you, can you promise to hear me out first and not run away from me in the middle of it?" He stared into her eyes, asking her to give him a chance to explain.

"Why would I run away?" she wondered as she started to get nervous.

"Because you might hate me for what I did. But I want you to understand, I only did this because I was worried… well—okay, I was very curious and frustrated, but I was also worried."

"I'm not following… What are you talking about?"

Damien brushed a hand over his face before slowly opening the folder in front of Katherine, revealing several papers about his private investigation of her. His heart drummed in his chest as he watched her expression change. 

"What is all this?" She spread some papers around and a perplexed expression cast on her face, unsure of what to think or feel at that moment. "You had me investigated?" She turned to look at him — his face was unreadable.

He didn't say anything and allowed her to skim on the papers first before he started, "These were what I found after your first day here. When I saw you that day, I couldn't believe it. I just had to read through your resume and then I saw your profile… I had to recheck the information you wrote there and had some background check to know more about you.

"This isn't the first time, Katherine. Six years ago, I did the same thing. But there was no record of you… and suddenly when you appeared in front of me, there's information that I have not seen before. It's either, my investigation was really c.r.a.ppy back then… or someone falsified these." He pointed his hand to the papers.

She looked at him with eyes full of doubt. She didn't understand what was going on. "I'm so confused…"

Damien swallowed. He already hated himself for telling her all these. "I think someone is trying to harm you… and I don't know who it is… or why."

He loathed himself. He was only making her unnecessarily fear the unknown.