310 Discovery 2

Katherine and Styles arrived inside the empty apartment that occupied the whole floor. She walked towards the middle of the room where Amelia was with a man whom she was seeing for the first time.

"Who's this guy?" Styles asked as he followed Katherine inside, dropping the bag on the floor next to Amelia's feet and forgetting the door he left ajar.

"Thanks," Amelia said when she checked the bag's contents. "This is Edward, he worked for the Parks for a long time, many years ago. This is Katherine and Styles."

Katherine and Styles nodded at Edward and heard him say, "I know you… I saw some pictures of you in the news." He pointed at Katherine, his brows knitted as he continued, "You also worked for Young Master before."

"Young Master?" Katherine crossed her arms in front of her stomach as though she was bracing herself. She wanted to lean against something but ended up hugging herself instead.

"Ah, Young Master Damien. It's been a while but I can't break the habit… I still refer to him and Young Master William the same."

Katherine nodded in understanding, feeling a bit weird talking about Damien while he wasn't in the room.

"Did you bring some food?" Amelia searched the bag on the floor and found some packed meals for her and Edward.

Just then, Edward's eyes darted to the side and saw Damien by the door. He straightened up and called him, "Young Master…"

"Edward…" Damien muttered while he scanned the room, meeting Katherine's shocked expression. "Damien… How did you..." she called softly while her heart started beating erratically.

"Hmmm?" Amelia probed and followed the direction of Edward's gaze and saw her son standing and watching them. Her heart immediately pounded in her chest. She was unable to look away from her son. Her beautiful son whose face was now masked with confusion.

"What's going on?" Damien's stare finally landed on the woman whose eyes greatly resembled his. "You…"

"Ms. Amelia, I didn't know you have reunited with the Young Master?" Edward remarked, clearly oblivious to what's currently happening.

Damien heard the name twice since he arrived but it wasn't until the man mentioned it that it all made sense to him. He thought he heard Katherine say his mother's name earlier and almost immediately, he thought he may have heard it wrong.

But now… Looking at the woman whose face he had only seen in the one picture that he had of her, his heart began to ache. There were so many emotions going through him. A mixture of joy, pain, disbelief, and just numbness all rolled into one.

Katherine was speechless and so was Amelia. This was never the way Damien should have known about his mother. Now that the cat was out of the bag, what were they supposed to do?

"Damien…" Katherine called him again and she started walking towards him. He wasn't saying anything but just by looking at his eyes, she could see that he was baffled… and perhaps even angry.

Damien looked at Katherine and though he didn't want to, he found himself pissed at her. He was mad. Whatever sick game this was, he didn't expect her to keep this from him. Had she always known? Why was Katherine with… her? Why were they together? All of a sudden, what Katherine said last night came back to him. 'I will tell you the truth. And you wouldn't like it.'

Was this what she meant?

His head was reeling. His eyes stung, causing him to blink several times. And then he turned around and left.

"Damien, wait!" Katherine ran after him, leaving Amelia behind who was still stunned at the sudden discovery. She was not prepared just like her son. This must be too shocking for them.

Katherine tried to go after Damien whose long strides made it difficult for her to catch up to him. "Please, Damien. Wait... Let's talk."

He could hear her calling him but he was too mad to look at her, so he just kept going down the stairs until he found a door to which he didn't know where it leads to. He pushed it open and realized that he was at the back alley with no exit as both ends had been closed. Running a hand down his face, Damien wanted to scream.

Meanwhile, Katherine had slowed down. She had been feeling dizzy since they arrived at the apartment and now that she was on the move, she felt like the world was spinning on her. And she was sweating like crazy. It didn't matter. All she wanted was to find Damien. So she pushed herself and went after him until she saw him walk out the back door that was a dead-end. Her feet paused before she opened the door as she tried to compose herself before she would face him.

Opening the door, Katherine found him leaning against the dirty wall with an arm across his body and a hand rubbing his forehead — he was clearly distressed.

"Damien…" she called and her throat hurt when she did.

"You knew… you knew and you kept it from me…" he said in a toneless voice, but she knew that he was mad.

And he was right. She did know and she didn't tell him. And that was wrong. But it wasn't her secret to tell. Even so, it didn't make her feel better.

"What? You don't have anything to say for yourself?" he questioned.

"This isn't mine to tell. Falcon—she's—"

"She's Falcon?!" he huffed. Scoffing and shaking his head. He recalled that at the party last Saturday night, Falcon was somewhat avoiding his gaze but he didn't think much about it. The woman he just saw earlier looked exactly like the woman in the picture but he couldn't tell right away that she was Falcon. Then he realized that she was wearing a disguise at that time and suddenly he recognized her as one and the same. 

There was a smile on his face but it was a smile of ridicule. He was mocking—at who? He didn't know. Maybe at the world. Maybe at himself for being damn stupid for not recognizing his own biological mother. 

Katherine could feel her body getting heavier by the second. She shifted her weight, trying to find the right stance in order not to fall over. She watched as Damien's expression changed from anger to mockery and she hated herself for making him feel this way. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you. But… everything that I was keeping from you... she's part of it. She had been... keeping it from you for... a very long time… All of these… it's not…" She was now having shortness of breath.

Damien hadn't been looking at her so he couldn't see that she was already flushed and sweaty from the fever. He thought she couldn't talk straight because of the guilt she was experiencing. "Whatever her reason was, it was hers. Not yours. Out of everyone I trusted, you're the least I expect to do something like this."

He pushed himself off the wall and headed towards the door of the building to find his way out. "I'm leaving. I can't stay here."

Just when he pulled the door open, he heard a loud thud behind him. His head snapped towards where Katherine was standing only to find her now lying unconscious on the ground.

"Katherine!" he cried out as he rushed to her.