311 Discovery 3

Seeing Katherine on the ground unconscious caused Damien to enter into protective mode as his mind quickly recalled what needs to be done in a medical emergency while he quickly went over to her. Despite his anger earlier, none of it mattered at the moment. All he wanted was to make sure she was okay.

"Katherine..." He carefully pulled her up and cradled her in his arms, gently patting her cheek to wake her up only to realize that she was having a fever. "You're burning up."

He immediately gathered her in his arms and carried her back into the building. On his way to find the exit back to the streets, he bumped into Styles and he told him what happened.

"I'm bringing her to the hospital," Damien said as he was on his way out, carrying Katherine in a bridal style.

"No! No hospitals. It's not safe there." Styles stopped him from getting out.

"She's sick! She needs a doctor!"

"And I'm telling you, it's not safe for Katherine to be in a hospital!" Styles insisted on his point. It didn't matter that he was shouting at Damien Park. His first priority was Katherine's safety. And by bringing her to the hospital, it will just make her look vulnerable in the eyes of the enemies who could possibly be lurking in the shadows and just waiting for the right time to strike.

Damien breathed out and tried to calm himself. "Okay, fine. Let's bring her home. I'll call a doctor who can check on her."

…

Golden Phoenix Residences

It was already six in the evening and the sky had darkened. A small machine on the nightstand emitted steam with hints of aroma which would help Katherine, who was still sleeping, to feel better. She hadn't woken up since she passed out earlier. Even when Jeffrey Evans came to check on her condition earlier, she remained unconscious for almost four hours.

Damien was mad at himself. He was too mad to even notice that she was actually sick. He knew that she wasn't feeling well before he left her apartment that morning. And because he was still reeling from the shocking discovery, he failed to realize that she was suffering. And instead of listening to her, he wanted to leave — to escape from reality. He didn't know what would have happened if he had left not knowing that she fainted.

Standing in front of the massive window of Katherine's bedroom, Damien had his hands deep in his pockets as he stared at the view outside. He had been staring out the window for a while now, since the sun disappeared from the horizon and the twinkling lights of Harbor City started to sparkle below them. There were so many things going through his head. So many questions and he didn't know which one to ask first.

As much as he was angry that Katherine kept something this important from him, the only person that he really wanted to talk to regarding this was no one else but her. Before he could speak to Amelia, he had to first talk to Katherine. He didn't know why he felt that way. He just knew that he had to listen to whatever she had to say first before facing Amelia.

A shuffling noise from the bed and Katherine clearing her throat pulled Damien out of his trance. He turned around and saw her waking up and trying to sit.

Without saying anything, he walked up to her. He didn't help her sit up but he handed her a glass of water.

"T-Thanks…" she said in a hoarse voice. Her throat was parched and hurt.

When she was finished, she placed the glass on the nightstand where packs of medicines were laid. Slowly, the memory of the incident that happened in the alley came back to her and she immediately felt guilty. Raising her eyes up to look at him, she saw the way he looked at her with eyes so cold yet so loving. She was aware that she had hurt him once again.

Katherine reached out to hold his hand and was glad that he didn't brush her off. But he didn't hold her back like he usually would and that pricked her heart. She tugged him down until he sighed and sat on the bed next to her.

"Have you two talked?" she asked.

He shook his head and said nothing.

"Is she here?"

"She's outside."

"Don't you want to talk to her?"

She watched as Damien looked away, rubbing the back of his neck and running his fingers through his hair a few times. He was exasperated.

"I want to hear you first," he said. "Before I talk to her, I want to hear from you first."

Katherine clenched her hands together. This was it. She was finally going to show Damien all her demons.

Not knowing where to start, she thought it was easier if he started the questions and she answered them. "What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, Katherine. Everything. Who are you? What do you really do? Who are you running away from? Who are you chasing after? Why are you with her… Just tell me something. Anything," he spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper.

The room was quiet for a while and the only thing they could hear was the white noise coming from the humidifier.

"The things that I'm about to tell you…" Katherine began and paused to gather more courage to admit everything to him. "Knowing these things can put anyone in danger. I kept it from you because having knowledge of their existence can put you on their radar. So, please… I beg you, Damien… please… be very careful."

Damien turned his head and met her misty gaze. The look on her face told him that she wasn't selfishly keeping this information to herself — rather, she was scared of telling him for reasons he had yet to find out.

Giving his full attention, he turned to face her and nodded for her to continue.

Taking a deep breath, she told him everything, "My name is Katherine… however, before I lost my memories five years ago, I had no surname. You tried to do a background check on me before but you didn't find anything right? That's because my records were wiped out. I didn't exist. I didn't have footprints. For six years, I've only used an identity that was given to me. You may have heard Styles calling me by a different name — it's 'Queen'. I worked for a secret organization and that's my alias. With an identity code Q78336."

He had figured as much but finally hearing everything from her, it still felt bizarre. "What secret organization?"

"Shadow." She swallowed — saying the name burned her throat. "It's a covert branch of the government…" her voice trailed off.

"You work for the government?" He knitted his brows, showing that he was truly baffled at the information.

Katherine buried her face in her hands, feeling stupid that she was so naive to believe that she worked for the government. She sighed. "At least that's what we were told."

"What do you mean?"

"The entire time I was with them, that was everyone's belief. That was all that we knew – that we all worked for the government. That we were doing… everything for the good of the country."

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat when memories of the innocent people she killed haunted her. Teardrops fell and she wiped them fast but Damien saw everything.

"You're an assassin," he muttered in a tone that wasn't a question.