335 Damien's Other Shade

Everything happened so fast. Chris could have avoided getting shot at but for some reason, he had expected that Damien wouldn't let him go unscathed. He had his back facing Damien and Katherine as he was about to exit the penthouse. And when Damien spoke, he slightly turned his head to the right and sensed that Damien was going to shoot him. But he didn't move, believing that he deserved the bullet. 

As soon as the bullet pierced through his thigh, he cursed. It wasn't painful—at least, there wasn't any pain right away. There was heavy pressure on the gunshot wound and a buzzing feeling. He clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes before he inspected his wound. 

The wound was a few inches above his right knee on the side of his thigh and it avoided his femoral artery. If it was a couple more inches to the left, it could have been fatal and he could potentially bleed to death fast. He let out a breathy curse and in his mind, he reluctantly praised Damien for being skillful. He believed that the shot was calculated and that if Damien really wanted, he would've easily been shot right through the artery where he could bleed so much, or worse, a headshot.

While he took out a handkerchief to tie it around the wound, he heard Damien gave a command to his men, "Patch him up before you send him off." The security held Chris by the arm to guide him out but he brushed them off and walked on his own, limping towards the elevator.

Katherine was still tongue-tied after witnessing what just happened. She stared stupidly at Damien as she stood next to him, not even realizing that Chris was no longer at her penthouse and had left a small pool of blood on the marbled floor. There were a lot of things that ran through her head and she wasn't really shocked at the thought of 'a gunshot' but she was stunned to see Damien shooting someone without having second thoughts.

Seeing someone shoot wasn't entirely new to her given her job in Shadow before, but seeing Damien use a gun was. And her brain didn't know what to process. Yes, she saw him with a gun on the very first time that she met him many years ago but she hadn't seen him fire it. So this was different. Knowing that he knows how to use the gun was far different than actually seeing him use it.

And just like what Chris had thought, she believed that if Damien really wanted, he could have killed Chris easily. It was a bizarre feeling and it was also admirable at the same time. She swallowed as she continued to gaze at him, suddenly seeing him in a different light. The kind Damien whom she knew for a long time, the one who was always gentle with her, and now this… the badass Damien she just saw pull a trigger, looking so manly… and dominant… and hot.

"You okay?" Damien asked when he noticed that she was staring at him. And when she didn't answer, he lightly squeezed her arm to wake her up from her trance. "Baby, where have you gone to?"

"I do. Doesn't mean I'm not good at it." He winked, amused at her reaction when he caught her openly staring at him.

Footsteps were heard from the side and they saw Styles come out from his bedroom.

"Huh… that was some—wait... is that… blood?" Styles's eyes widened at the sight of the red pool on the floor. He quickly drifted his eyes to Katherine and then Damien, seeing if the blood came from one of them. "Is that Chris's?"

Katherine nodded once and looked at Damien again asking, "What now? I think I should call your mom."

"Where is she?"

Straining himself from vomiting, Styles averted his stare from the blood that was currently being cleaned by one of Damien's security detail and turned to Katherine and Damien. "She's at Katherine's old apartment with Edward. I called her earlier and told her what happened so she's still there now."

She stashed the guns back to their secret locations, strapping them securely as she responded, "Should we get ready and leave? It's best if we go to Falcon instead of having her come back here."

"Yeah. I'll go shower. I'll be ready in… um… half an hour." Styles hurried back to his bedroom. He could be ready in fifteen minutes but thinking that the two shared a room last night, he thought of giving them more time to get ready since they had to share one shower. Half an hour was enough time, right?

Katherine headed to her bedroom with Damien following her behind. Her thoughts were consumed about what Chris told her earlier and she tried to devise a plan on what their next steps would be. She absent-mindedly went inside the bathroom to take a shower and was about to remove her top when she heard Damien's footsteps behind her.

"Wha—" she gasped, seeing that he was holding the card that Matthew put inside the paper bag along with some fruits and soup. It was the card that she remembered sending to Matthew when they separated and he stayed in California. She sprang forward in an attempt to steal the card from him but he raised it so high up in the air. 

"Give that to me," she pleaded weakly before taking a step back when she saw Damien's unreadable expression. His face hardened and if his icy stare could wound her, she would have already frozen on the spot. She didn't have to read the inside of the card to know what she wrote to Matthew when she was twelve — she knew it by heart.

"I… That's…" She cleared her throat, taking a step back each time Damien took a step towards her. Seeing his expression, she didn't know what he was thinking. He looked so cool just a few minutes ago but now… she didn't know what to expect. 

"Damien… that's…" She swallowed when her hips touched the counter.

Placing a hand on the counter next to her hip, Damien's arm grazed her waist and while he fixed his gaze on her, he raised the card up, then his eyes skimmed the swirls and lines of Katherine's handwriting.

She didn't move. She didn't dare to interrupt Damien catching her young self writing to Matthew many years ago. Though she could no longer remember it word for word, she was sure what it was about and that it was so silly. She watched as Damien finished reading and he lowered the card, placing his other hand onto the counter, trapping her between his arms.

"Really?" Damien's voice was low and his gaze was so intense she couldn't move.

"What…"

"You really wanted to marry Matthew?" he scoffed, his mind bringing him back to a couple of hours ago when Matthew stopped by and hugged Katherine so tightly despite his presence in the room. What a ballsy move.

She knitted her brows together, frowning at him. "That was so long ago. I was a child."

He huffed, leaning forward so they were only inches apart before he swore, "You listen to me, Katherine Young, there's absolutely no fûcking way you will marry other men besides me. I won't allow it."

She blinked. "I—"

"Are we clear?"

Katherine had only managed to half nod when Damien said, "Good." And then he smashed his lips to hers.