348 In His Favor

It was a Friday night and the district outside of Katherine's old building was bustling with activity. It masked the movements of Damien's security teams perfectly as they made sure Edward would be driven back to his hideout safely. Damien had assigned some of his men to accompany Edward on the journey for his protection.

Damien watched his mother, Amelia, from a distance as she bid farewell to Edward. Until now, he was curious about what the two talked about that made Amelia so upset before they arrived at Katherine's apartment that morning. It looked like he needed to have another conversation with her. Seeing the look on her face from where he stood, he couldn't read her real emotions.

A tug on his shirt interrupted his thoughts, finding Katherine next to him with curious eyes. "You okay?" she probed.

"Yeah, let's go." He gestured for her to move forward. All of them were heading towards the shopping district a block away where he parked his car. 

Even though it was only a short distance to Damien's car, his security detail were strategically dispersed around them for their protection. Two of his men in casual clothes walked in front of them and three behind them. Behind the three men were Styles and Amelia with another two guarding their backs. The four of them were basically sandwiched by Damien's men in an inconspicuous manner with a meter or two distance from each other.

When they almost reached the parking lot, Damien tugged on Katherine's hand, halting her walk. "What's wrong?"

Nothing. There was nothing wrong. Except just a second ago, he saw a loving couple whom they had passed by. The couple looked so happy just walking hand in hand with smiles on their faces and all of a sudden, he was envious. 

His relationship with Katherine wasn't how it used to be and though they flirt here and there, his fears of losing her because of her reservations prevented him from going all out. They were in the middle of a war between people whom he had yet to know more about and he had this sense of urgency that he must make the most out of the time they have together. 

From what Chris said that morning, that leader from Shadow was already looking into him. And there could be a hit on him any time soon for some unknown reasons without him realizing it. What if despite all his efforts, he'd still die before Katherine finds her justice?

He just wanted to be selfish and spend more time with her as much as he could before everything was too late. "Have dinner with me tonight," he said.

"Sure. We can stop by some place to grab some food and bring it home?" Her innocent and pure eyes were so clear as shey looked up at him.

Damien shook his head, a small smile danced on his lips while his large hand swallowed her delicate one. "I meant a date. Just you and me."

Katherine quickly scanned her memory and recalled that time before they discovered the bug. Last Wednesday, she did promise to treat him out for lunch on Friday—today—in exchange for giving her a recommendation to The Platinum Club's membership. She was already an official member… But a promise was a promise. 

"I didn't promise you a date. You said it yourself–it's a business meeting." A playful smirk played on her lips, making him shake his head.

"To-may-to To-mah-to. Whatever. Please?"

Her heart fluttered and she felt a tingle run down her spine with the way he was giving her a boyish, charming smile. She was totally focused on his face yet her very observant ears perked up when she heard a group of female teenagers behind her gush about Damien's handsome looks as if they were fangirling over an idol. 

She felt the urge to cover his face with a head mask so that they could no longer see him—or maybe she could pick a fight with him so that he would knit his brows and it would make him less attractive. Except even then, he would still look cute. Why did he have to be so good looking? She wanted to blame Amelia for giving him excellent genes.

Damn it. She was getting possessive. So her immature self did what she thought she could do: She whipped her head towards the gushing teenagers and gave them a catty look, arching a brow and looking at them from head to toe. 

The teens gasped and scurried away as if they were scalded by her fierce glare. What a scary woman! 

She wasn't usually this petty but whatever.

Damien's sexy chuckle caught her attention and her cheeks blushed as she stared back at him. She knew he saw what she did and why she did it but she didn't care. 

Lifting her chin up, she told him, "Fine. I'll have dinner with you—" He smiled but it slipped as soon as he heard her condition. "—but you have to give me your account number."

He knew what she planned to do and he was avoiding it ever since Markus asked him that afternoon. "You don't have to give the money back. It's really nothing…"

Exhaling out a long sigh, she calmly told him, "It's not nothing, Damien. Before I came to work for you in your company, I could barely even make a five-hundred-dollar saving. Which was why that one thousand dollars that Steven owed me before was such a big deal for me. I worked so hard in my part-time jobs only to receive a miniscule amount of money that's hardly enough to cover for my rent and bills. I was so poor that sometimes my hourly wage was even below the minimum. It may be nothing to you but a dollar means so much to me. I know how hard it is to work for money and you worked hard for yours. So please let me repay you."

Damien listened to her rambling, his gaze zoning in on her pretty lips the entire time. And the more he listened the more he found her beautiful. Her logic made so much sense to him but all he wanted was to kiss her. Why did she have such a smart mouth?

However, even though he understood what she meant, he was still unwilling to accept her money. So he did what he knew he was best at–negotiation. "Fine. But in my terms." 

Her ears perked up, evidently interested in what he had to say. "Okay…"

"I'm still against you repaying me for it but… I'm willing to compromise. From now on, you will pay for our meals until you reach the total amount that's written on the receipt."

Katherine narrowed her suspicious eyes at him. She knew that he was trapping her again just like what he did with that one time she stayed at the Royal Penthouse in his hotel. 

The only difference now was that she didn't have to wait for a monthly dinner for her to pay up because she had more than enough in her bank account to pay him outright. So perhaps she could take him out to dine in all those lavish restaurants and choose the most expensive meals they have to offer and she would be able to pay everything back in a few months.

She bit her bottom lip as she thought about other ways on how she could pay up faster. A light bulb lit above her head and she proposed, "Fine. But do gifts count? I mean… I'll pay for the meals but can we count in the gifts too?"

Damien couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to work something out with him. As if he could see right through her, he answered, "Sure. But nothing too expensive. Nothing more than a thousand dollars."

Damn it. She had thought of giving him a new car – a replacement for his Aston Martin. She saw on the internet a while ago that the new model's starting price was around $157K and the most expensive costs around $3M. She could have worked with that. 

"Five thousand," she said in reluctance.

"Two."

"Four point five."

"Three max."

She gritted her teeth before she huffed. "Fine." How could she ever win from the Resort King?