398 One Sweet Kiss

The scene from that morning played in Katherine's mind and she tried to recall any signs. Margaret was a few inches shorter than her. She had long black hair and had a very amiable expression. Katherine could see that Margaret was charming too as she smiled a lot so if she hadn't known about what she did to Damien years ago, she would definitely be fooled.

Who would have known that an innocent and sweet-looking woman was that manipulative? No wonder she felt something off about their encounter. Katherine wondered if that petite woman had changed or was she still wicked like before.

She was so distracted by her thoughts of that morning that she didn't hear Damien's question until he playfully bit down her shoulder and said, "What's on your mind, Kitten?"

"What—Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about that woman…" She swallowed.

He studied her face and saw how serious she was as she thought. "She talked to you. What did she say? Did she do something to upset you?"

Katherine breathed in deeply and leaned against him more and in return, he tightened his arms around her. "No… She was just asking where conference room three was. She said she was there to visit her husband."

"Husband? She's married?" Damien thought about it briefly as he hadn't heard any news about her wedding. Maybe she did it in Japan or maybe in secret. He didn't really care. He didn't even spare her a long glance when she entered the conference room earlier. 

Shrugging, she played with the hem of his sleeve absent-mindedly. The warmth that's radiating from his body immediately warmed her up. It was cold out on the balcony but she didn't want to move. The night was so nice that time that she only wanted to snuggle with him. "That's what she said."

When he didn't say anything, she glanced up and saw him in deep thought. "Why?"

Damien softly smiled and kissed her temple, his hands rubbed her cold arms. "Nothing. I just don't want her causing you any trouble."

"Don't worry, Damien, she won't. If she does, I can handle her just fine."

His smile widened and he chuckled. His woman was Katherine. Of course, she could handle it. "I'm sure you can." He tilted his chin up, his lips waiting to meet hers. 

Heat pooled in her cheeks as Damien silently asked her to kiss him. Shifting in his lap, she encircled an arm around his shoulder and her hand cupped his jaw as she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. One sweet kiss that made his heart smile. One sweet kiss that made the butterflies in her stomach go wild.

She pulled away but he placed his hand at the back of her head to keep her in place, unwilling to break their kiss just yet. She giggled and allowed him to deepen their kiss. The cool breeze made her shiver but in the warmth of his embrace, the cold didn't bother her.

When they broke their kiss, she pressed her forehead against his and whispered, "Will you stay tonight too?"

Recently, Damien had been spending the night in Katherine's penthouse. It felt as though they were back to how they were before everything went down between them. He would sneak in at night, after she sleeps, to share her bed even without being invited. However, just now… Was this an invitation? He badly wanted to take it.

"I have work to do…" As soon as he said the words, he swore he saw the corners of her mouth curl down ever so slightly, so he added, "...but I'll come back once I'm done. Don't wait for me, though. You need to rest." He kissed her forehead and all she could do was nod.

Damien brought her back in her bedroom, tucked her in, and left her penthouse. Once he landed on the 62nd floor, he went straight to his study where Felix and Markus arrived a couple of minutes later.

While Damien was busy reviewing contracts and signing reports, Felix went over the results of his initial internal investigation—giving details about who was assigned in certain parts of the hotel at that time. "Fire them all," he ordered without second thoughts and without even raising his head. "All of those you mentioned—give them severance pay, let them sign an updated NDA contract, and dismiss them."

"Understood," Felix and Markus answered in unison.

Closing the folder in his hands, Felix probed, "What about the abduction? What are you going to do about it?"

With a heavy sigh, Damien slumped in his office chair and leaned his head against the backrest. "We can't release anything to the public. That will put us in a bad light. Even if Katherine intentionally let herself be captured, we're the only ones who knew about it. It's a complicated matter. Katherine doesn't want her grandfather to know about the situation either…"

"So… We're not going to do anything?"

Damien was silent for a whole minute before he looked at the two men in front of his desk. "Felix, you still keep in touch with that detective, right?"

"Detective Donovan? Yeah, I can call him anytime."

"Can we trust him?"

"I've known him all my life. Yeah, we can trust him."

Nodding, Damien leaned forward and instructed Felix to fill in the detective about the incident but to keep the matter confidential. "Have the case on blotter but not draw the media's attention, and as much as possible, it should be away from us. Shadow will suspect if we don't do anything about this. The natural move would be to get the police involved. But we don't want it to become huge that it attracts attention. I'm sure Shadow is still observing our next moves. I think this is the safest. 

"I talked to Styles earlier and he told me that Shadow has eyes everywhere… even in the police force. So once we have it on the police blotter, Parker would know about it. It's a long shot but it's worth a try."

Understanding what Damien meant, Felix and Markus nodded, and the three of them continued to revise the tightening of their security. 

It was already three in the morning when Damien finished his work and went back to Katherine's penthouse. He still had to go to work a few hours later and sleeping next to her was just what he needed to recharge himself. He had a long day that exhausted him to the core. Emotionally. Mentally. And Physically. He could only wish that when he wakes up, there'll be no more surprises like yesterday. 

He crawled on the bed next to her and just when he closed his eyes, he heard Katherine mumble in her sleep, "Damien..."

He turned to look at her and softly chuckled before he pressed one sweet kiss on her forehead. "You better be dreaming about something nice, Kitten."