462 She's Not Alone Anymore

The ringing of Chris's phone was the only sound in the living room. With his phone in his hand, he looked up to see that everyone's attention was on him. "I have to take this. It's Parker."

Just before he pressed the answer button, Damien cocked a gun with a silencer, and with both hands, he pointed it at Chris—as if Damien's men who had their guns pointed at him wasn't enough.

"Put it on speaker. Don't say anything reckless," said Damien and he released the safety of the handgun. "You know I won't hesitate to shoot you the second time… Ask your leg."

The devilish smirk on Damien's face told Chris that he wasn't kidding. The former already shot him once, so he most definitely could do it again.

Without any delay, Chris pressed the answer button on the screen and put the call on speaker. "Parker," he said.

"Agent Hawk, where are you?"

Hearing Parker's tone made him think that something was off. He didn't know what it was yet, but his gut was telling him that something was about to happen. He carefully answered in the most natural way that he could, "I'm following a lead on that assignment you gave me a few days ago. Do you need anything?"

"Wherever you are, reroute. I need you back at Castle asap."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, but I have a mission for you. TS. And it's urgent. How soon can you come?"

Chris closed his eyes briefly. It's another Triple S mission. And it's the second time this month—and the first one was just a week apart. He suppressed a curse, and his reaction didn't go unnoticed by the three who were watching his every move. At the moment, Chris didn't care about them. He had a facade as he spoke to Parker in order not to reveal anything about his whereabouts. "In a couple of hours. I'm on my way," he answered.

"Mm. I'll wait," Parker said, and the line went dead.

Chris stared at his phone screen again, the short call replaying in his head over and over. There was just something about that phone call that he couldn't quite place his finger on it. What was Parker up to? 

"You're not going anywhere," Damien spoke with his gun still pointed at Chris.

Dragging his gaze to Damien, Chris scoffed and pocketed his phone. "Katherine, tell your boyfriend to put his toy down."

"Fiancé," Damien corrected, a glint flashing in his eyes as he showed his left hand, proudly showing the engagement ring that Katherine gave him earlier while his right hand still held the gun that he pointed at Chris.

Chris zeroed in on the ring with a huge black diamond on Damien's finger, then he scoffed as he glanced at her.

"Oh my god! Really?" Styles gasped, his elated expression said it all. "You're officially going to be my brother-in-law now? I'm sure your mo—aw!"

Then, she turned to face Chris and told him, "We can't let you go unless you give us Castle's coordinates."

Chris chuckled at what he heard, shaking his head and scratching his temple. "You need to back off, Katherine. I can't have you spoiling my plans."

"I'm not spoiling any of your plans. As much as I want to end your life, I don't care about what your extracurricular activities are. I'm after Parker," she answered. 'And bringing down Shadow, of course.' It's one of their main goals.

"It's not that easy to take down Parker. You of all people should know that. Remember when you bombed the base five years ago? It only scratched him. You have to do better than that, sweetheart."

Damien's jaw clenched, wishing he could shut Chris up using the gun in his hand. His finger was near the trigger and he was itching to squeeze it.

"That's no longer any of your concern what I do, Chris. You lost that privilege the moment you betrayed me." Katherine's eyes were ablaze and her expression darkened as she looked at the man in front of them. "Besides, I knew my mistake back then. And I'm not doing that again."

"She's not alone anymore," Damien punctuated her statement, and she held his hand to show that they were a united front.

Chris couldn't help but chuckle. "Cute. You're still too naive, Katherine."

She held out her palm and Styles gave her his tablet. Holding it up towards Chris, she pulled the corners of her mouth into a sly grin and said, "Last chance, Hawk. Only one click and this goes live."

From where Chris was standing, he could see the ready-made article that Damien was talking about earlier. It indeed looked like an article from a gossip column involving him and a married woman whose husband was a public figure. It was something that the citizens could feast on for days, but it was certainly a factor that would lead Parker to order a cancelation for him. Parker already suspected a mole in Shadow. And this article was enough to throw him into the sharks.

Letting out a sigh, he gave in and dictated the coordinates to Styles who was able to pull up the location in a few seconds.

"Seriously? You've been there this whole time?" Styles questioned, his brows knitted as he studied the new Castle on his tablet. "A financial firm building? In the middle of a busy city? How bold… How truly bold. I have no words."

"Check it, Styles. Make sure it's legit," Katherine said. 

When Styles gave them the thumbs up, Chris only smiled and did not say anything else.

"We'll be watching you from now on, Chris. Make a mistake and this one goes to Parker."

"I'd be dead either way, my dear. But not after I'm done with everything." Buttoning his suit coat, he started walking leisurely towards the exit with his hands in his pockets. "I'd like to stay and chat with you fellas, but duty calls."

They watched as Chris left the penthouse and Styles was still in awe as he asked, "We're really just going to let him walk away like that? Did you believe him?"

"I don't think he was lying. Didn't you see him earlier? For the first time in years, that was the most honest moment that I've seen him. He won't do anything stupid. The important thing is, we already have Castle's location," she replied.

Damien received a phone call and he talked on the phone for a few seconds before he held Katherine's elbow and told her, "We need to go."

Nodding, she headed to her bedroom. "I'll quickly change out of this. Give me two minutes."

"Styles," Damien walked towards Styles and gave him instructions. "Stay at my place for now while we're out. We won't be out long, but for the meantime, go over the specifics with everyone. We'll be back in a couple of hours and meet you all there."

"Got it!"

When Styles was already by the door, Damien caught up and asked, "Oh, and… Can you check on her for me?"

Styles nodded and smiled, "Of course."