Chapter 208 - Surge of Memories

Damien stepped on the gas and headed towards his office at four in the afternoon. He immediately looked for Katherine but she wasn't at her desk. Neither was she in his office or in his penthouse.

Recalling what she said during their phone call earlier, he sprinted until he reached outside of the building and searched for her at the restaurants in their block but didn't find her. He called Felix and asked if he was driving her somewhere but was disappointed to know that Felix hadn't seen her since morning.

Damien dialed Katherine's phone once again and this time, he left a message.

"Where are you? I've been looking everywhere for you. Please tell me you're okay. Call me as soon as possible."

After leaving the message, he called the head of his security team and ordered a search while he drove around the city looking for her. He couldn't stop worrying. He felt that something was wrong and he could only blame himself when he started to feel upset that she had talked him out of letting his bodyguards follow her around because she felt uncomfortable.

Now that he couldn't get a hold of her, he swore that once he finds her, he would renegotiate. No, it wouldn't even be a negotiation. Whether she likes it or not, she won't have a choice. Damien berated himself, but at the moment, he had to find her first.

…

Meeting Chairman Young caused a huge blow on Katherine. She couldn't remember much about what happened after looking at the photo. She didn't even know how she got out of the restaurant. She felt extremely overwhelmed about what she had heard that it somewhat sent her brain into overdrive.

Katherine was like a walking corpse, walking aimlessly, passing by people — bumping or crashing into them, not even bothering to say sorry. She found herself sitting at a park, not knowing how she got there or which park it was. 

In her hands was the envelope that Chairman Young gave her. She took out all of the pictures inside it and started looking through each one, feeling both a sense of familiarity and unsettledness at the same time. A look of frustration plastered on her face as she tried so hard to dig her mind, recalling any memories… anything at all from the past. But nothing.

She was so out of it she didn't even realize that it had already turned dark. She had been sitting on the bench for hours, vacantly staring at nowhere in particular. 

The sun started to set and she only woke up from her stupor when she felt something hard hit her knee.

"Sorry!" a young boy said as he picked up the ball by her feet. 

Katherine stared at the young boy who was looking back at her. She blinked a few times before closing her eyes, suddenly feeling so tired. Her cellphone had been ringing endlessly in her bag for hours but she didn't even notice it.

"Big sister, your phone is buzzing," the young boy spoke, pointing at the bag next to her.

She followed the direction of where he was pointing at and noticed the light on her phone screen. She absentmindedly reached for it and saw Damien calling her. Her thumb hovered over the green button but before she could press it, the call had stopped.

She watched as her screen showed notifications of her missed calls, text messages, and voicemails.

Still feeling slightly dazed, she tapped the screen on her phone and saw that most of the calls and texts were from Damien, asking her where she was and to call him back. Checking her voicemails, she placed her phone to her ear and listened.

"Katherine, call me. I'm so worried."

"Where the hell are you? Are you hurt? Please… just call, or text."

"I seriously hope you're okay. Get back to me, please. I love you."

Before she could listen to the next one, her phone buzzed again and this time, she pressed the green button.

"Hello?! Katherine?" Damien spoke as soon as he realized his call was answered.

"Damien…" Katherine's voice was slightly hoarse as she hadn't spoken for hours.

"Oh, thank god!" He sighed. "Are you okay? Where are you? I'll pick you up."

Katherine looked around her and realized that she was in a park a couple of blocks away from the office. "I'll meet you back at the office. I'm heading there now—"

The line became silent and when she glanced at her phone, she realized her battery died. Hoping that he was able to hear what she said, she finally got up from the bench and started walking.

The entire time that she walked towards the tall building of Crown Resort Group, her mind was lingering on Chairman Young's words during their meeting. Katherine was mentally lost and exhausted but she managed to safely arrive at their block while she was lifelessly walking towards the entrance of their building.

The sun had set and the sky had darkened, mimicking her currently dull and weak eyes, seemingly distressed about what was happening to her. She wasn't sure what to feel with the new information that she received. Was she just going to believe what was said to her?

Katherine was about to cross the driveway when a speeding car headed towards her. The blinding headlights struck her, causing her to fall to the ground because of the shock. She didn't feel any pain, her eyes only focusing on the bright light, not noticing that the car had stopped a couple of meters away from her.

All of a sudden, an involuntary surge of memories flashed in her mind, bringing her back to that horrible night where she heard gunshots. Katherine was twelve years old when it all happened. It was so dark everywhere. She was hiding in her room when the door was pushed open, slamming the wall and causing her to jump in fright.

The light from the flashlight landed on her face and she winced, tears trickling down her cheeks as she begged, "Please, don't hurt me."

Young Katherine trembled at the sight of a gun that was pointed at her. She could hardly breathe and all she could do was cry. Despite her fear, she looked at the person in front of her through her misty eyes and saw him staring back at her.

She couldn't see him clearly but he was tall. He was wearing all black and there were black lines across his face, camouflaging him in the dark.

"Drop your gun," another person whose face was covered in a mask came inside her room. And everything stood still.

Katherine's memories flooded her constantly, taking over her senses and causing her to hyperventilate.

"Katherine!" Damien's silhouette broke her daze, making her look away from the headlights. 

The next thing she knew, she was hauled up from the ground and pressed against Damien's chest. "Are you okay?" he asked, tightening his embrace and kissing her forehead.

She blinked her tears away and her eyes darkened, instantly feeling a rush of rage within her. He felt her stiffen in his arms and he pulled back to study her face.

Damien placed his hands on her shoulder, making her look at him. "Katherine, you're scaring me—"

Never in his life had he ever seen the way she was looking at him at the moment. Her eyes were so cold, so frightening, so sad… all at the same time.

Clenching her jaw, she forced herself to speak, her voice dreadfully hard, "I am Katherine Young. Daughter of Mason and Natalie Young."

Damien's hands dropped to his side, trembling.

With her hands clenched into fists, she questioned, "Do you know what that means?" 

She swallowed a massive lump in her throat. "You were there that night, weren't you? That was you."

Damien's stomach dropped. He could literally feel his heart shattering into a million pieces as he watched her painfully ask him these questions. "No… you... you can't be. I… Katherine..." His voice broke — just like his soul.

Shaking her head, Katherine's hot tears flowed continuously down her face. She turned around, unable to come up with words to say.

After all, what will you tell a man you love so much that you're leaving him?