Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

The rest of the week came by quite fast, and it was already February 1st, Friday. Damien stayed with Katherine at the Young Mansion despite him having to travel farther than usual every day. Grandpa Theo's health slowly improved when she took over everything there was to take care of him. Although his health wasn't in a critical condition, she hired a nurse to help them to make sure there was always someone who had medical training around him.

Katherine and Damien had also been working together on the Crown Residences project. It was great to have her grandfather and aunt around; they gave her many insights regarding her new responsibilities in the company. She found it gratifying that she's doing work that benefited the legacy that her father left while also having to work alongside her fiancé.

Sometimes, she was itching to do something that involved anything physical like the missions she used to do. She'd established that it was already innate to be constantly having to move around and do something. It was like a drug that's getting her addicted. She told Damien about this, and despite his hesitation in letting her do something exhausting and believing she still needed more rest, he thought it would be better to train with her daily just to take the edge off.

They made a simple daily routine, and that is: wake up, jog with Bear, do sparring using combinations of several martial arts—primarily for training and also to keep fit, and when Damien had to go to work, Katherine would stay in the mansion with her grandfather where she'd spend time with him after taking her online classes, and then go to Crown Hotel's headquarters or Young Corporation in the afternoon. She would then go home with him in the evenings. It's always a busy day for her, but she enjoyed doing this as opposed to not doing anything at all.

Her tremors came and went, but it didn't hinder her from moving. If anything, it lessened as long as she was busy. Damien still didn't allow Katherine to drive, though, and she agreed. It was pretty dangerous to do so if she had an episode while she was on the wheels.

Katherine had her grandfather's driver take her to the city at noontime. She brought along with her some packed lunch that she prepared with their house chef and told Damien they'd eat together. She would meet Alianna in the afternoon but decided to go to the city earlier to visit him at work.

At the same time, she also wanted to visit little Jack. It had been a few days since she had seen him. His father, Tim, accepted the offer and was currently working temporarily as a housekeeper while preparing his papers to qualify him for a back-office position. They gave him a room to board and had Jack enrolled in a daycare facility which was conveniently two doors from the hotel so that Tim didn't have to worry about who would look after his son while he was working.

She purposely stopped in front of the daycare center to see if Jack wanted to eat with them. However, the little boy wasn't there when she arrived. The staff told her that Marcus Lee checked him out not too long ago. Wondering why that was the case, she headed to the main office, carrying a large paper bag. The only plausible reason she could think of was that Damien was the one who ordered to have Jack checked out.

Katherine entered the lobby and headed straight to the private elevator, the employees greeting her with respect as she passed. She'd gotten used to the treatment that it no longer bothered her that she once worked with these people; she smiled at the nice ones and simply ignored those who talked behind her back once upon a time.

"I knew it." She beamed as she entered Damien's office and found Jack on the couch in front of his desk.

"You're here," Damien got up from the desk and met her halfway, kissing her lips and taking the paper bag from her hand.

Katherine told him she dropped by the daycare center, and he said he figured she'd like it if Jack was there, so he asked Markus to take him. Damien did so after asking Jack's father, Tim, of course. The little boy looked up at her and gave her a timid smile before looking down at his book again. She got curious as to what was keeping him so busy, so she walked closer and found him so focused on a book that she left the other day. It was an advanced-level French textbook. There were a few educational wooden toys on the table—which they got him a couple of days ago—but Jack was more interested in a foreign language book.

Her brows furrowed, and she faced Damien with a questioning gaze. The latter only shrugged, also unsure why the boy was 'reading' something incomprehensible for him.

Thinking that the boy was probably just curious and looking at pictures in the book, they snickered and began to prepare their lunch. It was quite enjoyable eating with Jack as he didn't complain at all. He quietly ate whatever food they put on his plate and finished everything. He even washed his hands before and after, and then wiped his face clean before looking at Damien's collection of books in his office. Katherine thought he was special.

Damien's phone rang, and he answered it when he saw that it was William. He spoke on the phone for a few minutes, and when he was done, he told Katherine, "I'll be meeting William this afternoon. There's someone we think we could collaborate with for our plan. I'm not sure what time we'll end, though. Are you okay going home before me? I'll ask Felix to drive you."

She nodded. "It's not a problem. I need to meet Alianna later anyways. She'll come with me to Mr. West's shop to have my fitting. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. We're almost there. We just need to convince a few more people before we're ready."

"Let me know if you need help?" she offered. Damien tried not to involve her too much with what's going on with the Parks. She knew about their plan, but he'd rather not have her participate unless he didn't have a choice.

"Of course." He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "I kinda regret having Jack here right now. You think he'd notice we slip into the penthouse for a quick break?"

Katherine laughed, slapping his arm playfully and shaking her head. "He's not a baby. Of course, he'd notice. I don't think he'd understand, though, but let's not risk that." Sliding her hand on his lap, she lowered her voice even more, "Keep it in your pants, Mr. Park. I promise I'll take care of you tonight."

His jaw ticked, finding her voice only excited him more. "You can't make me promise by saying it like that. You're playing dirty, Kitten."

"Then I better get out of here fast." She grinned, kissed him on the lips, and then got to her feet. "Let's go, Jack. I'll drop you off at the playroom."

The little boy skipped towards her, his hair flapping as he did. He paused in front of Damien and did a little bow, his way of thanking him. Damien smiled and ruffled the boy's head; then, he watched the pair leave his room.

The hotel had a huge children's playroom where Jack sometimes stayed. Katherine spoke to Tim, and they figured it was easier to have Jack wait there for now as Tim would be off work in an hour anyway. After leaving the little boy there, she headed off to the district to meet Alianna.

As soon as she alighted the car, she felt eyes on her.