Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

The main course was a grilled flatiron steak with rosemary potatoes, and it was heavenly! One of the things that Katherine and Damien loved about staying at the  Young Mansion was the delicious food made by the house chef. And he has never disappointed them so far.

And for dessert, they had a rich flourless chocolate cake with a glass of sweet port wine.

"Oh, my god… This is to die for…" Katherine moaned around her fork as the luxurious feel of the cake melted in her mouth.

"Kath, I think I just had an orgasm in my mouth," Emma whispered to her best friend before taking another bite very quickly.

Katherine and Damien shared a chaste kiss and smiled at each other. Although they didn't verbally say it, the way they looked at each other spoke a lot about how they felt tonight with all their close friends and family at the table, sharing an exquisite meal that no doubt they all deserved after a stressful week.

Once everyone was done with dessert, they moved to the living room and continued the party. By this time, everyone had their wines and had loosened up. There were some more snacks and drinks on a buffet table for their enjoyment.

Mr. Higgins was at the music station selecting an album from Grandpa Theo's vinyl collection. He picked one and was about to play it on the player when Styles stopped him from behind.

"Thank you for your service, Kind Sir, but I'll take it from here. This is my jam," said Styles as he waved his phone in his hand. The butler briefly looked at Styles's phone before he politely bowed and retreated to the side.

In the next minute, Styles had hooked up his playlist through the living room's Bluetooth speaker, and then he played the song "Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots".

"Ooooh! That's what I'm talking about, my boy!" Jeffrey started dancing his shoulders with the music, gesturing to Jasmine with his index finger in a come-hither motion.

Jasmine rolled her eyes at him but she joined him in dancing. Ali pulled Caleb to them to dance too. Then Emma strolled to Styles and asked, "Wanna dance?"

Styles's mouth hung open. But Emma didn't wait for him to respond, instead she grabbed his hands and placed them on her waist and she started swaying her hips from side to side, oblivious to Styles's face going so red.

From the sofa, Katherine, Amelia, and Felix laughed. "Poor Styles. He's gonna have a nosebleed by the end of the night," Amelia said around her snickers.

"I think he's slowly getting used to her. Emma can be quite persistent," Katherine commented.

"He needs that. Styles needs someone loud, wild, and…knows how to dance like Emma." 

This time, Emma turned around, her back facing Styles's front, and shook her booty to him. His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. They all laughed again.

"Do you like dancing?" Felix probed, glancing at Amelia.

But this beautiful, ageless woman, who gave birth to Katherine's love of her life, didn't get the hint and kept her attention on the funny couple while she answered, "I know how to, but not really my thing."

Katherine met Felix's gaze and she gave him a sympathetic smile. He ever so subtly shook his head, huffed, and took a big gulp of orange juice from a champagne flute. They were all on duty despite the party, so they couldn't have too many drinks.

Meanwhile, Damien and William were in the armchairs by the window. They each had a shot of whiskey on the table between them, and they quietly observed the butler and the housekeeper from time to time.

"I heard from Detective Donovan today," Damien started and William snapped his head to his cousin, his expression full of anticipation.

"And? What did he get?"

"He said he's close to finding that officer. I might be hearing from him any time soon." For many weeks now, Damien, Styles, Zero, and Detective Donovan had been looking for the officer who responded to his father's accident.

"That's good. Right?"

Damien nodded. "That officer might be living with a different name and identity, and he might not be in the city or the state anymore."

"Wherever he is, we'll find him."

"You want to go with me when I get his address?"

"Hell yeah, I will. Dude…despite what happened in the past, your father… Uncle Lawrence was very good to me."

"Mm. He did treat you like his own."

A small smile formed on William's face as he looked at the far corner of the living room, his thoughts somewhere in the past. And then he suddenly laughed. "Bro, remember that time we went fishing on the lake near Gramp's cabin in the woods? We were, what, ten?"

William didn't have to elaborate on what particular occasion he was talking about, Damien promptly burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. "Shit. How could I forget? You dropped the oar in the water and did not tell Dad 'cause you were afraid he'd get mad."

"It floated away so fast like it was a fucking motorboat! And then your dumb ass thought it was a great idea to use the other oar to fetch it back to us, only you let go of that too!"

"Hey! It was slippery, okay? What the hell was I supposed to do?"

The two of them cackled at the memory, tears gathering in their eyes as they proceeded to recall everything they did as they panicked about losing both oars in the water. Of course, Lawrence Park noticed the commotion and he looked up from his book, his eyes widened as both the oars floated away from their boat. The three of them used their arms—one adult arms and two pairs of child arms—to row the boat towards the paddles.

It didn't stop there. Just as they were nearing one of the oars, one of the fishing rods caught a fish! Quick on his feet, Damien stopped rowing and started reeling in the catch instead. Needless to say, their afternoon went from quiet and boring to a chaotic mess because of William and Damien.

In the end, they got the oars back, and Damien caught a twelve-inch white crappie that Lawrence cooked for dinner in batter, deep-fried, and lemon juice. It was one of their best childhood memories.

The cousins clinked their glasses, their faces full of smiles as they took a small sip of the spicy liquor.

***

After all their friends had gone home, Amelia, Styles, and Felix, retired to their respective guest rooms, while Katherine and Damien went to their own room and changed out of their clothes.

The two wore comfortable casual clothes and they stayed in bed with their phones and a laptop between them.

While the party was happening inside the mansion earlier, one of Damien's men from Team Beta slipped into the servants' house that's about a hundred feet away from the mansion. The security went into the quarters of the senior housekeeper, and the butler's to plant a hidden camera and a few bugs. All the staff were busy that night and it was the perfect chance to do it.

Even though Katherine and the others were in their own rooms, all of them were watching the live footage. Two hours after the party ended, the housekeeper finally entered her private room. There was nothing odd on her end and within 30 minutes, she went to bed. While the housekeeper was preparing for bed, the butler entered his own room. The older man went about his routine and also went to bed afterward.

"It could take days for us to get anything," Damien commented when he checked the time and it said 1:58 a.m.

"I don't know about you guys, but my eyes are getting heavy," Styles yawned.

Amelia's voice came through the speaker, "We can take shifts. I'll stay up for a few hours. You guys go ahead and take a rest. I'll let you know if anything happens."

"I'll stay up with you," Felix said.

And thus, the others head to bed while Amelia and Felix stayed up watching the feed. 

Katherine and Damien fell asleep quickly, however, not even an hour later and there was some movement in the butler's quarters.

"What's he doing?" Amelia wondered as Mr. Higgins rolled out of bed, grabbed a coat, and headed for the door.

"Kitchen?" Felix answered. "No, he has a kitchenette in his place."

"He couldn't be going to the bathroom, he also has one."

"Shit." Amelia got to her feet and quickly got out of her room, nearly bumping into Felix who was also leaving his.

They didn't have cameras outside of the butler's and the housekeeper's rooms, so they wouldn't know what was happening to Mr. Higgins after he left his room. Felix called the beta team who were stationed near the servants' house to report and one of them immediately responded:

"I don't see anything. Maybe he's only—oh, wait. Someone's coming out of the back door."

"Is it the butler?" Felix cocked a brow.

"Yes. It's the butler. He's taking out something from his coat… A… flashlight. He's walking."

"To where? Here? The main house?"

"No, he's walking away. To the woods."