Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Chapter 636: The Gates of Hell Are Opening

Damien was on the phone inside the car when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deborah scrambling out of the front door and hastily getting in the backseat of a parked car that was a few meters away from where he was. He arched a brow in confusion and heard a piercing scream coming from the mansion.

In a panic, he dropped the call while getting out of the car, his head whipping into the direction of the scream at the same time that a car passed by him. Deborah looked disheveled and red, and the wide-eyed driver looked frightened as he caught Damien's baffled expression when their eyes met while racing the car out of the estate. 

He didn't have time to think. His instinct was to find Katherine and ignore what just happened with Deborah, so he jolted towards the mansion and raced up the stairs. A servant caught sight of him from atop the stairs, and she cried out, "Young Master! The Young Madam! Quick!"

Damien's heart pounded in his chest in every heavy step he took on the way up. He was completely scared of what had happened to Katherine, and dark thoughts crowded his head as he reached the second floor. He sprinted towards the crowd that formed outside Deborah's room, afraid that Katherine was in there.

The servants gave way to him as he pushed his way inside the moment that he saw Katherine's feet on the floor. The rest of her body was hidden by the bed from where he stood the first time he saw her, and his heartbeat picked up a dangerous pace as he strolled in and saw her lifeless body. "Katherine!" His eyes went wide, and he dashed to her side. 

Unsure where to touch her, Damien yelled to the onlookers to call an ambulance without taking his eyes off the unresponsive Katherine.

"We've already called. Help is on the way," said the man that's lightly pressing a cloth onto Katherine's head. That's only when Damien noticed that the man was Grandfather Theo's private nurse. "She's unconscious but still breathing. It doesn't look serious. There's a cut on her head, but it doesn't look like she has a fracture."

Damien felt helpless, his heart kicking his ribcage as he carefully grabbed Katherine's hand and clasped it between his. "Baby, hang in there."

He'd seen Katherine hurt many times, and yet he wasn't prepared to see her like this. He felt like a truck had run over him and killed him several times as he watched the woman he loved with shallow breathing.

"What happened?" Damien managed to ask.

When no one answered his question, he looked up at the nurse whose eyes were scanning around the room. The nurse didn't seem to know what had happened either, so Damien followed and turned his head, seeing the servants by the door whose stares were directed to a particular corner of the room.

Following the direction of their stares, Damien's brows knitted when his gaze landed at a young woman who was crying at the corner. Caroline.

Caroline sat with her knees up and her back against the wall as she wrung her hands together, her face pale and wet with tears as she continued to sob while looking at Katherine. As if feeling eyes on her, she shifted her stare and met Damien's furious one. Before he could even demand, she stuttered, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to"

"What the hell happened?" Damien questioned with gritted teeth.

"I swear, I didn't mean to hurt her."

"What. Did. You. Do?"

Gasping and whimpering, Caroline tried to explain, "They were fighting Katherine wasand then my mother I didn't know what to do"

"So you fucking hit her in the head?" He was furious.

"I wasn't going to, but Katherine was squeezing my mother's neck. She pushed me when I tried to pull her off my mom, I fell, hitting my arm on the dresser. My mom was turning purple, and I panicked. I had to stop her from killing my mom" She sniffed. "I hit her with the first thing I grabbed."

Listening to Caroline's explanation, Damien looked at Caroline's arm and saw the long red scratch on it. Next, he saw the tall drinking glass that's shattered on the floor, possibly what was used to hit Katherine. Then, that's when he noticed the pink pills that were scattered all over the floor. Judging by the mess, he had an inkling of what caused the incident.

"Is she Is she going to die?" Caroline's tears hadn't stopped streaming down her face.

Damien was livid when he heard the question. His jaw ticked, and he bit out under gritted teeth, "You better pray she won't. Or I swear I'll kill you myself."

***

Katherine had been in and out of consciousness since she was brought to the nearest hospital. The doctor said she had a concussionit was mild and not life-threatening. The wound on her head wasn't serious eitherno fracture, just a cut that didn't need stitches. She was lucky. Again. But Damien didn't want to ever test her luck again. She'd been hurt too many times; he felt like a total failure for not being able to prevent it from happening.

Six hours later since he asked to move her to a private room, Katherine's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she groaned in pain. Damien, who was sitting in the armchair next to the bed, immediately went to her side and took her hand in his. "Hey I'm here."

"Damien" She whimpered.

"How are you feeling?"

She reached up to her head, but he stopped her. "Don't touch it. It's still healing."

"I'm okay I think."

He helped her sit up on the bed, and while her surroundings slowly registered in her conscious state, she began to panic. "Deborah! Where is she? I have to"

"Shh Calm down, baby. You're in the hospital. You were hit in the head, and your head hit the floor when you fell. We've been here for more than six hours."

Katherine's eyes were wide, realizing that a while had passed since her encounter with Deborah. "She did it. She killed my parents. And she was trying to poison Grandpa too. Grandpa!" She shoved the blanket off her and scrambled out of bed. "I have to see Grandpa. I have to know he's okay!"

Damien gently stopped her from getting out of the bed. "Katherine, he's okay. He's fine. He's resting at home. Doctors have already checked up on him."

"She was feeding him the pills, Damien! Her own father! She tried to kill her own father!"

His jaw clenched, seeing the fury in Katherine's eyes. Placing his hands on her shoulder, he held her tightly as he spoke to her eyes. "I figured that's what happened, but no one could tell me exactly. Caroline didn't want to say anything about what you two were fighting about. She'd kept her mouth shut."

"Caroline?" she asked, looking confused.

"She's the one who hit you on the head. I had security keep her in her room in case she runs away. My men are on watch at the estate."

"What about Deborah? We have to catch her, Damien. We have to!"

He nodded. "And we will. We're already looking for her." Lowering his head, he sounded regretful when he told her, "I ran inside as fast as I could. Ishould've stopped her from getting away. She just drove past me. I wasn't thinking straight, knowing you were inside when I heard the scream. I'm sorry."

Seeing him looking so apologetic, Katherine's shoulders dropped. She couldn't blame him at all. Letting out a long sigh, she thought back about her actions and recalled the series of events. "It's not your fault. I let my anger get the best of me. I couldn't control myself, Damien. I wanted to kill her." Then she started telling him about what Deborah admitted to her during their fight.

Wordlessly, he leaned closer and gathered her in his arms. "I'm sorry this happened." Damien was enraged that his body grew rigid, but at the moment, Katherine needed him to absorb her shock. So he set his rage aside and lend himself to her.

"What about Grandpa? Does he Does he know?"

"He knows."

Katherine's breathing hitched, her emotions spiraled downwards, and she began to cry uncontrollably. All she could think about was how she almost lost her grandfather if she hadn't caught Deborah in her scheme. To top it off, her grandfather found about his daughter's evil deeds. He must be so heartbroken. Just the thought of it caused her chest to tighten. It was difficult to breathe.

"Everything's going to be okay," Damien whispered to her repeatedly as he tightened his embrace around her. "She'll get what she deserves. We'll make sure of it."