Femme Fatale: The King's Deadly Temptress

Chapter 637: We Move as One

Katherine cried because she was frustrated and truly angered by what she found out, rather than being disappointed about learning what Deborah did. She couldn't say she was completely surprised, after all, she already suspected her aunt. However, without evidence or solid proof, there was nothing she could do then.

Thinking about the times when her grandfather fell ill, it seemed as though they all lined up to when she wasn't around to take care of himalmost as if whatever Deborah did, the latter did when Katherine wasn't there to catch her. That theory she formed in her head left a bitter taste in her mouth, especially when she recalled how she wouldn't have caught her aunt if she hadn't gone back to retrieve her phone. 

Anyone could have seen what Deborah did, given her door wasn't thoroughly closedwhich was quite stupid on her part. Her carelessness caused her evil plans' demiseand for that, Katherine was lucky.

Damien called Jeffrey Evans earlier and asked him about the effects of the pills if they were given to Chairman Young. Jeffrey learned about the older man's health condition and he informed them that ephedrinethe chemical component in ephedra, the botanical herbshouldn't be given to people with heart conditions as studies had shown that it was linked to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, seizures, and other risks if used in high doses or long-term. 

They forwarded the lab results of Chairman Young to Jeffrey who said that according to it, amphetamine was present in the urine test. However, people taking ephedra may show a false positive for amphetamine or methamphetamine.

This could have been alarming if not for the fact that they had listed that Chairman Young was taking an over-the-counter decongestant medication that contained pseudoephedrine which explained the presence of amphetamine in the test. There weren't any tests that could prove it was exactly ephedrine, but it was understood that if a drug had ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, the results would show that amphetamine was present.

So while they took into account that it could actually be ephedrine from the banned pills, it wasn't nearly enough to show toxic levels of it in the bodyeven in large amounts.

Katherine and Damien believed that Deborah planned this properly to cover her tracks. They wondered how long she had been doing this and why she suddenly got sloppy now.

Katherine wanted to call her grandfather to check up on him, but she was told by his assistant that he wasn't taking any calls and he was already asleep. Misery gripped her chest at the thought of how he was handling all of this. She promised to go back to the mansion in the morning.

***

Katherine fell asleep at half past ten in the evening, and Damien asked his mother, who arrived a few minutes ago, to keep an eye on her while he went somewhere. Amelia willingly stayed behind and didn't stop him from doing whatever he planned to do.

Damien drove furiously as he headed towards the Park Estate. In less than an hour, he violated several traffic rules, but he couldn't care less. Those were the least of his concerns. He was livid, knowing that his uncle knew it was Deborah who ordered the mission on Katherine's parents' assassination. For weeks, he had been silently pulling strings to throw Frederick out. Everything would be coming to fruition very soon, but now, he wouldn't let this passeven if he had to face his uncle head-on.

William was outside the mansion, holding a cigarette in one hand and scrolling the screen on his phone with the other when Damien arrived. The latter haphazardly parked his car and got out with a scowl on his face.

"Didn't expect you here tonight," William muttered and took a drag of his cigarette. "What's up?" He cocked a brow, sensing his cousin's dangerous aura.

Damien barely gave him a glance and was about to walk past him when William stopped him by the arm. He wasn't going to stop but he couldn't ignore his cousin either, so he asked in a clipped tone, "Where's your father?" 

"In the study. What's wrong?"

"Katherine is in the hospital."

"Shit." William dropped the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. "What happened?"

"Deborah. She's the one who ordered Katherine's parents to be killed. She was also poisoning Chairman Young."

The two entered the mansion, ignoring the servants greeting them as they passed, and they ascended the stairs to go to the study. Damien explained to William what happened in the afternoon and that they were still looking for Deborah.

"What the She did that to her own father? Well, adoptive father, but still. I've long hated my own, but I don't think I'm that far down." William's brows knitted. Sure, he and Damien were planning to bring Frederick down, but he wouldn't kill him. He internally shook his head. 

William offered to help with the search and when they were near the study, he stopped Damien by grabbing his arm. He didn't say anything but the other seemed to have read his mind.

"Don't worry. I won't kill him," Damien told his cousin before retracting his arm and turning on his heel.

***

A few minutes ago

Frederick had been in his study since after dinner. It was Sunday, but he always had many things to dowhether it's for Park Group or his clandestine businesses. However, that night, his mind was preoccupied with thoughts about last night's partyspecifically the woman who appeared out of nowhere. Amelia.

He couldn't believe she was in front of him. All this time, he thought she was deadat least, that's what his friend's right-hand man had told him. When Frederick hadn't heard from his friend in a while many years ago, he decided to call him. That's when he found out that his friend had been murderedby Amelia. Then a long while later, he heard Amelia had been found dead.

So seeing the woman last night definitely shocked him. After all, he saw a ghost.

Frederick picked up his phone and called his assistant, speaking as soon as it was answered. "I need you to find someone for me." He took out a small black notebook from a locked drawer of his desk and opened it to a certain page. "Parker Green." 

"Any useful information, Sir?"

"Nothing else. I only know his name." Frederick had tried to call the same number several years ago but it was no longer reachable. After ending the call, he put the notebook back in his drawer and locked it.

The door swung wide open and Damien burst inside, his expression hard as his eyes turned dark. "You piece of shit."

Frederick straightened, his brows furrowing in return. "I beg your pardon? Have you lost your mind, barging in here and insulting me? Give me some resp"

"Oh, we're way past that now." Damien grabbed Frederick by the collar and got in his space. "I've held it in for so long even after knowing you had a hand in Katherine's parents' deaths."

"We've already talked about that. I thought you let that go since you decided to marry the woman whose parents you killed," Frederick responded, ignoring the way his nephew manhandled him.

Damien's muscles tightened as he fumed. He yanked his uncle up and slammed him against the bookshelf, his eyes turning deadly by the second. "You really think I'd just let it go? I've practiced patience my whole life, but I've had enough. And I didn't kill her parents!"

"You might as well have. Have you forgotten we are family? We move as one."

"Fuck you! Families don't force their kids to kill."

"You sure have a lot of nerve coming here with all that anger. Is that all you came here for, to talk about something that happened more than a decade ago?"

Damien clenched his jaw and under gritted teeth, he bit out, "I know the truth now. So why don't you tell me. Where. The. Fuck. Is. Deborah?"

Realization dawned on Frederick. His expression relaxed as if he wasn't surprised that the truth was found out. "You know."

"Just answer the damn question or I swear to God if Nana hears all your"

Something rattled on top of the desk beside them. Their heads turned in the direction of the buzzing and saw the flashing of Frederick's phone screen.

Damien narrowed his eyes as he focused on reading the name on his uncle's phone.

[ D.Y. ]