Meanwhile…
When Damien left, Lexi called William over the phone, and he immediately came to pick her up. She was sobbing the whole time and was mumbling about how she hated Katherine while she was curled up in an armchair. After coaxing her to leave with him, he brought her back to his place.
"I really can"t believe that he would do that to me, Will. How could he hurt me? He used to be so gentle towards me." Lexi refused to believe that Damien would disregard the relations.h.i.+p they have built as they grew up together and choose a lowly woman over her.
They were sitting on William"s bed as he checked on her neck. "Apart from this, did he hit you?" There were no signs of strangulation as Damien barely put pressure on her.
Lexi shook her head, her eyes were red and swollen from all the crying, and her brows were knitted while she angrily thought about how Damien threatened her earlier.
"Why wasn"t there any information about the kind of reaction that woman would have if she ingested that medicine?" she snapped at William.
The information he gave her was pretty basic and she could have chosen other means, yet she chose to employ that particular one that lacked details.
"I told you… it"s up to you what you"re going to do with the information you get. Don"t turn this on me." He chuckled. Even without him telling her what to do, she had driven a huge wedge between her and Damien. He was disappointed about his cousin"s outburst but he couldn"t really blame him.
She scoffed. "I can"t let this go, Will. I need to do something! You have to help me!"
William slid his hand on her back, finding the tab of her dress, slowly pulling the zipper down. "He already threatened you. What more do you want to do? You should be thankful he didn"t get you arrested. It"s best if you lay low for now."
Lexi s.h.i.+fted her eyes to the side — frustrated. All she could see was the image of Katherine and Damien together. When they broke up, she heard that Damien went on dates with other women but all of them were just flings, so she didn"t mind them. But now that she was back in the country, she would always see the two together and couldn"t help but compare her relations.h.i.+p with him.
She was too preoccupied in her thoughts that she didn"t notice—rather she just allowed William to strip off her clothes. And when she did, she turned her head to him and saw his l.u.s.tful gaze.
"I am so angry," she muttered and in an instant, he lifted her up and made her sit on him. He started kissing her skin and stroking her body.
"Forget about him. You"re with me right now... and you know the best way to channel your anger… should be with me, Alexia." He spoke just before he pulled her head towards him and laid on the bed with her on top.
There was just something about William that made her weak. She couldn"t resist him. He was the only one who was constant in her life and no matter what she did… good or bad… he was with her. As she responded to his kisses, she started to forget about her worries.
The VIP room at Hillcrest Hospital…
It was almost midnight and Damien was in bed with Katherine who was fast asleep. She had an IV drip on her left hand, yet she still chose to sleep next to him on the queen-sized bed instead of the hospital bed — she felt like a baby when she got drowsy after eating.
As he laid on his side, he stared at the woman who was holding his hand in hers while she was in dreamland. Although he agreed to let Lexi go, he just couldn"t let her run wild — he had to at least suppress her somehow.
He understood that Katherine didn"t want him to get involved but no matter how much he looked at it, he was already knee-deep to turn a blind eye. And in reality, it was Katherine that got involved because of him. He wouldn"t be able to sleep at night if he didn"t do something to keep his woman safe.
Damien softly chuckled and reached his hand out to brush the hair out of Katherine"s face. "Silly… You don"t have to act tough around me."
Leaning forward, he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I"ll be your knight… your s.h.i.+eld… and even your sword, my love. I will take care of you… You don"t have to do anything else but live your life in bliss… I"ll build an empire for you… And you don"t have to do anything else but be my Queen."
He said those words in his mind as if he was making a vow to his heart. Bringing her hand up to his lips, he placed a kiss to seal his promise.
Slowly, Damien rolled out of the queen-sized bed and got out of the room as quietly as he could in order not to wake her up. Once he got outside, he called Markus.
"Cancel the contract with Ms. Jin for the resort promotion. Tell the team to look for another model. It doesn"t matter if we have to reshoot. Pay all the necessary fines, should there be any." he ordered his a.s.sistant.
"Understood. I will get on it as soon as possible."
"You know what? You don"t have to look for another model. Inform Mr. Jeong that he will be the sole endorser for now and tell the staff not to consider Ms. Jin for any future projects or any opportunities within the company.
"Tell P.R. to handle this matter without affecting the company"s best interest," he added. Even though Damien didn"t have to waste resources knowing the Media has a way of twisting everything into something controversial, it was still best to keep his guards up at all times. He knew from the get-go that no matter what reason his P.R. team would give, if word gets out that Crown Resort Group cut lose of Lexi Jin out of the blue, the Media would definitely link it to him.
Once everyone would get wind of this, they would start to doubt Lexi and might even avoid getting a.s.sociated with her. And for those who were very conscious about their standing in the business world, they wouldn"t want to risk getting into the Resort King"s bad side.
Inside a customized GMC Savana, Matthew Jeong and his manager were having a conversation while they rode through the traffic.
Matt reclined his plush seat and closed his eyes as he listened to his manager.
"Your lease on the condo has already ended… And your villa is in the countryside. Matt, it is not convenient for you to keep on traveling back and forth. It is very time-consuming. I will look for another place for you to stay in the city. Okay?"
"Mhmm." Matthew could not be bothered by this. He didn"t spend a lot of time at home anyways as he was traveling most of the time.
The manager"s cellphone rang and he picked it up right away. He stayed on the phone for a few minutes before ending the call. He reached out and tapped Matt"s shoulder to get his attention.
"There has been a change in the promotional video for Crown Resort. You"re now the sole endorser."
Matt"s eyes fluttered open and he turned to face his manager. "What?"
"It"s a good thing that the production also took solo shots of you so you don"t need to do a reshoot. It seems that they have terminated the contract with Ms. Jin… I wonder why… Didn"t she use to date President Park? Do you know what happened? Anyhow… whatever it is, it"s good news for you, kid. You"ll get a lot out of this. Congratulations."
The manager didn"t notice the look on Matthew as he continued to arrange his schedule.
Matthew"s mind brought him back to what happened earlier at Star Studio and Damien"s voice rang in his ears. He wondered if Katherine was doing okay. He had wanted to visit her in the hospital but he stopped himself — there was no reason for him to see her as she already had Damien by her side… and she was not his Katherine.
His manager exclaimed as he scrolled through his phone. "Ha! Would you look at that? Word got around so fast and everyone"s now afraid to take Lexi for projects." The manager clicked his tongue. "Matt, you have to remember... This project is a blessing to you, so you should treasure it. You shouldn"t do anything that might provoke President Park. He"s someone we cannot afford to offend."
Matthew didn"t have to answer his manager - he already knew that anyway, and it wasn"t as if there was something that he wanted to do that would provoke him. He just had to stay away from Katherine, right? Besides, it wasn"t healthy for him to keep seeing her too.
It took him a long time to get over his first love"s death - Katherine Young. And even until now, there was still a part of him that yearned for her. It was like a void that could not be replaced.
So, as long as he kept his distance from Katherine Miller, everything should be okay. But why did his heart ache every time he thought about her?