Femme Fatale: The King’s Deadly Temptress - Chapter 641: In Which Lack of Experience Doesn’t Stop Her

Monday — February 18

It had been two weeks since Chairman Young was brought to the hospital, and he still hadn’t come out of his coma. The doctors set Katherine’s expectation that patients who remain in a coma after a cardiac arrest had very slim chances to almost none of gaining full recovery if they didn’t wake up within a week. They were a team of five doctors working on her grandfather’s case, and at least two of them believed that it was worth taking a chance to wait and keep the Chairman’s life support for as long as they could.

She did her own research, and most of the families, who had undergone a similar situation, had one common problem: limited financial capacity. This would be the only reason that they’d give up the wait and pull the plug on their loved one. Otherwise, they would keep going. Katherine, fortunately, didn’t have to worry about that. She would wait even if it would take weeks, months, and hundreds and thousands of dollars just to keep her grandfather alive. She couldn’t give him up now, but the longer he stayed unconscious, the lesser his chance of full recovery was—and that scared her.

Chairman Young was currently in a vegetative state. They intended to keep the news away from the press and the board. Thankfully, they were able to keep the news down, and the press hadn’t found out about it yet—thanks to Damien’s expertise in containing it—but the board was becoming restless. They heard rumors about the Chairman falling ill, but none of them knew what was really going on. To top it off, Deborah had been missing.

Katherine decided to report her disappearance to the police on Monday, telling them that Deborah had left the mansion and never come home. This was what everyone in the company believed, which somewhat coincided with how the Chairman fell ill—probably from all the worry. Young Corporation was in a state of chaos for a few days last week while Katherine tried to calm things down a little.

Her grandfather’s lawyer came and announced a memo signed by the Chairman the night before he fell ill. In the event that both Chairman Young and Deborah Young were absent, Katherine would be in charge as acting CEO and Chairman of the board, which meant that she would have all the final decisions. The sudden announcement made the board nervous—some even angry. They had met Katherine before and even welcomed her to the company, but putting her in charge of everything all of a sudden didn’t sit well with a lot of the members.

“What does she know about running a company?”

“This is ridiculous! She hasn’t been here all her life. It wasn’t too long ago when it was said she had no recollection of her life as an heiress. How would she lead?”

“She doesn’t even come to the office as much as she should. How can we expect her to do what needs to be done? This makes me anxious. I’m sure many of you feel the same.”

These were just some of the things she heard from those who opposed the memo. And it stung. Katherine understood their sentiments. Deep inside, she agreed with them. ‘They’re right. What do I know?’ she thought.

Some members who were loyal to the Young family showed their support and managed to pacify the other side. But Katherine didn’t know until when they would be patient about it. She couldn’t afford to lose her family’s empire if they decided they’d take over the company and take it from her.

So she had to say something. “I understand that this makes you feel uneasy. This is a surprise to me as much as you, having only heard of this now. But my grandfather is currently recuperating, and he needs your support now more than ever. I will also need your guidance. I don’t like making promises, but this, I can assure you, the Youngs never forget those who stay by our side in times of need.” And then she looked into the eyes of those who opposed earlier. “And those who choose to challenge.”

The guilty cleared their throat and looked the other way.

That meeting was two weeks ago, the day after Chairman Young’s cardiac arrest. The sudden responsibilities overwhelmed Katherine. She didn’t know the company well enough to lead. She had a commitment for the company and the seat, but just not enough experience.

For more than a decade while she was still with Shadow, Katherine spent day and night learning different kinds of weapons, methods of acquiring intel, seduction, and infiltration. Sure, she got her degree after flourishing in the online course and even brushing up on them recently, but experience was the best teacher. Unfortunately, her mentor was currently in the hospital fighting for his life.

She wasn’t too proud to admit to herself and to her support group that it would take her a long time to call herself worthy of the title. She was glad that the company’s COO and the executives had her back. Most importantly, Damien. They promised that they would assist her for as long as she needed them.

Damien Park offered his help, and he didn’t take no for an answer—not that Katherine ever tried to refuse his help for this. Damien was the one person she trusted, who knew how to handle a huge company, and whom she trusted her life with. He provided a team to help manage her responsibilities better. Having him next to her helped her tremendously because the board members’ impression of Katherine improved. She didn’t see this as unfairness; rather, she treated this as her strength.

While Katherine and Damien were busy with work, they entrusted Amelia and Styles to continue looking for Deborah. They hadn’t found her yet. It was as though the older woman had disappeared into thin air. They still kept Caroline in the mansion under surveillance with no outside contact, but Damien kept one of his boys, Noah, to keep an eye on her in case her mother would try something.

After work that evening, Katherine decided to visit Damien in his office. He had been so busy these days because he and William were going to call for a board meeting in a couple of days in Park Group. She couldn’t believe that Frederick Park had been in captivity for the last two weeks—the man must have been out of his mind being detained in the middle of nowhere. According to Damien, a few of Frederick’s loyal men searched for their boss with no luck for the first few days until William took care of them.

No one was actively searching for Frederick anymore. His wife and Nana believed he was away for a business trip. Pacifying the board was a different thing, but ultimately, Damien and William handled them well enough to put a little doubt in their heads that would be helpful when the time came.

“Katherine!” a female voice called her when she stepped into the lobby of Crown Resort Group.

She turned and saw Chloe, wearing her maintenance uniform while pushing a cart of cleaning supplies across the floor. Last week, they decided to give her a job after she didn’t try to pull anything suspicious. It wasn’t the nicest job, but it kept her limited. Katherine could tell Chloe didn’t really like cleaning, but Chloe didn’t complain. After all, she was living in the quarters for free. Either that or they’d throw her on the streets.

“You’re still working?” Katherine probed, checking the time on her watch and seeing that it was half past six in the evening.

“I’m just about to log off. You rarely visit here these days…”

“I’m busy with work.”

“I’ve heard.” Chloe nodded, hesitating as she bit her lip. “Listen… I appreciate you guys giving me work and a place to stay here. Really, I could be running for my life out there.”

“What do you want?” Katherine asked, already knowing that Chloe must want something from her.

“I was just thinking… I could be your assistant or your bodyguard even…”

“I don’t need a bodyguard. What, you don’t like your job?”

Chloe glanced in the direction of the far corner of the lobby where the maintenance room was. “The head of maintenance, Mrs. Gardner, is a little bitchy. I missed a spot on the floor the other day, and she made me clean the men’s room for hours. You don’t wanna know how many grown men miss targets and don’t clean after themselves.”

Katherine grimaced at the thought of it.

“Besides… You’re a CEO now. I know you can take care of yourself, but no CEO walks without a bodyguard. You need me,” Chloe added.

That wasn’t entirely true; Felix drove her wherever she needed to go. However, she didn’t like a constant tail behind her, so she was on her own once she got out of the car.

Honestly, Katherine was still not comfortable having Chloe around. So she told her, “I don’t like guards on me. I’ll think about it, but don’t hold your breath.” And then, she turned on her heel and headed towards the elevator.