A rare smile appeared on Erick's previously stern face when he saw Catherine in front of him."You are finally here."Catherine saw that Erick was tied to a pillar and in rags. He was wearing dark clothes, but she could still see the dark brown blood on his clothes.Catherine was indifferent to the scene she was looking at.Her cold eyes stared fixedly at Erick, and there was no trace of empathy in them.It was all Erick's choice that led to such a situation.He had chosen to leave with the guards of the Swanns and not to go with Sean when Sean went to rescue him. He had to bear the consequences the choices brought him, and there was no way back.Catherine just eyed him, waiting for him to speak.Erick knew Catherine must know the truth of his leaving.He had not knitted his brows even once under Jeremy's beating, but now, he looked at Catherine with a long, miserable face."Are you angry?" Erick asked gingerly, scared and nervous.He feared Catherine would say yes because h
Oceanvile was not far from Casier, but Loyalty Academy had deep pockets and arranged a plane for the teams participating in the semi-finals.Branden arrived at Catherine's house early in the morning. When Audrey was in a dazed state to open the door and tried hard to open her eyes to send Catherine to the airport, she saw Branden's tall and imposing figure.Branden reached out his hand, and Audrey automatically handed the suitcase to him without thinking about it.Audrey was hesitant about whether to say something when Catherine stumped out of her room, looking drowsy.Catherine was not surprised to see Branden standing outside the house.The only thing she felt weird about was Branden's good spirits.He had been dealing with the job last night when she was asleep.He got up earlier than she did and was vigorous and energetic. There was no hint of sleepiness on his face.Seeing Audrey yawning constantly, Catherine could not help but frown.Audrey insisted on getting up early a
The school booked the hotel rooms for them. It was a new hotel near the competition venue so that it would be convenient for the students.It was not a luxury hotel but was newly opened, so it was clean and decent.Everyone took their driver's license to check in at the reception, and Ronin offered to help Catherine.But when it was Ronin's turn, the receptionist only handed him one key card.Ronin found it strange and asked, "What's wrong? Why did you only give me one key card? I have two driver's licenses with me. Did you make a mistake?"The receptionist looked at Ronin politely and was respectful to him."Sir, don't worry. Miss Swann's room is quite special. I have asked our manager to come and check in for her. Here's your key card. You can have a rest in your room first."Ronin was confused, wondering why the receptionist said so.Ronin looked back at Catherine and saw her leaning against the back of the sofa. She looked relaxed.Sensing Ronin's gaze, Catherine raised he
The usually quiet and meticulous Arbotte Laboratory suddenly became a hub of activity. It was a world-renowned research facility.While it was just a laboratory, its research projects garnered global attention. Many countries coveted the opportunity to collaborate with this facility.Despite its small size, consisting of only a dozen members, each was a globally recognized genius in their field. The laboratory primarily focused on cutting-edge technology, excelling in physics and chemistry research. Every research achievement from the laboratory had the potential to change the world.However, this laboratory was shrouded in mystery; little was known about its members or location. The only means to obtain information about the laboratory was through two channels. The first was to monitor the sporadic updates on the Arbotte Laboratory's website, which sometimes went without new details for the entire year. The second option was to obtain information through the black market, b
Hearing the strange sound from Rodge Milton, Scott Theo, who was next to him, approached curiously."Rodge, what's wrong?" Scott asked.Rodge couldn't speak and kept his head down.Suddenly, a cold voice came from above his head."Why? Is my appearance frightening?" asked Catherine.Catherine squinted her eyes as she assessed Rodge.She knew that Rodge was surprised because he had seen her face just now.She had come to the lab today and had no intention of hiding her face. If someone saw her, so be it. It was not a big deal. However, Rodge's reaction seemed a bit exaggerated.Rodge scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "No, no, Chief, your appearance isn't frightening at all! I didn't expect..."Scott, who was standing on the side, was getting anxious. "Come on, Rodge, what didn't you expect? Can you please finish your sentence at once? You're making me nervous!" said Scott."I didn't expect you to be so beautiful!" Rodge finally managed to say. "Some more, I've hear
Looking at Catherine's graceful departure, Scott couldn't help but ask with curiosity, "Rodge, how can the chief walk out of the laboratory? Aren't there 108 layers of security measures here?"It was extremely challenging to enter and leave the Arbotte Laboratory.The laboratory had numerous intricate security measures in place. Scott was utterly astonished to see Catherine leaving as if it were nothing.Rodge rolled his eyes silently and could not understand why the team leader had paired him with such a chatterbox. He was on the verge of being annoyed.Amid Scott's ongoing questions, Rodge finally lost his temper and shouted, "Don't you know that the chief herself designed these security measures? She can walk out because she created these mechanisms!"Scott was stunned when those words left Rodge's mouth. It took him a while to process the information.He only knew that the chief was a genius in weapon design, but he had never imagined she was also a genius in creating sec
Unlike before, this time, Catherine Swann's group drew a placement in the second-to-last group.Ronin Oconnor informed Catherine of the drawing results, saying, "Catherine, we're in the second-to-last group, so we have to wait quite a while!"He thought Catherine might be unhappy about it since he knew her temperament very well.They didn't care about their competition placement at all. After all, they were doing their best, and finishing the competition early would allow them to leave sooner.However, to his surprise, Catherine didn't seem upset at all. In fact, her mood was quite lightened up."Just right. We'll be in the back, so I'll take a nap," said Catherine."Catherine, feel free to sleep. I'll wake you up when it's time," Ronin said considerately and then shared the drawing results in their WhatsApp group.The others, like Yesenia Duncan, couldn't come in person due to classes. However, they were all waiting eagerly on their phones and ready to watch the competition.
Ronin Oconnor was taken aback momentarily as he looked up and only realized when he saw Branden Duncan ahead."Why is this guy following us everywhere? Isn't it annoying?" Ronin muttered.Bryan gave him a disdainful glance, his face full of disdain. "Kid, are you feeling too safe? Speaking ill of my uncle like that?""I'm not afraid of him!" Ronin protested."Hmph!" Bryan coldly snorted, his tone dripping with disdain. "Sure, you're not afraid."Ronin felt a bit embarrassed. He had wanted to argue back but realized that he was indeed no match for Branden, so he kept silent.However, he was still somewhat unwilling. He approached Catherine and tried to be ingratiating. "Catherine, we rarely come to Oceanvile, and we won the competition. Can't we celebrate together tonight? It's been a while since I had a meal with you."Catherine had been staying in her apartment lately and enjoying the meals Branden had personally cooked for her. Thus, it had indeed been a while since she had ea
In the end, Branden couldn't stand it anymore. He took the initiative to snatch Catherine back, only then did the scene come under control.Now, no one dared to continue touching Catherine's belly.Once he snatched Catherine back, he held her tightly in his arms and prevented anyone from touching her. He thought in his mind, "Since these people like this brat so much, I'll just give the brat to them when Catherine gives birth. Saves one more person from sharing my wife with me."Triston smiled and watched the crowd as the birthday party began exactly as it should.The big screen began to show all the images of Audrey from her debut until now that were outstanding or worthy of recording. Some of the images weren't even in Audrey's possession, but Triston had found them and made a video of them.As the images flashed by, Audrey's tears couldn't help but fall from her face. She cried not only because she remembered the hardships she had endured in showbiz for many years, but also bec
Since Triston brought Audrey to meet his family, he had worked non-stop to put their marriage on the agenda.Audrey was a popular actress, and to not affect her career, Triston chose to propose in a low-key manner.Triston arranged a party on Audrey's birthday and invited many of Audrey's friends.Audrey originally thought Triston was too high-profile, but Triston insisted. "I didn't participate in so many of your past birthdays. I finally have a chance to participate this time."He persuaded Audrey repeatedly. Audrey couldn't resist him and could only agree to let him arrange the party.Luckily, he only invited Audrey's close friends and did not send out invitations widely, so she could take this opportunity to have a gathering of friends.Audrey was surprised to see Catherine when she arrived.Catherine was now eight months pregnant. Normally, she would be rejected by Branden if she wanted to visit Catherine.Branden was now very careful with Catherine every day, and Audrey w
Sure enough, only after Audrey said those words, Willa's face completely darkened.Seeing that Willa was about to explode, suddenly...Triston applauded happily, which instantly attracted the crowd's attention.Triston calmly met everyone's gaze and looked at Audrey gently. "Good. You're worthy of being the woman I love. I'm most annoyed with those women who stay at home day in and day out and like to gossip when they have nothing else to do. You have your own career and I'm very supportive of that."Triston said this with a proud look on his face and raised his eyebrows at Audrey, full of smugness.Willa's face instantly turned gloomy.Her son had demeaned her by calling her a gossipy woman just to please another woman, and it made her furious.Egbert kind of realized that his son was totally in love with Audrey. He thought it was good because Triston used to be a playboy and was always surrounded by messy women. At that time, he was really worried that Triston would marry an u
Although Audrey was born into a wealthy family, Triston's mother, Willa Lambert, had always been prejudiced against showbiz and therefore did not approve of Triston's pursuit of Audrey.In Willa's opinion, female celebrities in the showbiz industry had always appeared in public, which was not like the demeanor of a lady from a wealthy family.It was only after learning that Audrey and Triston might be together that she eagerly introduced Triston to girls in the first place. She didn't realize that after all this time, her son still hadn't given up on Audrey, and this was the first time she'd seen her son so attached to a girl.If it weren't for that, she wouldn't agree to appear at today's dinner party now.Triston led Audrey into the door, and everyone from the Lamberts had already arrived.The scene of everyone sitting in the private room made Audrey feel a bit guilty. She looked guiltily at the crowd and whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm late."Triston's father, Egbert Lambert, had a
Audrey never expected to be so suddenly arranged to meet Triston's family.She couldn't react when Triston talked to her about it. Looking at Triston with disbelief in her eyes, she said, "Pardon me?"Triston's handsome face carried a gentle smile. "I've inquired with Kim. You don't have any work arrangements since this afternoon, and you can also take a day off tomorrow. It's just right for us to have dinner together in the evening."Audrey frowned and asked inwardly, "Is that what I care about?"What she cared about was who Triston had just said she would have dinner with tonight. "Why are you suddenly asking your family to have dinner with me?"The Swanns and the Lamberts were both in Casier and they were also considered to be friends. For Triston's family, although Audrey was not familiar with them, she had seen them at major parties.But in the past, they used to meet as ordinary friends.Now that she and Triston were in a relationship, his sudden proposal to take her to di
Audrey hesitated for a moment but still answered the phone with a nervous heart.She believed that Catherine definitely had a way to get her to answer the phone, but things would be troublesome if she made Catherine take her actions.She put her phone to her ear and inquired in a low voice, "Morning, Kathy. What's the matter?"Catherine's voice remained as cold as ever, without any emotion. "Tell me, what is it that you haven't told me?"Audrey had already figured out a strategy to deal with it and how to excuse herself, but as soon as she answered the phone, Catherine asked her so directly, which made her suddenly unable to react.Audrey had no choice but to tell Catherine the truth.After listening to her trembling narration, Catherine only asked coldly, "Are you sure you want him to be your boyfriend?"Audrey was a bit hesitant. Everyone blessed her and Triston after they found out they were together again, but Catherine was the only one who asked her to calm down and think i
Faced with Triston's questioning, Ronin looked arrogant. "Catherine and Audrey are sisters, so Audrey is my sister. You can bully anyone, but you can't bully her. Or else, we can't even be friends."Ronin's words sounded childish, but there was seriousness inside his eyes when he said those words. He grew up with Catherine and regarded Catherine as his most important family member. To him, Catherine's sister was his sister.After listening to Ronin's words, Triston faintly laughed out. "I see."Ronin thought that Triston didn't take his words to heart, and immediately felt a burning anger. "What do you mean? You don't understand my warning, do you?""Easy!" Triston gestured for him to calm down, then said calmly, "Even death row inmates have a chance to explain, right? You should at least hear me out.""Hmph!" Ronin snorted disdainfully. He secretly thought in his heart, "If Triston says any more asshole words, I'll definitely not show him any respect."Triston put away that cyni
They had an appointment at a recreational manor, a new property Zobber had just bought. Zobber had invited them to come along for the experience.Since Catherine's pregnancy, the entire Hacker Alliance had had much leisure time. Even though there was less to do, they had earned no less money and were basically in a dominant position.Zobber enjoyed the current situation too much becasue there was still money to be made easily. They might only have one business per year, but the profit from this business was already enough for them to spend for a year.After wandering around with her friends, Zobber excitedly looked at everyone. "How about this place? It's not bad, right? I bought it at a high price!"This was Casier, and Triston was aware of any changes in the real estate industry.He had indeed received the news when Zobber auctioned off the manor, and he also knew that Zobber had given an above-market price to take the land. But he knew that Zobber had plenty of money. It was fi
Since that dinner, Audrey had been in a special kind of relationship with Triston.Although they didn't make it clear, Triston could feel that Audrey had slowly accepted him.The number of times they met increased, and most of Audrey's work this year was in Casier.Whenever Triston had free time, he would stay alongside Audrey.Whether on set or during recording sessions, one could always catch a glimpse of Triston.Everyone kind of knew deep down that Triston was the man behind Audrey.But nobody ever exposed this whole thing, mainly because of Triston's identity.Neither he nor Audrey wanted too much attention paid to their relationship right now. If he didn't spill the beans, who else would dare to report on it?Besides, the reason Audrey and Triston's dating didn't cause much jealousy was they were a good match.Among the Four Noble Families in Casier, the Lamberts and the Swanns each held a seat, and the Swanns' power was not weaker than the Lamberts.Plus, now that Cath