Branden had followed Catherine out of the banquet hall. When Catherine was done with Atticus, she came back to the banquet hall and saw Branden leaning against the corridor at the entrance of the banquet hall. The lights stretched his shadow behind him endlessly, making him look thinner and more upright. However, this was only what one would see on the surface. Only Catherine knew what kind of robust body Branden had under his slim suit. Some people just looked thin in clothes. Catherine was about to step up the stairs when a figure rushing out from the side disrupted her. "Catherine!" Although the other party tried to conceal it, the excitement in his voice was evident. Upon hearing the voice, Catherine turned her head to look at Drake beside her. The party organizer was Jaxton, and Drake was his only son. As such, it was not at all surprising that Drake was there. "What's the matter?" Catherine glanced at him faintly and inquired in a low voice. Drake's gaze a
In a daze, Catherine heard her phone ringing. She reached out from under the covers and found her phone with precision. Then she pressed the answer button and placed it by her ear. On the other end, Zobber said excitedly, "Catherine, it's me. Are you up?" Catherine squinted at the time and saw it was noon. It's no wonder Zobber was calling her. She grunted in response, "Well." After Zobber heard Catherine's soft and slightly hoarse voice, her heart skipped a beat. She knew she had disturbed Catherine in her sleep, but she couldn't resist such an alluring voice. "Catherine, it's noon already. Want to grab some food? Withal and I are back. Let's eat together!" If it were someone else, Catherine would have likely refused. She prefers to sleep in during the weekend and eat later in the apartment. However, since Zobber and the others had just returned from a mission, Catherine reluctantly agreed and replied, "Alright. You guys pick the spot. I'll come over." Suppressi
Catherine set down her utensils and casually remarked, "There's no need for you to do that if you merely want to give us space." Drake was stunned for a while. Zobber beside him rudely kicked his chair. "Kid, stay put. Next time, if you want to make an excuse, make it believable." Drake sat down slowly with a faint smirk playing on his lips. He was clearly in good spirits. Though he tried to control it, his ears betrayed him by turning red. He genuinely didn't smoke. He thought Catherine wanted to discuss something privately with Zobber, so he found an excuse to leave. For a professional esports player like him, smoking could be detrimental because it could lead to a range of health issues, with the most severe potentially affecting reaction time. Therefore, smoking and drinking were prohibited for professional esports players. Since Catherine let Drake stay, Zobber knew Catherine's intention. As such, she reported the situation to Catherine without hesitation before Drak
Branden escorted Catherine to the laboratory door. On their way, Marshall messaged Catherine. He was relieved when he was sure Catherine had set off and was almost at the lab. As the car eased in, Catherine caught sight of Marshall standing by the stairs and smiled. "Professor Hartley's got an interesting character." Branden was always attentive to Catherine. He glanced out the window after hearing her words. "Some people are just born for research!" Branden said. Only ones like Marshall, who could endure, weren't bothered by fame, and devoted themselves entirely to their experiments, could scale the heights of science. Catherine raised an eyebrow in agreement. "That's right." Branden gently ruffled her hair, and his voice softened as he replied, "My girl is too." Catherine's dedicated nature and genius mind destined her for an extraordinary life. As the car halted, Catherine lightly pushed away Branden's hand and was ready to exit. She knew if she dawdled any longe
Things at the lab wrapped up quicker than expected. Remembering Branden's instructions before they parted ways, Catherine messaged him for him to pick her up. It took about half an hour to get here from the apartment. Shortly after sending the message, Catherine got a reply from Branden, which read, [I'm waiting at the door.] Putting aside what she was working on, Catherine grabbed her coat and headed out. Just as she stepped out, she spotted a man standing in the chilly wind. She thought she might have to wait a while, but she didn't expect that he had never left. Catherine walked right up to him. Seeing that, Branden began to take off his coat. "No!" Catherine refused him outright. Seeing Branden frown, she explained, "I'm not cold. We can get in the car right away." Seeing her insist, Branden didn't push further. He opened the car door for Catherine and guided her carefully. He was afraid that she might bump into something. Once inside the car, Catherine felt bor
At quarter past three, the plane landed on time at Oceanvile Airport. Catherine finally woke up. She barely lifted the brim of her hat off her face when a cup of hot coffee appeared in front of her. Branden's gentle voice sounded above her. He said, "Have a sip." Catherine drank half of the cup from his hand. Warmth spread through her entire stomach. Ever since she'd been with Branden, her stomach troubles vanished. Just as she finished the coffee and got ready to rise, Branden had their luggage and was holding her hand to lead her off the plane. They took the VIP lane to the parking lot, where the car Branden arranged awaited them. Once inside the car, Branden turned to Catherine and asked, "Rushing to the lab? Do you want to rest or grab a bite?" The Duncans owned many properties in Oceanvile. Branden knew Catherine didn't like staying in hotels. Before their arrival, he had arranged for a property closest to the lab and had it cleaned. After glancing at her phone
The Arbotte Laboratory was researching the most cutting-edge chip globally, and if this chip hit the market, it could change the entire era. Not only the Arbotte Laboratory, but all top labs worldwide were in on this. Everyone was racing to develop this chip and aimed for the quickest production to maximize development and profits. Once this chip hit the market, it would bring numerous profits. Money was not the main thing here. It was the possibility of monopolizing the technology of this chip that drove innovation across the board, which would push forward the whole tech scene. According to the information they held, so far, among all these labs worldwide, the Arbotte Laboratory made the fastest progress. Rodge led Catherine to the core of the lab and saw the latest results of his research. It was the lab's most secretive place that only Rodge and Catherine could access. "Chief, take a look!" Rodge said. Catherine sat at the console, opened the mathematical model,
Catherine immediately got in touch with Branden after leaving the lab. Branden drove to pick up Catherine and took her to Oceanvile's most famous restaurant. It was a rare outing for them. Catherine was tied up with work, so he decided to help her unwind a bit during her free time. Catherine didn't mind. She knew everything would be taken care of with Branden around. However, Branden didn't know that the restaurant he carefully picked out would lead Catherine to run into an acquaintance. Erick was stunned when he saw Catherine, but he quickly realized the situation. "Catherine, you're in Oceanvile!" he greeted in delight. After looking up, Catherine caught sight of Erick. Her expression softened as she replied, "Just came over for something urgent." "Great! I didn't expect to bump into you here. What a coincidence! Let's have dinner together, Catherine," Erick said with excitement. The restaurant owner, who was standing next to Erick, was astonished at Erick's behavior
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