Chapter 626 Her Background
Aidan was indeed a good cook. Most importantly, he knew how to cater to Catherineâs appetite. The four of them polished off all six dishes.
Aidan watched Catherine put down her fork and prop up her chin, looking at her expectantly.
âCatherine, tell me, howâs my cooking? Is it much better than Mr. Duncanâs?â
Just as he had said earlier, he might not be able to compete with Branden in other ways, but he was confident he wouldnât lose in terms of cooking.
Just as Aidan thought he would hear praise, Catherine calmly said, âI like Brandenâs cooking!â
Branden quietly leaned back in his chair, a look of satisfaction in his eyes. He knew that she liked everything he cooked.
Aidan immediately retorted. âHow is that possible? Can Mr. Duncanâs cooking be better than mine?â
Triston, who was listening on the side, rolled his eyes and pushed Aidan.
âAidan, have you been single for too long, so youâre going dumb? What youâre cooking with is your skills, so youâre just a skilled cook. What Mr. Duncan is cooking with is his love! Love! Do you understand?â
Triston couldnât stand it and even scolded Aidan for lacking emotional intelligence.
Under Tristonâs preaching, Aidan gradually came to his senses. He shrugged helplessly and said, âFine, itâs my fault.â
âHumph, you guys are just bullying me for being single now!â Aidan snorted inwardly. âThe power of love? Who cares?â
âYou only have yourself to blame, man! âTriston stared at him with disdain. â Finish eating and get out of here. Weâre both third wheels here!â
Triston didnât want to stay here any longer. After watching Brandenâs public display of affection for such a long time, he also wanted to find a girlfriend and make others envious. It was no fun being a third wheel here, but it seemed Aidan hadnât noticed this at all.
Triston missed Audrey so much, and at this time, heâd rather video chat with Audrey.
Under Tristonâs urging, Aidan reluctantly left with him. The room quieted down again. Catherine got up and walked back to the sofa, lying down and playing with her phone. She had been busy in the laboratory these days, and she rarely had time to relax herself. She wanted to take a break and clear her mind.
Branden sat down beside her. He held Catherine with one hand and used the other to work on his computer. The two of them quietly did their own things, not disturbing each other, getting along like a couple who had been married for years.
This seemingly dull way of getting along was so peaceful and comfortable.
The Peakview Hotel, located in Loxton, was the new benchmark in the city, an ultra-luxurious seven-star hotel where wealthy foreigners usually stayed. Atticus, backed by the Xenion Laboratory, now regularly stayed at this hotel.
An assistant brought some new information to Atticus. âProfessor Sterling, here are the documents you requested!â
Atticus eagerly set aside what he was doing and reached for the documents. He opened them and, before he could even start reading, couldnât help but frown and complain, âThatâs all?â
Uneasy, the assistant cautiously replied, âProfessor Sterling, this is the most information we could gather using our intelligence resources!â
They hadnât expected the person Atticus was investigating to be so mysterious.
Atticus was surprised to hear this. He couldnât believe that investigating Catherine required the use of intelligence resources, and they had found nothing useful.
âCould it be that Eskana intentionally sealed Catherineâs information?â he pondered, thinking it was very likely to happen. After all, she was a student of Marshall at Styre University and a researcher in this experimental project, so she could be considered a key figure.
Full of curiosity, Atticus opened the documents. Then, he saw several titles, such as âthe heir of the Swanns in Casier,â âthe fiancée of the head of the Duncans in Casier,â and âthe top scorer of the SAT in Eskana this year.â
Seeing the limited information in the documents, Atticus was shocked. He hadnât imagined that Catherine was much more formidable than he thought.
No wonder his offer didnât tempt her. As the heir of a financial conglomerate, money might just be a number to her. To manage the Swann Corporationâs business while also working on a research project showed that her abilities were even more impressive than he had imagined. If she could be part of their laboratory, it would become the best laboratory in the world!
The assistant watched as Atticus looked at the documents in silence. After a moment of hesitation, the assistant handed over another piece of intelligence. âProfessor Sterling, you can take a look at this!â
Atticus took the phone and opened the video. He was immediately drawn to the foreign man in the video.
âIsnât this Edson?â His surprise was evident in his tone.
The assistant nodded and explained the source of the video. âProfessor Sterling, this video was widely circulated on social media in Eskana some time ago. The person in the video is Catherine. Besides Catherine and Edson, Branden, the head of the Duncans, was also there. There were rumors of a romantic entanglement between them.â
The incident at the cake shop was captured in a video and shared online by many people. Although Branden quickly took action to control the situation and remove all the videos circulating on the internet, for someone like Atticus, it wasnât difficult to obtain the information he wanted.
Atticus hadnât expected Edson to be involved in this. Even though Atticus wasnât part of the Breens, his family was related to Edsonâs motherâs family, so he knew Edson. He was well aware of Edsonâs position within the family. Hearing about the romantic entanglement between Edson, Branden, and Catherine, he was shocked.
Edson, despite being a womanizer, rarely set foot in Eskana. How could he have a relationship with Catherine?
Glancing at the calendar, Atticus turned to his assistant and said, âThis incident happened not long ago. Edson should still be in Eskana. Get in touch with him. I want to find out the truth.â
When Atticus thought about Catherineâs talent, his heart was filled with desire. He wanted to make her work for their laboratory.
âYes, Professor Sterling, Iâll do it right away!â The assistant received the order and immediately left.
Edson held a significant position within the Breens, so contacting him was no easy task. After the assistant left, Atticus stared at the documents on the table. Looking at Catherineâs photo and the electronic photo on her SAT certificate, he found her to be a mysterious and fascinating girl. He believed that, by any means necessary, he had to take Catherine away.