Chapter 123 When to Use Hardline Tactics?
The hospital room door opened.
Lila was curled up on the bed with her head in her hands, trembling all over. Beside her lay the caregiver, beaten black and blue, piled up and unconscious.
Alexander casually closed the door and said in a low voice, "Do your hands hurt? Thanks for your hard work. Don't worry about the surveillance cameras—I'll take care of it."
On one hand, he wanted to give Catherine space to act; on the other, he came out to handle anything in the room that might threaten her.
Catherine looked up and said coolly, "How thoughtful."
"Of course. It's both a killer's instinct and what a fiancé should do."
He didn't think Catherine beating someone up was excessive at all. On the contrary, he thought it was great that Catherine could let loose for once!
"It's pretty good as a stress-relief activity."
Catherine looked at him speechlessly.
In his eyes, her beating someone was just for stress relief?
Handing the divorce papers to Andrew, Catherine said coolly, "Someone will come looking for her in the next couple of days. If it's convenient, keep them here and hand them over to me."
Looking at the divorce agreement, Andrew finally had something to show for himself!
Whatever Catherine said had to be convenient!
"Convenient! Don't worry, whoever comes looking for Lila, I'll detain them and send them to you!"
"Thanks."
Andrew smiled honestly, his eyes practically glowing as he looked at Catherine!
Look at that—this is the kind of grace the Windsor family should have. So elegant, so sensible, so capable, so smart—getting the divorce papers so easily!
This wasn't just a divorce report; it was his promotion offer!
Andrew left the hospital with his promotion offer, his excitement obvious.
Alexander took Catherine's hand and gently rubbed her wrist, even bringing it to his lips to blow on it, as if coaxing a child!
Catherine felt a bit helpless and tried to pull her hand back, only to find Alexander gave her no room to do so. She could only passively feel his warm yet oppressive presence.
Marcus called at that moment, and Catherine answered casually.
"Catherine, is everything settled? Did Lila give you trouble?"
"I gave it to her. Nothing much happened. I beat her up."
"Beat her up? What did you say? You beat up who? Lila?" Marcus perked up immediately, losing interest in his chess game.
"Yeah, beat her up."
Marcus's jaw dropped!
After a moment, he cursed.
"Look at you, child. How could you handle things this way? You're the younger generation—how can you hit people yourself?"
"Didn't I tell you to bring Alexander along! Let him do this kind of thing! What if you tired yourself out? Are your hands meant for hitting someone like Lila!"
Catherine's gaze fell on Alexander beside her, and she smiled at Marcus's words.
"Catherine, you don't know how to be flexible! I told you to bring Alexander so he could help you out when needed, not to be an audience member! You must be tired now, right?"
Catherine pressed her lips together, warmth filling her heart.
"You're not blaming me?"
Marcus laughed and exchanged a knowing look with Samuel beside him.
"Silly child, don't I understand what you and Lila are like? If you beat her up, she deserved it! So what if you did? Would I blame you over some irrelevant person? If you ever find Alexander annoying, I'll even help you!"
Catherine burst out laughing.
She knew Marcus was joking with her, trying to comfort her, even bringing Alexander into it.
"Remember to come home for dinner. Don't worry about anything else. I'm not old yet—I'll handle it."
"Okay, I understand."
Catherine put away her phone, a smile naturally appearing on her face.
Alexander ruffled her hair, saying somewhat aggrieved, "You're going to beat me up too. Looks like I need to buy some gifts tonight to bribe him!"
He'd actually heard that whole phone call. Catherine felt a bit embarrassed and turned her face away, her eyes slightly red.
Alexander leaned down closer to Catherine, his breath almost touching her face, carrying a slight heat.
"Come with me to buy gifts, okay?"
"No thanks, I have other things to do."
Alexander didn't insist. Catherine had a lot to do, and frankly, he had plenty of work piled up too. Plus Annie was still borrowed by George and hadn't returned yet, so his workload was even heavier!
"Alright, I'm guessing you're going to Moon Laboratory? I'll drive you there, and we'll go home together for dinner tonight."
"No need, I'll go home by myself tonight."
Alexander smiled helplessly, his lips curved in an indulgent arc.
"Don't you know you lose track of time every time you do experiments? By the time you finish eating, Grandpa probably won't see you tonight. Let me pick you up!"
Catherine always got absorbed in her experiments, never putting them down until she got results, and then starting a new set of control experiments, keeping herself incredibly busy.
Tonight was Marcus's first day back home after all—a Windsor family dinner. She couldn't miss it.
He'd waited for her at the door several times before without complaint.
Thinking about this, Catherine's face flushed slightly.
"Okay, I'll wait for you tonight."
Dropping her off at Moon Laboratory, Alexander propped one hand on the steering wheel and hooked Catherine's hand with the other, placing a kiss on the back of her hand.
"See you tonight."
His movements were gentlemanly and proper, elegant throughout, the hand-kiss flowing smoothly and naturally.
Yet when his lips touched the back of Catherine's hand, she felt a burning spark, as if it remained there.
As Alexander's car drove away, several people from the lab behind Catherine started whistling.
"Mr. Howard looks so refined!"
"A hand-kiss! So gentlemanly, so elegant. I love it too!"
"Get lost, you're a guy—don't be so gross! Boss, we all think Alexander is great. When are you going to..."
Mercury made a slashing motion across his neck. "Arrange it?"
Catherine glanced at them coolly. "You want his life? Go ahead yourself. The organization won't get involved."
"No! I mean use forceful methods on him! Looking at his build, you won't lose out, and he definitely won't either."
If they kept talking like this, Catherine wouldn't be able to look at Alexander normally next time!
"Shut up. Let's do experiments! Is there DNA testing equipment in the stuff that was delivered last time?"
Mars thought for a moment. "Boss! Don't tell me this family isn't your real family either? That can't be! They're so good to you! It's not easy to fool such a naive family."
Catherine couldn't hold back and kicked him!
"Get lost."
The group ran into the lab clutching their butts.
Catherine took out hair samples in sealed bags, having written different names on four bags.
"Boss, these are Lila's, Marcus's, and Bethany's, right? Whose is this one?"
"Esme, Lila's adopted granddaughter."