A Replacement Bride

Chapter 45

"Joe? What exactly are you looking at?"

Beatrice did not receive a response to her inquiry. Instead, she noticed Joaquin staring at the private room beside him when she looked up. As such, she turned around to see a woman sitting idly in the private room.

The woman appeared to be lazy and dressed in an ordinary T-shirt and jeans with her black hair casually tied in a ponytail; still, she was neat. Beatrice gave a quick glance before pinching her palm subconsciously as her expression grew unappealing.

How could it possibly be that woman?

Beatrice was already nervous enough when she encountered Katherine and her anxiety worsened as she found Joaquin staring at Katherine.

"Joe, I'm suddenly feeling unwell. Why don't we head back? I'm not hungry anymore." Beatrice's tone was filled with worry as she clutched onto Joaquin's arm tightly with her entire body almost glued to him.

When Joaquin heard her words, he lowered his gaze at Beatrice, who was standing in front of him. She appeared to be very uncomfortable, as evidenced by her pale face and beads of cold sweat on her forehead.

He raised his hand and placed it on Beatrice's forehead. Sensing her cold forehead, he believed her words and said gently, "Okay, let's come again next time."

"I'm sorry, Joe. I… I didn't expect to feel this uncomfortable." Beatrice dragged Joaquin out with a guilty expression.

She could not help but look at Katherine one last time before leaving and her panic did not seem to dissipate anytime soon.

What brings this woman here?

Even for the wealthy, making reservations at this private restaurant is difficult. Is Katherine's presence here an indication of her upper-class identity?

Agitated, Beatrice was terrified that Joaquin would see Katherine and recognize her. She was nervous for the entire journey and she did not even respond when he spoke to her.

Joaquin looked thoughtfully at her, knowing that she was acting strangely today.

However, since she did not respond to his question, he let it slide.

After he drove her back to school and watched her entering the campus, Joaquin paused for a moment before driving away.

Meanwhile, Katherine had a wonderful meal with Aberama and scheduled a time plus location for the medicine delivery with him. Since it was getting late, she left the private restaurant and returned to Soulin International.

On her way home, Theodore also phoned her to remind her of the interview the following day. A new employee had been hired at the research institute and she needed to make the decision in person since they would be involved in her experiment after all.

She gave some affirmative hums and responses before hanging up the phone before rubbing her temples subconsciously.

The Uber car came to a halt at Soulin International and Katherine had just paid the driver. As soon as she alighted from the vehicle, her phone rang again.

She checked the caller ID and it was an unknown local number from Hovington.

Seeing that she did not know many people in Hovington, she paused and stared at the phone number before answering.

"Hello, is this Keith Cornell's guardian? We are calling from the Hovington Downtown Public Security Bureau. Keith Cornell is currently being held here on suspicion of drug possession. He asked that we contact you so that you could come and bail him out." A solemn and majestic voice was on the other end of the line.

After pursing her lips and remaining silent for a long time, Katherine pondered about the possibilities of this call being a scam.

Keith has just returned from a two-day visit to Hovington. Despite his playful appearance, he is a very upright boy. How could he do such a thing?

"Yes, I see. I'll be there right away." She took a brief pause before responding.

Once I get to Downtown, I'll know the truth.

Hovington was a large city with numerous jurisdictions and that included Downtown.

Katherine took a cab and headed to the Downtown Public Security Bureau. In less than thirty minutes, the car arrived at the destination entrance.

She paid the fare, jumped off the car, and dashed into the station.

The busy employees in the bureau paused for a moment when they saw Katherine and asked her who she was looking for.

"Excuse me, but did you detain a young man named Keith Cornell? I'm his sister." Katherine politely nodded to the officer before speaking.

"Ah, Keith. Seventeen years old, hiding drugs, and possibly drug trafficking. We must detain him. We have no idea who else is behind the drug trafficking, though. It is still under consideration whether he can be bailed out or not," the officer explained as he took out a file.

When Katherine heard his words, she narrowed her eyes and realized that the officer was attempting to complicate matters.

"May I talk to him?" She was not in a rush to talk about the bailing situation; the most important thing at the time was determining the cause of the event.

"Okay, fine. Take her in for a half-hour visit, Simon."

Soon after, a young police officer arrived and took Katherine into the bureau's detention center.

As soon as she saw Keith, she noticed that his body was injured with blood stains all over his white shirt. His face was heavily bruised and beaten too as he sat there dejectedly. When Katherine came in, he lifted his head to look at her before lowering his head once again while fidgeting with the corner of his shirt. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Katherine, too, only took a glance at him before retracting her gaze. "Tell me what's going on," she said as she sat opposite him and tapped her finger twice on the table.

"I was wronged, Kathy." Keith was a little worried. He felt completely useless to be easily framed and fooled by others.

However, with no evidence on his hands, he could not defend himself and was forced to implicate Katherine.

"Tell me everything. I want to know every single detail." When she saw his expression, her heart was racing and she had a sour tone.

Though Keith assumed that Katherine was still furious with him, he did not dare to hide the truth and confessed everything to her despite his surging unease.

Katherine remained silent upon his explanation. By then, the guards had arrived to remind her that her visiting hour was up.

Pointing to the wound on her brother's face, she coldly asked, "Who did this?"

"He got hurt after getting into a fight. We are under no obligation to look into it. Get up and leave as soon as possible. The time is up." The officer wore a bad attitude and he reached out to push Katherine.

Before he could even do so, she readily shifted her body and avoided his push. Crack! The next second, she grabbed his wrist swiftly and snapped it, causing him to scream in agony.

"Let me go! Do you want to die? Do you understand what you're doing? I have the right to sue you for assaulting a police officer at any time!"

"There is surveillance here. Are you sure you want to sue me?" sneered Katherine, as she raised her finger and pointed to the camera above.

Hearing her words, the officer froze and did not dare to speak again.

With that, she shoved him away and shot a cold stare to Keith before exiting the station.

Considering the fact that Keith could not be bailed out, Katherine made a bold assumption that her brother was either being framed on purpose or the perpetrator's goal was to target her instead of Keith.

"Do me a favor." Katherine gave Aberama a call after leaving the Public Security Bureau.