Chapter 130 She Now Has a New Family
'Every gallery exhibition was handled by Jennifer and her crew. Since Mr. Samuel Martinez didn't set up the gallery to make money and I wasn't in charge of the exhibitions, no one realized Jennifer had jacked up the prices so much! Turns out, she's been skimming money from the gallery all along!' Elijah thought.
"Not much to see, you can tell at a glance," Catherine said. She went through all the exhibitions the gallery had hosted over the years. Coincidentally, some of the materials were developed by the Galactic Aurora Collective. After testing, they didn't meet Catherine's standards, so the patents were sold to other labs. No one knew the cost of those materials better than she did! Plus, the markup on Jennifer's quotes was just ridiculous.
Those materials' patents were indeed sold to the Hughes family's company, while the successful products from Galactic Aurora Collective's experiments were sold by their own company.
Charles had several material companies that had long-term deals with Galactic Aurora Collective.
"Miss, even though Jennifer's been taken away, her team might spill the beans about the exhibition. Will tomorrow's event be affected?" Elijah never expected Jennifer to be such a crook and thought if she could steal money from the gallery for so long, she might also leak some trade secrets to the Hughes family's gallery!
"No worries, I've already made adjustments. Once the materials arrive, we can start setting up."
"Okay!" Although Elijah was still a bit nervous about tomorrow's exhibition, seeing Catherine's calm demeanor suddenly filled him with confidence!
Catherine was so capable; she probably had some ace up her sleeve!
After Catherine handled the gallery stuff, the moon was high outside the window.
Annie knocked on the office door. "Miss, Mr. Howard is here to take you home for dinner."
'Dinner? Tonight, I'm supposed to go back to the Windsor Mansion for dinner. It's getting late, and my family has probably been bugging me.' She thought as she took out her phone and, sure enough, there were several messages from Marcus asking why she hadn't come home yet.
Marcus: [Catherine, why aren't you home yet?]
Marcus: [Buy me a box of macarons on your way back. I feel like eating them.]
Marcus: [Oh, never mind if you can't buy them, don't go out of your way. Just come home quickly!]
Catherine's lips curled into a faint smile, as if she could already see Marcus nagging in front of her, eagerly wanting to eat sweets.
Catherine: [Grandpa, I'm heading home now. Don't wait for me to eat, you all go ahead.]
Marcus replied almost instantly: [We must wait! Come back quickly!]
Catherine got up, put on her coat, and continued discussing the details of tomorrow's exhibition with Elijah as she walked out.
Annie followed behind with a polite smile on her face, thinking, 'Catherine is so charming when she works! Just listening to her give instructions, I can feel the charisma Catherine exudes in every gesture, which is simply mesmerizing.'
"Miss, don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on things. You go home for dinner," Elijah said.
"Alright, see you tomorrow."
Catherine walked towards the Cayenne parked by the roadside. Annie had already opened the car door in advance, slightly bowing as she waited for Catherine to get in.
Alexander sat inside the car, his eyes never leaving Catherine for a second. Even as she got in, his gaze remained intense! Every time he saw her, he couldn't bear to look away, always feeling like he could never get enough!
"Can we stop by the dessert shop first? Grandpa Marcus wants some sweets from there," Catherine asked.
Annie immediately responded, "Of course!"
Since Catherine had given the order, going to buy some sweets was no big deal. Alexander glanced at Annie, puzzled by her enthusiasm towards Catherine.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Whatever you say, Mr. Howard will surely agree!" Annie's heart was racing. She caught Alexander's displeased look in the rearview mirror and wondered if she had said something wrong.
After thinking it over, Annie realized it was probably because she was too enthusiastic towards Catherine, making Alexander jealous. To protect her job and future, Annie decided to be a more competent assistant and always please Alexander. Sure enough, as soon as she said that, Alexander's expression improved significantly!
"Do you have any favorite desserts?" Alexander asked.
"No, I don't like sweets," she said.
But when Elodie was still alive, she loved macarons. Seeing Marcus say he wanted some made Catherine's heart feel sweet, and she thought her current family was also wonderful! But no one could replace Elodie's place in her heart. Although Elodie would never have the chance to ask her for macarons again in this lifetime.
At the thought of Elodie, Catherine's eyes showed a hint of melancholy.
Alexander squeezed Catherine's small hand, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer to him.
"Let go," Catherine said.
"Just let me hold you for a while. You might not know, but looking at so many financial reports is really tiring," he said.
The workload at the Howard Group was enormous. Before meeting Catherine, Alexander practically lived at the company, rarely going home. But after meeting her, he always wanted to go home!
Even though his home was still cold and luxurious enough to be a showroom, lacking the warmth a home should have, Catherine's lit bedroom, the pink lace curtains she pulled, and the flickering lights had accompanied Alexander through countless nights. He longed for the days when he could live with Catherine! Even just looking at her room across a large garden was enough!
Catherine was at a loss for words. Such intimate gestures, she didn't push Alexander away.
She simply said, "You don't have to work if there's too much."
Alexander's breath fell on her neck, warm and ticklish, like a feather brushing past, making Catherine involuntarily shrink her neck.
His voice was low and seductive, with a hint of teasing. "I work hard so I can spend more time with you."
'Otherwise, why would I pile up all this work?' he thought.
"But it seems my fiancée is also a workaholic. Looks like I'll have to queue up to date you in the future," Alexander teased. He had waited outside her office for a long time. The gallery's office had a large floor-to-ceiling window, and Alexander could see Catherine busy inside with a slight tilt of his head. Even just watching her like that, he felt his heart beating. Every time he saw her, he couldn't control his crazy heartbeat!
At the dessert shop, Alexander held Catherine back. "I'll go buy it. It's windy outside."
The night wind in Imperia City was a bit strong, and the night was cool. He didn't want her to get out and catch a chill.
Catherine had to sit in the car and wait, watching Alexander, dressed in a well-fitted suit, get out and stride into the dessert shop.
No matter where Alexander went, he always became the center of attention, with the surrounding lights serving as his backdrop!
Ten minutes later, Alexander returned to the car with a large bag of desserts.
"Why so many?" Catherine asked, thinking Marcus needed to control his blood sugar and couldn't eat that many sweets.
"I bought one for everyone. Didn't you tell me when preparing gifts to remember your family too? They will be my family as well." His tone was gentle, his expression tender. "Catherine, I love you, and I will love your family too."
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