Chapter 285: Beginning Of The End

Catherine fixed her collar and adjusted her suit, careful to hide every trace of the bruises Dorian had left behind, as she stepped down from the jet. She wore large sunglasses to conceal her face. She turned toward Maximilian.

He stood beside her in a plaid shirt, jeans, and a denim jacket, so completely different from the refined professor’s wardrobe she was used to seeing him in, yet somehow still impossibly handsome.

She smiled.

The three of them were supposed to be dead.

Catherine glanced toward Fitzgerald, who was struggling with the cooler he had insisted on bringing with him.

"You can roll it."

Fitzgerald looked at the cooler, then at her, and smiled before setting it down and pulling the handle out. He adjusted his sunglasses and rolled it along behind him.

Dorian still believed they were dead.

Catherine intended to keep it that way for a little longer.

Alexander and Roxana walked ahead of them. Even Alexander’s staff failed to recognize the trio and assumed they were merely assistants accompanying their employers.

They were almost at the cars when another vehicle came rushing toward them, its tires kicking up dust as it swept into the airstrip.

The doors opened.

William Rathbourne stepped out. Fitzgerald’s father.

Alexander’s hand immediately moved toward the gun at his hip.

This was not part of the plan.

William Rathbourne interfering could turn everything into a mess, and Alexander had deliberately kept their security detail small so they could move without attracting attention. He hadn’t expected the Rathbournes to be waiting for them.

Before he could say anything, another minivan pulled up behind William’s car.

Men in dark suits poured out.

Roxana instinctively moved behind Alexander.

Maximilian’s body reacted before his mind could catch up. He stepped in front of Catherine, shielding her with his own body.

Catherine immediately moved around him and placed herself between him and the men. She was not going to watch him get hurt again.

Maximilian looked down at her.

She looked up at him.

Neither moved.

In the end, Maximilian gained the advantage simply because he was taller and more heavily built. He shifted her behind him with one arm, refusing to let her expose herself.

Fitzgerald watched the exchange and sighed. Apparently, everyone around him had forgotten that he was the one William had come for.

"I was waiting for you," William said.

Fitzgerald’s tongue ran thoughtfully over his teeth.

So his father knew. Which meant... he hadn’t believed the reports of his death.

Wonderful.

I should have hidden the tracking on the Preston jets.

But doing that would have alerted his father even sooner.

Before Fitzgerald could say anything, Catherine stepped forward.

"He’s not going with you. You’ve forfeited the right to call yourself his father, you f*cking disgrace."

Silence fell.

Even Maximilian looked at her. Catherine had just openly challenged the head of the Rathbourne family without hesitation.

William’s brows rose. No one had spoken to him like that in... a very long time.

Fitzgerald, however, couldn’t help chuckling. Once again, this woman simply did whatever she wanted. Cussing? He didn’t know she did that. And... once again, she had chosen to protect him.

There was something strangely comforting about having someone like that in his corner.

If Sammy were here, though...

His lips curved.

She would have already opened fire.

And knowing Samantha, she probably would have hit his father.

Yes.

That was exactly the sort of thing she would do.

Fitzgerald stepped forward, rolling the cooler behind him. "I’ll go with him."

Catherine turned sharply toward him. "You don’t have to."

"I know." Fitzgerald walked closer and placed a hand on her shoulder before leaning slightly toward her.

Maximilian immediately stepped closer. Catherine, however, simply shifted toward Fitzgerald instead.

The silent exchange between the two men was almost comical.

"I want to," Fitzgerald said.

Then he straightened, adjusted his suit, and walked toward his father without looking back. He climbed into the car. The Rathbourne men followed.

Within moments, the vehicles pulled away, leaving Catherine, Maximilian, Alexander, and Roxana standing on the airstrip.

Catherine watched the cars disappear into the distance. Fitzgerald was on his own now. She had to trust him. And beside her, Maximilian’s expression remained unreadable.

She had a feeling the journey had just become much more complicated.

"Let’s move," Alexander said.

They needed to move fast. Catherine’s heart pounded as she followed him down the hallway. What was Fitzgerald’s father planning to do?

She kept her head bowed, dressed in formal clothes, walking beside Alexander like one of his assistants. No one spared her a second glance. Maximilian and Roxana had remained at the hotel.

When they reached Senator Campbell’s office, Alexander handed Catherine the file. She drew in a slow breath and hugged it against her chest.

This was the beginning of the end for BioQuant.

She only hoped it would work.

The door opened, and the senator’s assistant nodded at Alexander before stepping aside. Catherine followed him inside.

Senator Campbell looked as though he hadn’t slept all night. His eyes were bloodshot, dark circles hanging beneath them, and his usually immaculate appearance was slightly disheveled.

Of course, he hadn’t spent the night working for the welfare of his constituents.

He was a career politician, and right now, he had a serious problem.

A scandal had broken over him—embezzlement of public funds. Nearly a billion dollars in taxpayer money had allegedly found its way into accounts connected to him.

People tended to become rather unforgiving when their tax money disappeared into a senator’s pockets.

Alexander had chosen his target well.

Campbell looked up at him with barely concealed irritation. "What do you have?"

Then his eyes shifted to Catherine. His expression soured further.

"Is this another sexual-harassment allegation?" he snapped. "I can’t deal with this right now. And I haven’t even seen her before!"

Alexander, standing a head taller than the senator, merely tilted his head. A slow smirk appeared on his face.

"Fucking tell me what it is!" Campbell shouted.

Alexander’s expression immediately hardened. "Let’s find someone else, Cathy."

He turned toward the door. Catherine’s heart pounded.

But...

She followed her brother nonetheless. What they had was so worthy, even a fool wouldn’t reject it.

"Please... Hunter Alex!"

Alexander stopped.

A small thud followed.

Catherine turned. Senator Campbell was literally on his knees.

"Save me..."

Alexander slowly looked back at him.

The corner of his mouth curved into a satisfied smirk.

Catherine pressed her lips together, barely holding back her reaction.

Oh. So that was the game.