Chapter 681 Arrogant
Catherine sat in the quiet and cramped office with an imposing posture, playing games on her phone. Across from her sat the man assigned as the leader of the investigation team at Styre University, Lorcan Fitzpatrick.
As the youngest investigator in the entire procuratorate, Lorcan’s abilities were not to be underestimated.
Returning from studying in Alton, he was a top talent with dual degrees, specially recruited into the procuratorate. Despite his young age, he had an impressive track record and was hailed as a walking lie detector by the procuratorate. His exceptional psychological talent left no room for deception in his presence.
For over half an hour, Lorcan had been sitting face to face with Catherine, but this time, the usually unbeatable Lorcan was failing. He couldn’t read Catherine’s mind at all. In fact, in his opinion, Catherine seemed more like a psychological expert than he did.
Lorcan sighed deeply, hesitated for a long time, and decided to take the initiative, a first in his professional career.
“Miss Swann, don’t you want to talk to me about the leak? Or perhaps you want me to help clear your name?” he asked.
Catherine raised her head leisurely, her eyes cold and devoid of warmth as she replied, “Not interested.” Her face seemed to bear the word “arrogant” at this moment, exuding an overwhelming air of superiority.
Lorcan was furious, not someone who easily lost his temper. But the sense of powerlessness in front of Catherine made him feel extremely frustrated. It seemed that negotiation was futile. Taking a deep breath, he chose to persuade her.
“Miss Swann, I’ve heard you are Professor Hartley’s favorite student. You should be aware of his authority and reputation in the industry. Being his student and entering the lab at such a young age guarantee you a promising future. Don’t let this incident ruin your prospects.”
As Catherine’s game reached its final stage, the persistent annoyance buzzing in her ear tightened her furrowed brow even further. She was getting impatient, wondering why things were moving so slowly. “Do I have to do everything myself, even such a simple investigation?” she asked inwardly.
Tossing her phone aside, Catherine looked up at Lorcan. When their eyes met, a sense of unease arose within Lorcan. He had never encountered someone with such a powerful aura before, leaving him momentarily speechless and forgetting the words he was about to say.
Catherine chuckled. “Humph!” Her low voice brought Lorcan’s drifting thoughts back. Realizing his loss of composure, he felt a tinge of annoyance. He hadn’t intended to treat Catherine this way, but her attitude had affected him.
Lorcan snapped his fingers and slowly began his most powerful hypnosis technique. During his pursuit of a PhD in psychology in Alton, he delved deeply into hypnosis with his mentor. After returning to his home country and joining the procuratorate, he hadn’t encountered a case worthy of employing his hypnosis skills. Catherine was the first.
With little time given from his immediate superior and driven by an inexplicable sense of defeat, Lorcan decided to use hypnosis to control Catherine’s consciousness, aiming to make her reveal the truth in a subconscious state.
“Name, age, place of birth,” he asked.
Once everything was ready, Lorcan joyfully watched Catherine enter the state of hypnosis. He knew he had successfully hypnotized her and could now formally question her about the leaked experimental data, confident that she would speak the truth in this state.
“Catherine, did you leak the experimental data?”
“Yes!”
Upon hearing the affirmative answer, Lorcan felt a sense of triumph. He had ultimately succeeded. To quickly uncover the truth, he moved on to the next question.
“Catherine, who instructed you to steal the data?” he asked.
After a second of silence, Catherine gave an unexpected answer.
“Lorcan Fitzpatrick!”
Upon hearing this, Lorcan was taken aback. It was Catherine’s subconscious response, and she couldn’t be lying, but how could she give an answer like this? “Am I the mastermind behind all this?” he began to wonder. “Am I not?” Both questions raged in his mind, leaving him unable to distinguish which was true.
Bang!
A loud noise rang out, and Lorcan suddenly looked up. He was awake!
When he saw Catherine’s deep gaze, he realized that everything he had just experienced was an illusion created by Catherine. Not only did he not hypnotize her, but she also hypnotized him.
“How did this happen?” he murmured in his mind. “How did she do it?”
Lorcan looked at the man who had kicked the door open and stormed in, and his strong presence made Lorcan furrow his brow slightly.
“Who are you, and how did you get in?”
Branden turned his head to look at Lorcan, and his mocking and cold eyes swept over him.
At that moment, Lorcan felt frozen, and an icy feeling spread through his limbs, rendering him motionless. He had never seen someone with such an intimidating presence before.
“No,” Lorcan said inwardly, “Catherine also has a very domineering presence, and there is a resemblance to this man.
Branden didn’t pay any attention to Lorcan. He went straight to Catherine and looked at her with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked.
The moment Catherine raised her eyes, the coldness in her gaze gradually melted. She could tell Branden must have hurried here, and he had a somewhat disheveled appearance. She reached out and gently patted the hair that had fallen on the man’s shoulder. ” Why are you in such a hurry?”
Branden was always meticulous. He would not appear in public this way unless they were in a hurry.
Branden bent down and sat beside Catherine, saying, “It’s okay!” After receiving the message, he immediately arranged for a helicopter to fly from Casier to Loxton. The moment he got off the plane, without even a moment’s pause, he rushed straight to Styre University.
On Branden’s way here, he made several phone calls. At this moment, it seemed quite peaceful at Styre University, but outside the Loxton area, many things were going on.
Although he knew that Catherine wouldn’t be hurt, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer even a little bit, and he just wanted to come as quickly as possible to stand up for her.
And now, seeing that Catherine was safe and sound, Branden finally felt relieved. “Let’s go, we’re going home!”
he suggested.
Branden took Catherine’s hand, ready to take her away.
Lorcan was shocked. “This man’s tone is too arrogant!” he thought. Even if the mayor of Loxton came, they couldn’t leave without the approval of the procuratorate.
Lorcan immediately stood with his subordinates at the door and sternly rebuked, “The matter hasn’t been investigated yet. You can’t leave!”
Paxton, who had come with Branden, immediately stepped forward, and the atmosphere at the scene became tense.
