A Replacement Bride

The bag contained a syringe filled with a colorless and transparent liquid.
Since Katherine had worked in the field of research, she had experience in handling various injectables. At first glance, she
immediately felt chills running down her spine.
"W-What is this?"
Her hands clenched into fists, nails digging into her palms, but she was unaware of it. She merely tried to calm herself down.
The man snickered in response. "What's this? Something that will make you stay still! I'm not a fool to tell you what is inside and
what it can actually do!"
As soon as he finished his sentence, his gaze turned sharp.
"Mr. Hall was right. Dealing with you is indeed not an easy task, but luckily, he had a backup plan and told Mr. Benedict to
develop the drug in advance. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known how to hold you down."
After saying that, he glanced at the few people beside her.
Those people immediately took the hint and pressed Katherine down.
Katherine intended to struggle, but she was outnumbered by the number of men pinning her down.
Her fingertips dug even deeper into her palms as she bit her lips, almost making her lip bleed. As if sharp lights were emitted
from her eyes, she looked desolate yet stubborn.
At the same time, her mind never stopped running as she tenaciously analyzed the possible effects of the drug.
She was well aware that the drug wasn't ordinary.
Jayden's subordinate had put in much effort to develop the drug. Hence, the ingredients used were definitely not simple.
One thing she was sure about was that the drug wouldn't kill her or harm her severely.
After taking so much effort to kidnap her, there was no way Jayden intended to injure or kill her.
Narrowing the possibilities, she figured that the drug could possibly induce a sense of dependence so that she couldn't leave
Jayden. Eventually, she would be totally under his control and would never be able to escape from his grasp!

As soon as that idea popped into her mind, she managed to gather strength and struggle once again.
No way she was going to let herself fall under Jayden's control!
The strong desire to escape dominated her mind and limbs until she was able to stand up and resist the men.
The few men didn't expect she would suddenly react that way, thus they were all startled. Immediately, they tried harder to pin
her down.
The head of the pack instantly turned glum and scolded them. "What the hell are you guys doing? How could you not even hold
a woman down? Useless b*stards! Pin her down already!"
His subordinates dared not defy him. They dared not even show their temper and were even eager to use their feet to hold
Katherine down.
However, they were instantly intimidated by the thought of how their master valued this woman.
On the other hand, the man was holding the syringe in hand. Afraid of complications, he didn't wait for Katherine to stop
struggling before injecting the syringe into her arm.
The stabbing sensation made Katherine's eyes widen. She turned her head abruptly to see the content of the syringe being
injected into her arm. Immediately, her gaze turned sharp.
She was still struggling desperately, but the man grabbed her arm tightly and wouldn't let go.
At the critical moment, the sound of harsh brakes sounded outside, startling everyone inside.
Everyone was taken aback and quickly looked in the direction of the noise. Before they could react, a group of people came
rushing in.
"Let her go!" A cold, baritone voice mixed with anger pierced through the dodgy unfinished building.
The owner of the voice was none other than Joaquin!
Everyone present knew who he was. At that moment, they were extremely shocked by his sudden appearance.
"A-Aren't you supposed to be in Hovington?!" The man holding the syringe instantly hid the syringe behind his back and
exclaimed in shock.

Joaquin's gaze was currently plastered on Katherine, completely ignoring the man's abnormal behavior.
As soon as he saw her kneeling on the ground, his beautiful features distorted. An evident tinge of resentment was present on
his face.
The atmosphere surrounding him dropped to an all-time low. The murderous aura he exuded was intimidating.
"How dare you lay a finger on her?! Hah. You're going to have a taste of your own medicine!" All of a sudden, he parted his lips
and spat those words in an eerie, threatening voice.
"Jeremy! Kill every single one of them!" he ordered.
"Yes, sir!" Jeremy had never seen Katherine in such a discomfit state. His eyes turned bloodshot as he accepted the order.
Then, he led his group of people and started fighting.
Joaquin, on the other hand, dashed toward Katherine, knocked down the men around her without much effort, and supported
her.
"Are you alright, Kathy? Are you hurt?"
As soon as Katherine saw him, tears streamed down her eyes.
She nearly thought no one would rescue her and was even starting to break down at the thought of becoming Jayden's puppet.
Fortunately, Joaquin was here. He came for her.
"I—" All kinds of emotions surged wildly in her heart. She parted her lips, but she didn't know what to say. Her voice was slightly
hoarse.
Joaquin's heart ached at that sight. He immediately pulled her into his embrace. Resting his chin on her head, he comforted her
gently, "I'm here, Kathy. Don't worry, I'm here. I'm sorry for coming so late and making you suffer."
Snuggling in his warm embrace and inhaling his familiar scent, she was finally able to calm down.
All of a sudden, she thought of Noah. She shoved him a little and raised her head to look into his eyes. "Noah! We have to look
for Noah! I told her to escape, but I don't know where she is! Quick! Look for her!"

After hearing that, Joaquin froze and agreed. Then, he raised his head to give Jeremy a look.
The latter took the hint and glanced around to find that the men have mostly been knocked down. It was then that he led a small
group of men out to search for Noah.
On the other hand, as soon as Emmanuel noticed the situation going haywire, he escaped. The head of the gang had also
hidden in a safe place as soon as Joaquin showed up.
As for the rest, they also scrambled away when they realized they were no match for Jeremy's men.
All of a sudden, the scene was a mess.
At the mere thought of them laying their finger on Katherine, Joaquin couldn't help wanting to kill them. However, as soon as he
intended to chase after him, he saw Katherine turn pallid and lose consciousness.
"Kathy! Kathy!"
He immediately turned pale with fright and carried her in his arms, shook her, but to no avail.
In a corner not far away, a man watched the scene and quietly fled.