Neither Georgina nor Katie had expected Granger to be so polite to them, yet so unyielding when it came to turning Leah down-right in front of their faces, no

less.

Of course, Georgina still hoped that something might work out between Leah and Granger.

She managed a smile, trying to ease the awkwardness in the room, leaving some space for a possible change of heart. “It’s true, Leah was out of line this time. We’ll have a good talk with her later. I’m so sorry for interrupting your meeting. Maybe next time, I’ll have Vesta bring Leah over so she can apologize to you properly-”

“That won’t be necessary,” Granger cut in, seeing exactly what she was trying to do. “As for matters of the heart…”

He paused, his eyes briefly flickering to Charlene before continuing, “No one can be forced. Ms. Spencer and I simply aren’t right for each other. I hope you’ll encourage her to move on, so she doesn’t waste her time-or her future-on me.”

At this point, there wasn’t much left for Georgina to misunderstand.

She glanced at Charlene, who had been entirely detached from the drama, calmly sipping her tea as if she were just there to watch the Spencer family make fools of themselves.

Georgina’s smile faltered; she gave a strained little laugh and said, “You’re right. I’ll have a serious talk with Leah.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.”

Leah, mortified, had already fled the room. Once Georgina and Katie had followed her out and closed the door behind them, Granger finally turned to Charlene. “Sorry about that,” he said, “I didn’t mean to waste your time.”

Ever since he’d realized how Leah felt about him, Granger had made his disinterest perfectly clear.

But Leah never took the hint.

He’d tried, on several occasions, to talk to her honestly, but every time, she’d

pretend not to notice and avoid the conversation altogether.

Today was the first chance he’d had to meet Charlene one-on-one, and he hadn’t wanted to waste it dealing with Leah’s drama.

Leah’s inability to take a hint—and her willful ignorance-had finally pushed him to his limit.

With Vesta having stolen Thorne away, Granger knew the relationship between the Hawkins and Spencer families, and Chartere, was complicated, to say the least.

The recent contract fallout between Neural Nexus Tech and PrimeStar had only made the tension between Charlene and the Hawkins and Spencer families worse.

Leah had always seemed to have a particular problem with Charlene.

Given all that, Granger figured the only way to finally get through to Leah was to

lay it all out in front of Charlene herself.

Charlene smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

Granger hesitated, then said, “I’m sorry, earlier I…”

He didn’t finish, but Charlene already knew he was apologizing for what he’d said

to Georgina-the line about how love can’t be forced.

She gave him a gentle smile. “It’s all right. Besides, you only spoke the truth.”

She knew, from experience, that feelings couldn’t be forced.

Now, she could finally accept that reality.

Granger probably understood that, too, which was why he’d chosen to finish his sentence.

It was true, after all.

Still, even though she’d moved on, hearing someone bring it up again stirred up a few old, unpleasant memories.

So he couldn’t help but want to apologize.

But Charlene had no interest in rehashing the past. She changed the subject.

Granger’s gaze lingered on her fair,

flawless face. For a moment, he was tempted to say

something-something more personal-but then be

remem

she wasnt officially divorced yet He forced himself to hold his tongue and changed the subject himself.