Chapter 840
Before they could even process the shock, court officials arrived on the scene, immediately moving to seize and seal the servers and source code.
The commotion at Hawkins Technology was impossible to hide. It didn’t take long for the news of the company’s crisis to leak to the public.
Moran Albright and Granger Harden caught wind of the situation almost instantly.
They hadn’t spoken to Thorne since the previous night.
They were fully aware of the digital firestorm that had erupted online after the gala, and now, with the Hawkins family facing a catastrophic lawsuit on top of it all…
“Given the circumstances, it’s going to be pretty damn hard for Thorne to step in and help,” Moran remarked.
If Thorne intervened to save the Hawkins family right now, the public backlash would be absolute carnage once word got out.
Granger simply nodded. “Yeah.”
Moran couldn’t help but voice the question burning in his mind. “Do you think… Charlene is the one pulling the strings?”
After all, PrimeStar Technologies and Axiom Flux had a notoriously tight partnership.
The timing was just too perfect. The explosive revelations last night followed instantly by the Hawkins family’s company going up in flames? It was far too coincidental.
Whoever orchestrated this had even calculated the exact moment when Thorne would be too politically paralyzed to intervene.
Granger hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “Hard to say.”
Following the chaos of the previous night, Moran had secretly dispatched someone to investigate Yaleborough. He was now absolutely certain that everything Stewart Ferguson had exposed about the Hawkins and Spencer families was the cold, hard truth.
Moran let out a breath. “What do you think is going through Thorne’s head right now?”
Even as he asked, Moran secretly doubted that Thorne would actually dump Vesta over the gala incident.
“Not sure,” Granger replied, his thoughts clearly mirroring Moran’s.
Moran fell silent.
A few moments later, he caved and sent a text to Thorne: ‘Do you need Granger and me to step in?’
His offer of help naturally extended beyond Thorne’s immediate PR nightmare to encompass the Hawkins family’s crisis as well.
…
Charlene Ross woke up after barely managing three hours of sleep.
The moment she opened her eyes, Stewart and Vernon Ross briefed her on the unfolding disaster at Hawkins Technology.
A flicker of surprise crossed Charlene’s face.
“A lot of people out there are guessing we had a hand in this,” Stewart noted, his tone laced with amusement.
Charlene had already figured as much.
Hearing this, she simply remained silent.
Stewart continued, “I poked around over at Axiom Flux. Rumor has it that, so far, Thorne hasn’t lifted a finger to bail the Hawkins family out.”
“It wouldn’t be a smart move for him to get involved personally right now,” Charlene replied, her voice cool and detached.
Stewart scoffed. “My thoughts exactly. Plus, I bet the Henderson family is doing everything they can to keep him on a tight leash.”
Even though Thorne hadn’t spoken up to defend Vesta at the gala, he had known all about the tangled, toxic history between Charlene, the Hawkins, and the Spencers for a long time
He knew everything, yet he had stil loved Vesta with a blinding, unapologetic devotion. Stewart highly doubted Thorne would just toss her aside over one bad nights
Just because he hadn’t intervened yet didn’t mean he had given up on Vesta—he
was probably just biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
After finishing her call with Stewart, Charlene exited the dialer and noticed an unread message from Latonia:
‘Minnie is asleep now, but she was still really upset before she drifted off. When you have a moment. maam, maybe you could give her a call and talk to her?
Reading Latonia’s text, Charlene scrolled through her own messages. Jasmine
hadn’t texted her. She hadn’t called, either.
Despite the deafening silence, Charlene dialed Jasmine’s number anyway.
It rang and rang, but no one picked up.
Charlene tried twice more. When she was met with nothing but endless ringing, she finally sighed and ended the call.