Chapter 864
The butler had anticipated she might try calling Jasmine. When the phone finally rang, the little girl happened to be in the shower.
The butler declined Vesta Hawkins’s call without hesitation.
Seeing that Jasmine still wasn’t answering, Vesta sent a text message.
*Minnie, Aunt Vesta is here to see you. Can you come downstairs and open the door for me?*
The butler read the message and promptly deleted it.
He waited a moment longer, relaxing only when it became clear Vesta wasn’t going to call back.
Outside, Vesta waited in the quiet night. When Jasmine remained unresponsive, she pursed her lips in frustration.
She lingered outside the estate for a long time. By the time midnight rolled around, there was still no sign of Thorne Henderson’s car.
Checking the time, she finally gave up and drove away.
When she arrived back home, Henley Hawkins and the rest of the family were still awake, anxiously awaiting any news.
Leah Spencer was the first to jump to her feet the moment Vesta walked through the door. “Vesta-“
Vesta didn’t look at her. Instead, she met the expectant gazes of the others and simply shook her head.
A heavy sense of dread washed over Henley and Maureen Spencer.
Leah caught on immediately. “Vesta, did you… still not get to see Thorne?”
Everyone knew Vesta had spent the last two days trying everything to see Thorne. But they never imagined that after countless calls and hours spent waiting outside his home, she still wouldn’t even catch a glimpse of him.
At that moment, even Leah realized the grim reality. “Is Thorne… actively avoiding you?”
If she could figure it out, the others certainly had as well.
They could understand if Thorne was simply stressed and wanted some peace and quiet, needing space from Vesta.
They had all believed that once the scandal blew over, the two of them would quickly reconcile.
Given that Thorne hadn’t formally broken up with her, yet refused to see her, that scenario seemed the most likely.
If Neural Nexus Tech wasn’t on the brink of collapse, they could afford to wait patiently. But with the current crisis at the company-
“It’s so late. Why is everyone still up?”
Jacques Hawkins made his way downstairs, genuinely surprised to see the entire family gathered in the living room.
He looked at Vesta and couldn’t resist teasing her. “You’re back? Seeing how late it was, I figured you were spending the night out again!”
Since she hadn’t come home the previous night, he assumed she had been with Thorne.
Not in the mood for jokes, Vesta replied coldly, “School starts in a few days. Go to bed early.”
“Got it.”
Jacques let out a yawn, grabbed a carton of milk from the kitchen, and headed back upstairs.
As soon as he reached his room, his phone buzzed with notifications from the class group chat.
Reading the messages, his interest peaked He immediately tagged the two classmates chatting Hiking I’ve been bored out of my mind since I got back to the country.
The moment he hit send, the active chat went dead silent. Nobody responded.
Taken aback, he tagged them again. *What’s up? Did you guys pass out the second I showed up?*
Still nothing.
Were they actually asleep?
Just as he wondered that, one of them finally replied: *Sorry, we’re at full capacity.*
Jacques brightened up and typed
back: *How can you have a full
capacity for a hike? Come on
dying of boredom at home. Let me tag along. We’re buddies, just say yes**
No reply.
He frowned at the screen. Then, the other classmate chimed in: *We said we’re full. Do you not understand plain English? Or is everyone from, your family of homewreckers.j this thick-skinned?*
Jacques froze, staring at his screen in shock.