“That’s none of your business,” Gaylord replied coldly.

Corinne was speechless for a second before letting out a bitter laugh.

She glanced at Charlene in the distance. “You think you know her so well, don’t you? The truth is, besides what she did to Vesta, she’s done plenty of other disgusting things! You’re just completely in the dark.”

She couldn’t fathom how Gaylord could fall for Charlene knowing how she had bullied Vesta. But looking closely, she had to admit Charlene’s stunning curves, radiant complexion, and elegant aura were highly deceptive. It was dangerously easy to mistake her for a genuinely good person and fall under her spell.

After all, hadn’t her own brother inexplicably warmed up to Charlene, even after Charlene had flat-out refused to work with the Lancaster family over a petty grudge?

Charlene played the innocent victim flawlessly. If Corinne didn’t know the dark truth, she might have been fooled by the woman’s graceful exterior too.

It was just a shame…

Thinking about the dirty tricks Charlene had used to marry Thorne, and the ruthless way she had targeted Vesta, Corinne’s eyes flashed with pure contempt.

Listening to Corinne, Gaylord sensed she knew things he didn’t.

However…

He trusted Charlene.

And he trusted his own judgment.

Gaylord didn’t engage with Corinne’s bait, his eyes drifting back to Charlene.

Wherever she went, she was the center of attention—so undeniably brilliant, yet so gracefully understated.

His gaze simply couldn’t leave her.

Seeing that Gaylord was entirely unmoved, his attention still wholly

Ced by Charlene, Corinne was

absolutely furious Do you have any idea that she content

She almost blurted out the truth about Charlene and Thorne’s marriage.

But remembering that they hadn’t officially finalized the divorce yet, she stopped herself. No matter how deceitful Charlene’s rise to power had been, exposing the marriage before the divorce was final would only subject Vesta to ugly gossip.

She looked at Gaylord, seeing that he was completely deaf to her warnings, Giving up, she fired one last parting shot. “Fine. If you refuse to listen, I won’t waste breath

just hope you won’t be too

shocked when you finally see her true colors.”

With a sarcastic smirk, she turned on her heel and walked away.

Gaylord frowned at her parting words.

It wasn’t that he believed her, but her vitriol and vicious slander against Charlene rubbed him the wrong way.

Across the room.

Kelvin took a sip of his drink, looking profoundly bored. He checked the time and sighed. “It’s past nine. This is dragging. Should we take off?”

Dalton took a sip of his own drink. “I want to stick around a bit longer. You can leave if you’re bored.”

Kelvin rolled his eyes.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out Dalton just wanted to keep staring at Vesta.

He didn’t bother arguing. “York, he’s not leaving. Do we—”

“I want to stay a little longer too,” York interrupted.

Charlene had been networking all night, and he hadn’t wanted to intrude. He was waiting for her to catch a break so he could finally go talk to her.

Hearing that, Dalton paused.