Chapter 846
The message Moran had sent on the day the Hawkins family’s company plunged into crisis hadn’t been answered until the following afternoon. Even then, Thorne’s reply had been painfully brief, simply reading: “It’s fine. I can handle it myself.”
“Should I text him and ask?” Granger suggested.
“Yeah, do it,” Moran agreed.
Granger pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text to Thorne.
Have you pretty much wrapped things up? When do you think you’ll be back?
While he was typing, Moran’s gaze drifted back to Charlene, who was standing a short distance away.
Tonight, just like always, she effortlessly commanded the center of attention.
After hitting send, Granger followed his friend’s line of sight.
He had been genuinely shocked by the chaotic fallout at Dr. Lucas’s gala. In the aftermath, he had thought about reaching out to see how she was holding up.
But knowing he had no real place to involve himself, he had ultimately deleted the drafted text.
Now, seeing her smoothly navigate the room and discuss business without missing a beat, a wave of relief washed over him.
Noticing Granger watching her too, Moran couldn’t help but voice his lingering disbelief. “I still can’t believe she’s one of the founders of PrimeStar Technologies. And on top of that, she’s been Kenton Wagner’s student all these years. Even thinking about it now feels like a fever dream.”
“Yeah,” Granger murmured.
At first, the whole thing had felt entirely surreal to him, too.
So he completely understood where Moran was coming from.
Suddenly, Moran remembered a glaring oversight.
“By the way,” he asked, “do you think Thorne knew about Charlene’s connection to PrimeStar and Dr. Wagner?”
Granger hesitated for a second before shaking his head. “I honestly don’t know.”
It was a question he had been turning over in his own mind for a while now.
If Thorne had known that Charlene was Kenton’s protege, he surely would have understood the true extent of mentalent. After all, Vesta Hawkins had only landed a spot at PrimeStar because she specialized in their proprietary programming language.
Knowing the massive gap in skill between Charlene and Vesta, Thorne should have realized that a heavyweight like Kenton Wagner would never have given Vesta the time of day.
Yet, Thorne had constantly pulled strings and exhausted his resources trying to secure Kenton’s mentorship for Vesta.
Looking at it that way, there was no chance he had known about Charlene’s secret life.
But if he truly hadn’t known, his reaction at Dr. Lucas’s gala didn’t add up When Stewart Ferguson. exposed her identity as Kenton’s student Thorne hadn’t looked
surprised in the slightest.
Or was it simply that his disdain for Charlene ran so deep that no matter how
brilliantly she shined, she was still beneath his notice?
“I can’t wrap my head around it either,” Moran sighed. “I figured if Thorne knew, he would have told us But then again, he kept us in the dark about Vesta’s messy family history all this time too.”
“…Yeah,” Granger replied softly.
It probably hadn’t been an easy topic to bring up.
Vesta’s background was, without a doubt, steeped in scandal.
Across the room.
Charlene was in the middle of networking when her phone began to vibrate.
Checking the caller ID, she quickly answered.
After listening intently to the voice on the other end, she nodded. “Alright, I understand. I’m heading over right now.”
She ended the call, exchanged some quick pleasantries with the people around her, and hurried toward the exit.
Granger, who had been keeping an eye on her the entire time, immediately caught up to her. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“The butler called. He said Minnie is acting strangely today. She’s refusing to eat and locked herself in her room.”
Granger paused for a second before offering, “Let me come with you.”
“That’s not necessary,” Charlene started to decline. “I-“