“Mhm,” Charlene murmured.

Stewart understood. By not pushing for a divorce right now, Charlene was simply showing respect for Irma and Neal Henderson.

Changing the subject, Stewart chuckled. “I did some digging. Axiom Flux isn’t just fighting Hawkins Technology to the bitter end. Word on the street is they’ve dragged Neural Nexus Tech into the lawsuit, too.”

Charlene paused. “Did it work?”

“Yeah,” Stewart nodded. “I just heard Neural Nexus Tech’s equity has been completely frozen.”

Charlene wasn’t entirely surprised that Neural Nexus was taking a hit as well.

Knowing the Hawkins and Spencer families, the moment they realized the lucrative potential of both companies, they would have scrambled to get a piece of the pie.

Normally, watching both Hawkins Technology and Neural Nexus Tech go down in flames would be cause for celebration.

But…

Even combined, those two companies were pocket change to Thorne. Even if they were wiped off the map, it would only take him a fraction of a second to bail the Hawkins family and Vesta out and help them rebuild from scratch.

So, while it was technically good news, Stewart hadn’t rushed to share it the second it broke.

Meanwhile.

Vesta had barely stepped through the doors of Neural Nexus Tech after leaving Jasmine’s school when Henley called.

“Vesta, the news about the frozen equity is already out,” he said, his voice tight.

Vesta’s face fell. Before she could even respond, Edwin and the finance team swarmed her. “Ms. Hawkins, we’ve been hearing some rumors about the company. We need to verify…”

Before Vesta could answer, her secretary rushed over, looking panicked. “Ms. Hawkins, word is out that our equity is frozen. Several investors just called. They want to discuss pulling their funding.”

The entire office fell silent, all eyes turning toward Vesta.

Her expression darkened. “My office. Now.”

The moment the doors closed, her desk phone rang. It was Mr. Sanderson, one of

their key investors, demanding to speak with her personally.

She shooed her staff out and picked up the receiver. “Mr. Sanderson—”

“Ms. Hawkins,” he cut her off. His tone was polite but firm. “I hear the company’s equity has been frozen for days Has Mr Henderson come up with a solution for you yet?”

As major investors, they had been closely monitoring the Hawkins Technology scandal, waiting to see if Thorne would step in to clean up the mess.

They understood that, given the current public scrutiny, Thorne couldn’t just throw his weight around carelessly.

The same logic applied to Neural Nexus.

If Thorne and Vesta’s relationship was solid, he might just let both companies fold and quietly rebuild them once the storm blew over.

But that was a massive ‘if.’ Nobody knew where Thorne and Vesta actually stood right now.

All the investors knew was this: if Thorne decided to sacrifice the companies to protect the Henderson family’s reputation, they needed to pulf their money out immediately to save their own skins.

With Mr. Sanderson’s stance so clear, Vesta was helpless. She had absolutely no word from Thorne. She couldn’t offer any guarantees to stall the investors.

Sanderson quickly ended the call. A moment later, her secretary hurried back in. “Ms. Hawkins, EchoWave just called. They’re pulling out, too.”