Chapter 886
For the rest of the evening, until the very end of the dinner, Charlene and Thorne didn’t interact once.
The entire room noted the heavy silence between them.
When the event wrapped up, Charlene and Stewart were the first to exit, with Thorne, Granger, and Moran trailing behind shortly after.
Outside, as Granger watched Charlene and Stewart disappear into the night, he turned to Thorne. “Thorne, about you and Vesta…”
“I’ll handle my own business,” Thorne cut in flatly.
Moran knew immediately that Thorne had anticipated the lecture he and Granger were about to give.
And with that icy tone, it was blatantly clear he had zero interest in their advice.
Moran frowned. “Thorne, maybe you should just—”
“It’s getting late,” Thorne interrupted smoothly. “You should both head home and get some rest.”
Realizing Thorne was completely walled off, Moran knew pushing it would be pointless. “…Alright,” he relented.
Seeing this, Granger dropped the subject as well.
Meanwhile.
Vesta had barely walked through her front door before her phone began ringing off the hook.
Shockingly, every single caller wanted to invest in Neural Nexus Tech.
At first, Vesta thought she was hearing things. It wasn’t until she took the third consecutive call that reality sank in. “Mr. Palmer,” she asked the man on the line, “what sudden change of heart led you to invest in my company?”
Mr. Palmer rambled pleasantly for a moment before getting to the point. “You and Mr. Henderson clearly share such a deep bond. If you have some free time, would I have the honor of treating you both to dinner?”
Connecting the dots from the previous calls, Vesta finally understood. This sudden flood of interest was all because of Thorne.
Her gaze darkened, though she kept her tone perfectly cool. “Mr. Henderson and I have a deep bond? I wonder what gave you that impression, Mr. Palmer.”
Mr. Palmer didn’t quite grasp the edge in her question, but he did know that since the disastrous gala, the entire social circle had been treating the Hawkins family like pariahs.
Vesta had likely endured her fair share of humiliation lately.
Eager to butter her up, he rushed to explain. “Director Ross from PrimeStar Technologies was at the dinner tonight, but Mr. Henderson completely ignored her Even after all the recent scandals, he hasn’t stooped to faking affection with his wife to smooth over the PR nightmare. It’s obvious that you are the most important person in Mr. Henderson’s heart.”
To the outside world, it made perfect business sense for Thorne to put on a public display of affection with
few romantic photos to floodet
Charlene after the gala. Staging the
internet would have instantly killed the negative press and protected Lloyd Henderson’s political career.
Lloyd’s rivals were reportedly watching Thorne like hawks. At a highly publicized event like tonight’s, even if Thorne and Charlene didn’t arrive@rm-in-arm, he should have at least engaged with her to project a united front, eliminating any leverage his enemies could use.
But Thorne hadn’t done that.
He hadn’t done a single thing.
To the elite observers, this could only mean one thing: Thorne valued his love for Vesta so fiercely that he was willing to tank his own reputation to protect it.
Hearing this, Vesta’s grip on her phone tightened until her knuckles went white. She let a few heavy seconds pass before answering, her voice retaining its icy composure. “Was there anything else?”
“No, no, I apologize for bothering you so late,” Mr. Palmer chuckled nervously
before treading carefully. “So, regarding our potential partnership…”
“If you have time tomorrow, you can come by my office,” Vesta said.
Without waiting for a reply, she hung up.