After After dinner, Charlene had barely walked through the door when her phone buzzed with a call from Stewart.

Upon hearing what Kenton had wanted with her, he said, “Abelard and Hickey, huh? I’ve met them already”

Then he added, “Oh, and that Dalton guy is actually Abelard’s son. Geez, with a father like that, you’d wonder why the kid ended up blind at such a young age.” Charlene was honestly surprised to find out Dalton was Abelard’s son.

But then again, it wasn’t really her concern.

On Tuesday, Neural Nexus Tech had their inaugural test run for their autonomous cars, and Charlene and Stewart were there bright and early.

By the time they arrived, Dalton and Kelvin were already there.

They gave them a glance and quickly looked away.

Stewart wasn’t in the mood to mingle either, pulling Charlene along to get started on the testing.

Noticing that everything was set up but the testing hadn’t begun, Stewart asked, “What’s the hold-up?”

Quincy replied, “Mr. Henderson wants to oversee the test himself. We’ll begin as soon as Mr. Henderson arrives.”

Stewart muttered, “…Oh.”

Something then clicked for Stewart, and he asked, “Hey, didn’t see Ms. Hawkins around today?”

Wasn’t Vesta supposed to be at Neural Nexus Tech to hone her skills? How come she’s already missing just a few days in?

Quincy chuckled and replied, “Oh, Ms. Hawkins wanted to advance her career, right? Mr. Henderson suggested the best way to do that was to lead a project team. So, last week, Mr. Henderson decided to restart a project that had been shelved and ordered it to be restructured. Over the past few days, Ms. Hawkins-now Director Hawkins-has been putting her team together and is currently in a meeting.”

Stewart glanced at Charlene, who was jotting down notes from earlier tests. She seemed unfazed by Quincy’s mention of Thorne setting up a team for Vesta.

He sighed and patted her head.

Charlene shrugged off his hand, “Cut it out.”

Stewart paused. Her tone was okay, seemed like she was no longer bothered by it. He felt relieved.

Just then, Thorne showed up, flanked by Granger and Moran. It was clear Granger and Moran hadn’t expected. Charlene to be there, their faces showing surprise at her presence.

Charlene, on the other hand, remained expressionless, giving them a brief look before turning away.

Thorne was polite, coming over to greet them, “Thanks for your hard work, everyone.”

Quincy jumped in, “Mr. Henderson, can we start now…?”

“Wait a bit, we’re expecting someone else,” Thorne checked his watch, “I’ll go upstairs to check on them. Please, bear with me for a moment.”

With that, he left.

Charlene didn’t mean to think much of it. But she knew, the person Thorne was waiting for had to be Vesta.

Meaning, they couldn’t start the test until Vesta was done with her meeting.

Stewart seemed to have realized the same thing, nearly cursing under his breath.

Thorne and Vesta soon came downstairs, Leah in tow.

Leah wasn’t surprised to see Charlene.

Vesta had given her a heads-up.

Seeing Charlene, Thorne’s wife, waiting like any other subordinate for her sister to finish up was a sight that brought a smirk of irony and triumph to Leah’s face. Charlene didn’t bother figuring out why Leah was there, dressed to the nines in her business suit at Neural Nexus Tech.

She simply averted her gaze.

Vesta, however, apologized politely, “Sorry for keeping everyone waiting.”

Her apology seemed genuine, but her eyes only met Dalton, Stewart, and their company.