Vesta''s group left the campsite at noon, while Charlene and Stewart''s party stayed until the afternoon. The following Monday, Charlene officially returned to work.


    Since Thorne was on a business trip abroad, Jasmine hade to stay at the Ross family home right after the camping trip ended.


    A week went by. On Tuesday of the second week, Charlene got a call from Jasmine. Thorne was back, she said, so she''d be going home that evening.


    "Okay, honey. Thanks for letting me know," Charlene replied before hanging up.


    Her and Thorne''s mandatory waiting period for the divorce had endedst week. Now that he was back, they could finally get it over with. She checked her phone, but there was no message from him about scheduling a time. Figuring he was busy, she set her phone down and went back to work.


    She checked it two or three more times throughout the day, but by nine o''clock that night, even after she had finished her work, there was still nothing. Staring at the nk screen, she hesitated for a moment before typing out a message: [I''m free tomorrow.]


    She received no reply before she went to bed.


    The next morning, as she was getting ready for work, a message finally came through.


    Thorne: [Sorry, I don''t have time today.]


    She picked up her phone to reply, but another message followed immediately.


    Thorne: [I''ll contact you when I''m free.]


    Charlene paused, then typed back: [As soon as possible.]


    Thorne: [Okay.]


    After their brief exchange, she put her phone away and left for the office.


    She had a meeting at the Henderson Group that morning, and afterward, she went to lunch with some of their executives. As


    eventered the


    restaurant, they ran straight into the Hawkins family.  s


    Several of the Henderson executives recognized Vesta and greeted her warmly. "Ms. Hawkins."


    Vesta nodded, her eyes flicking to Charlene before she smiled. "Out for a business lunch?"


    "Yes, this is Ms. Ross from PrimeStar," one of the executives said. "I believe you''ve met."


    Vesta gave a cool nod, her gaze barely lingering on Charlene before moving on. Charlene could feel the eyes of both the Hawkins, and Spencer families on her, but she acted as if she didn''t notice.  s


    "Well, I won''t keep you," Vesta said smoothly. "Enjoy your meal."


    "Thank you, Ms. Hawkins."


    Given how highly Thorne regarded Vesta, the Henderson executives were all exceptionally polite, careful not to slight her. They watched as Vesta and her family were led to their private room.<fn8141> Fresh chapters posted on find?novel</fn8141>


    Once they were seated, Leah immediately piped up. "Sis, Thorne is busy today, but does he have any idea when he''ll have time to finally divorce that bitch?"


    Just likest time, they had been anxiously counting down the days of the waiting period. It had finally ended, only for Thorne to be out of the country. He''d returned yesterday, and they''d all assumed he would schedule the divorce immediately. But when they''d asked Vestast night, she''d said he was busy for the next couple of days and they would have to wait. They were disappointed but had no choice but to be patient.  s