After a moment of hesitation, Vesta told him why she was calling.


    "I think I remember hearing about that project," Thorne said. "Is the bidding day already here? Whichpanies arepeting?"


    Vesta listed some of thepanies involved, including major yers like Axiom Flux Technologies and Aether Innovations. And, of course, PrimeStar was among them.


    Hearing this, Thornemented, "With so many bigpanies in the running, it''ll be nearly impossible for The Hawkins Group to win."


    Vesta knew that. She and Henley were both well aware. But if Thorne helped them refine their bid, pull some strings, and provide certain guarantees, they would still have a fighting chance. Of course, she couldn''t say that outright, but Thorne had to know why she was bringing it up. So she simply said, "That''s true, but my family is still very keen on winning this project..."


    "I see," Thorne said. "Well... I''m pretty busy these next two days, but I''ll have someone go over and take a look at your proposal."


    Hearing this, Vesta felt a small measure of relief. "Okay," she said, then added, "Thank you, Thorne."


    Thorne had other things to attend to, so they didn''t talk for long. When the Hawkins family heard that Thorne had agreed to send someone to help, they all breathed a sigh of relief.


    Before long, Thorne''s contact reached out and, after reviewing their bid proposal, made some


    revisions with Henley''s approva


    With adjustments to the technical and financial sections, the proposal certainly looked morepetitive However, without the backing of a major corporation,peting againstpanies like PrimeStar was still an uphill battle.


    Seeing that the person Thorne sent was only there to work on the proposal, Henley


    couldn''t help but ask, "Is this... all that Mr. Henderson instructed you to do?"


    "Yes," the man replied, pushing up his sses. "Is there another issue with the proposal?"


    Of course not, The proposal was fine, but- this wasn''t something they could discuss with an outsider. Vesta was there as well. After the man left, Henley looked at her, who knew he wanted her to call Thorne and find out what was really going on. Even without his prompting, Vesta wanted to know. Amoment. ater, she called Thorne, but there was no answer. Over the next two days, she tried calling him twice


    more. By the time the bidding


    started, Thorne still hadn''t picked up.


    On the day of the bid, Vesta and Henley attended together. As soon as they arrived,


    they saw Charlene. Their eyes met, but no one spoke.


    PrimeStar wasn''t particrly


    interested in this project; they were already overloaded with work and hadn''t nned on bidding. But when Charlene learned the Hawkins family was pursuing it, she had made the


    me to put together a proposal As long as she could prevent them from winning, she was willing to take on the extra work.


    She looked away.


    Just as the Hawkins family had feared, shortly after the bidding began, their faces


    fell. Against so many major corporations, their proposal simply wasn''t strong enough.