After the holidays, Charlene returned to her regr routine at PrimeStar.


    A couple of dayster, she was representing PrimeStar at a government conference.


    Just as she arrived and was about to take her seat, she spotted Vesta Hawkins.


    Vesta saw her too, but her gaze quickly darted away. Her eyes scanned the conference hall, but Thorne was nowhere to be seen.


    Just when she thought he wasn''t going to make it, Thorne finally appeared right as the meeting was about to begin.


    Vesta breathed a quiet sigh of relief.


    However, the smile that had just touched her lips faded the moment she saw him


    take the empty seat next to Charlene. Her expression fell, a shadow of disappointment crossing her face.


    Meanwhile, Thorne settled into his chair and turned to Charlene. "Morning," he said.


    Charlene hesitated for a beat. "...Morning."


    Then she turned away, making it clear the conversation was over.


    The meeting began shortly after, and Thorne didn''t try to speak to her again.


    During a mid-session break, Vesta made her way over to Thorne. "Thorne," she began.


    Thorne looked up and gave her a slight nod.


    Vesta asked in a gentle voice, "Do you have a moment after the meeting? There''s something I need to talk to you about."


    "I have another engagement right after this," he replied.


    "It''s okay, it will only take a few minutes," she pressed.


    Thorne nodded. "Alright."


    A smile returned to Vesta''s face.


    Charlene, just returning from the restroom, saw Thorne and Vesta talking together.


    Her expression remained neutral as she headed back to her seat, but she was intercepted by several corporate representatives who struck up a conversation.


    By the time she finished exchanging pleasantries and sat down, the meeting was already resuming.


    When the conference concluded, Charlene chatted with a few more people before making her exit.


    As she was leaving, she happened to see Vesta approaching Thorne again.


    Thorne stepped away from the crowd. "What is it?" he asked.


    "It''s about Neural Nexus Tech and my father''spany," Vesta replied.


    She had tried to contact Thorne over the holidays to meet up, but he had mostly ignored her messages. This meant she hadn''t seen him at all since before the break.


    Both Neural Nexus Tech and Hawkins Technology had resumed operations after the holidays, but they were burning through cash with no breakthroughs on their key projects.


    She briefly exined the situation at bothpanies to Thorne.


    After listening, Thorne paused for a moment before saying, "It sounds like your main bottleneck is on the technical side. If you need, I rmend some talented


    can


    engineers."


    The smile died on Vesta''s lips. Before she could find her voice, Thorne''s assistant,


    Josh, cut in."Mr. Henderson, it''s about time for your next appointment."


    Thorne nodded, then looked back at Vesta. "I have to go. We can talk more next time."


    "...Alright," Vesta managed to say.


    She stood frozen, watching Thorne''s retreating figure for a long time.


    She was well aware that Neural


    Nexus Tech and Hawkins


    Technology were short on technical support But she also knew that


    Without funding, even the best


    novel


    engineers couldn''t support


    subsequent project development.


    Bothpanies were desperately in need of capital, a fact she was certain Thorne knew.


    He knew, yet he didn''t mention it once, sidestepping the real issue by only offering to rmend talent.


    It was obvious he had no intention of helping.


    After a long moment, Vesta finally snapped out of her daze and headed back to the Neural Nexus Tech office.


    The moment she walked in, Leah Spencer rushed over to her. "Vesta, did you see Thorne?"


    Vesta nodded.


    Leah''s face, along with the others in the room, lit up with hope. "So? Did you tell him about thepany''s problems?"