Laverne smiled in agreement. "It really is wonderful."


    With Thorne and Vesta''s rtionship rapidly thawing, the atmosphere among the Hawkins and Spencer families was practically jubnt, despite the severity of


    Vesta''s injury.


    The following afternoon, Jasmine visited the hospital right after school. Thorne was still tied up with work, so his driver dropped her off.


    Running into the room and seeing Vesta''s paleplexion, the little girl''s face crumpled with worry. "Ms. Hawkins, I saw the video! How are you feeling? Are you better? Why didn''t you tell me you got hurt so badly right away?"


    Vesta offered a reassuring smile. "I''m fine, sweetheart. I''m already doing much better. I didn''t want to scare you, which is why I specifically told your dad to hold off on telling you."


    Vesta seamlessly transitioned to asking about Jasmine''s day at school, and the sterile room was soon filled with cheerful giggles.


    "You know," Vesta said softly, "I just realized it''s been a while since we had a good chat like this. Having youe all the way here to visit me and keep mepany makes me so happy."


    Hearing that sent a sharp pang of guilt through Jasmine. Ever since she had grown closer to Charlene, she had be incredibly attached to her mother, rarely taking the initiative to share her day with Vesta anymore.


    Charlene had no idea what was transpiring between Thorne and Jasmine.


    She had been buried in work for a solid week, finally catching a break when the weekend rolled around.


    On Saturday, she slept in. After making herself breakfast, she suddenly noticed how painfully quiet the house felt.


    Over the past two or three months, whenever she had a day off, Jasmine would either be bursting through the front doors of the Ross residence or calling her phone to chatter endlessly about everything and nothing.


    Today was dead silent. No visit, no phone call.


    Right around noon, her phone finally buzzed. It was a text from Jasmine exining that she was busy for the next two days and wouldn''t be able toe over.


    Reading the message, Charlene immediately thought of Vesta''s hospitalization. It wasn''t hard to


    ???


    guess that Jasmine was spending the weekend at the hospital.


    Just as the thought crossed her mind, a photo popped onto her screen from an unknown number.


    It was a picture of Thorne, Vesta, and Jasmine. Vesta was still in her hospital gown, making the setting unmistakably clear.


    A follow-up text chimed in: [For the past three days, your daughter has beening


    to see my sister with my sister''s boyfriend every single day.]


    The condescending, taunting tone instantly gave away the sender''s identity.


    Charlene deleted the photo and the message without a second thought.


    She then opened Jasmine''s earlier text and replied with a single word: [Okay.]


    Since Jasmine wasn''ting over, it meant she finally had the entire weekend to truly unwind.


    After two days of solid rest, she returned to the office refreshed.


    The massive coboration between PrimeStar Technologies, The Henderson Group,


    and Andie''s firm was moving forward at full steam.


    However, in all the meetings that followed, she never caught a single glimpse of Thorne.


    But even without seeing him in person, she knew exactly where he was. He was spending every spare moment at the hospital with Vesta.


    Not just him. Jasmine was rushing there straight after school every day.


    Charlene only knew all of this


    because someone was going out of their way to meticulously document it, bombarding her phone with


    photos and petty, provet


    messages Blocking the numbers


    was useless; the sender simply switched to a new burnerphone and kept the barrageing.