I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 591

"Director Yates, shall we head to the command center?" Zoe cut in smoothly.

Timothy smiled faintly and nodded. "Right this way, Ms. Lynd."

He glanced at Harvey. "Harvey, you tag along with Commander Thorne."

Hayden's expression was utterly unreadable, though Commissioner Sterling cast a suspicious glance his way, sensing the man had been about to drop a bomb.

Time was tight, leaving no room for idle chatter.

Timothy had intended to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Zoe, but Hayden quickly lengthened his stride, seamlessly cutting between them. Harvey stepped up to Zoe's right, placing Hayden on her left, completely boxing Timothy out of the equation.

"I believe I made two errors earlier. Perhaps you could walk me through them, Ms. Lynd, just so we don't hit any snags later," Hayden said smoothly.

Zoe arched a delicate brow. What was there to explain? Harvey had already laid it out perfectly. She wasn't deaf; Harvey's technical expertise was rock solid. He wasn't just some nepotism hire brought in for show.

"Commander Thorne, I'm afraid my time is limited. If you want to learn, watch the system logs when we boot up," Zoe dismissed him coldly.

She leaned past Hayden to call out to Timothy, who seized the opening to step to her side. Harvey quickly joined the conversation, engaging Zoe in a deep technical debate.

Reluctantly, Hayden slowed his pace, forced to surrender his spot.

He glared at the trio walking ahead of him, his face stormy with dark, murderous intent.

Commissioner Sterling trailed behind them, only grasping bits and pieces of the highly technical jargon.

Marcus stopped and looked back. Hayden was lagging a full ten feet behind.

"Commander Thorne, we're going to need your encryption key to initiate the sequence. Keep up!" Marcus called out.

Marcus waved him forward. With his long legs, Hayden could have easily outpaced them all, but right now, his feet felt like they were cast in lead.

As Zoe, Timothy, and Harvey pulled further away, Hayden stopped entirely, taking a deep breath to suppress his suffocating wave of jealousy.

His phone buzzed obnoxiously in his pocket. Without checking the caller ID, he rejected the call.

It rang again. Rejected again.

"Who said anything about saving it?" Hayden replied indifferently.

Justice paused, thrown off by the icy response.

"Follow standard legal protocols. You don't need to intervene. Just keep me updated on the timeline."

Justice finally understood. Hayden never intended to save Easton. After a beat, he said, "If we let it play out, the absolute worst-case scenario is filing for corporate bankruptcy and liquidation."

Hayden didn't bother listening to the rest. He simply hung up.

"..."

Justice stared at his dead phone for a long moment. It made sense; Easton had no real ties to the Thorne family anymore. There was no strategic reason for Hayden to risk his own neck saving it. Bankruptcy was essentially their last line of defense. But he wondered if Hayden had considered the implications for Sienna.

As the legal representative of the company, the massive corporate-to-personal transfers she authorized would undoubtedly result in criminal charges once the auditors dug in. Having worked for Hayden for years, Justice knew his boss was usually meticulous, especially when it came to Sienna. Yet this time, Hayden had offered zero instructions regarding her safety. It was as if he was distracted by something infinitely more critical.

It seemed he had completely lost interest in Easton and Sienna. Justice shook his head. The mistresses of billionaires only enjoyed the high life while they were in favor. Once disaster struck, they were entirely on their own.