Unknown Divorce Revelation Beyond Time (Charlene and Thorne) novel Chapter 18

She was worried Helena would be concerned if she knew about her distress, so she quickly composed herself and asked, "Has Aunt Linda and the rest not returned from their vacation yet?"

"Nope, they are having too much fun and said they'd be back a week later," came the reply.

"What about Uncle Vernon? Does he have another business dinner tonight?"

"Your Uncle Vernon heard you were coming home and canceled his engagements. He said he'd be back for dinner with us. Should be here any minute now."

"Good."

No sooner had they finished speaking than Vernon Ross walked in.

Seeing Charlene, he said with a smile. "Charlene, you're back." But then his expression turned to concern. "Why have you lost so much weight? Haven’t you been eating well?"

Charlene laughed it off. "I've been too busy. I'll eat more tonight."

Vernon sighed and kept adding roast beef to her plate when dinner was ready.

Vernon mentioned she had lost weight, but Charlene noticed that he looked worn out. Though she never worked at the Ross Group, she knew the difficult times it was facing. Vernon was busy with work daily, struggling to keep the company afloat.

Over the years, the Ross Group wouldn’t have been in such dire straits if Thorne had extended his support.

Besides the two desperate occasions when Irma intervened, Thorne had never helped her. Charlene thought that if it weren’t for Irma, Thorne, with his misunderstandings about her, would probably have been more inclined to destroy the Ross Group than help it.

With those thoughts, the savory taste of the roast beef turned bland in her mouth.

Knowing her predicament, Vernon never asked her to seek help from Thorne, even in times of need.

After dinner, while Helena dozed off, Charlene handed Vernon a seventy-million check.

"Charlene, I don’t need—"

It was past ten o'clock when Thorne got home.

Rubbing her eyes, Jasmine greeted him, "Dad, you're back?"

"Yes," he replied tersely. "Go to bed if you're tired."

"Okay. Good night, Dad."

"Good night."

After Jasmine went upstairs to sleep, Thorne took the glass of water the butler handed him, finished it, and headed upstairs.

The bedroom was pitch black, seemingly empty. Thorne paused before turning on the light. As expected, it was empty.