Unknown Divorce Revelation Beyond Time (Charlene and Thorne) novel Chapter 410

Darius looked over at Thorne with a grin. “Hey, since you’re here, why don’t you stick around and join the fun for a bit?”

Thorne shrugged, smiling. “Sure, why not?”

After a bit of small talk between them, Darius turned back to Hickey, Stewart, and the rest. “Now, where were we before?”

Stewart picked up the thread. “We were just discussing what we should do if we catch a foreign probe wandering into our airspace. What’s the best way to handle that?”

Vesta, overhearing, started thinking it over herself.

Darius chuckled and turned to Charlene. “What about you? Any thoughts, Charlene?”

Stewart and Charlene hadn’t had a chance to weigh in before Thorne and Vesta had arrived. Now, with Darius prompting, both of them fell silent for a moment.

Vesta’s attention drifted. Darius sure sounded friendly when he said Charlene’s name. And the way he looked at her—there was a genuine warmth there, maybe even a hint of admiration. Vesta frowned, feeling a little unsettled.

Just then, Charlene spoke up. “Well, I’d say we take over the probe’s controls, just to prove we can, and then hand it right back to them.”

The moment she finished, Darius and Abelard burst out laughing.

Stewart’s eyes lit up in sudden realization, and he shot Charlene a big thumbs-up.

Darius, still smiling, didn’t say whether it was good or bad. He just asked gently, “That confident in your tech skills, huh?”

Charlene hesitated, then shrugged. “Shouldn’t be too hard, I guess?”

Hickey grinned. “Talk is cheap, but when someone can actually walk the walk? Now that’s real confidence.”

Darius nodded in agreement. “Absolutely.”

Thorne nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

Before Vesta could process that, Abelard pressed on. “So what’s the advantage to handling it this way?”

Thorne broke it down, explaining the subtleties.

As he talked, Vesta realized there was way more to this than just the technical side. There were strategic and diplomatic angles she hadn’t even considered. Stewart, Darius—even Thorne—seemed to have caught on right away when Charlene first spoke. Vesta only got the full picture after Thorne spelled it out.

She was still mulling it over when she noticed Abelard looking at her with a friendly smile. “Ms. Hawkins, you’ve been frowning this whole time. Is something still unclear?”

He probably meant well, but Vesta’s face flushed with embarrassment. Still, she pulled herself together and admitted, “Yeah, I just caught up to where you all are. Thanks for explaining.”

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