Unknown Divorce Revelation Beyond Time (Charlene and Thorne) novel Chapter 406

Thorne hadn’t even had a chance to say anything before his phone started buzzing. He stepped outside to take the call, and by the time he returned, the waitress was already laying out plates of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and Caesar salads. Just like that, Moran’s awkward question was swept under the rug.

Right now, the author of the paper that engineers across the globe were scrambling to read was sitting right at their table.

As they dug into dinner, Professor Mack and his PhD students couldn’t help but flip through the main points and data in the paper, occasionally glancing up to pepper Charlene with questions.

It didn’t matter if they asked about something complicated in the research, or about some problem that had been stumping them for months—Charlene answered every question, quick as a whip, her explanations clear and confident.

Vesta watched it all, but inside, she felt oddly calm. Seeing Charlene hold her own in a technical discussion with Professor Mack and his students, it really did look like she knew her stuff.

But… was that even possible?

If Stewart had the guts to list Charlene as the lead author on the paper, he must have made sure she was totally prepared.

Initially, when Stewart announced Charlene as the first author, Vesta had been genuinely shocked.

But if this research really was all Charlene’s work, as Stewart claimed, then wouldn’t that mean she was even more brilliant than her own advisor, Professor Kevitt Smith?

That just didn’t add up.

She wasn’t Stewart. Sure, there were plenty of geniuses in the world, but not everyone could be a Stewart.

So, most likely, the research was Stewart’s, but he wanted to give Charlene a boost by putting her name in the spotlight—

Once Vesta came to that conclusion, she shot Charlene a sideways glance, watching her chat animatedly with Professor Mack and the others. Then she looked away, expression cool and indifferent.

Maureen and Leah seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

Leah, who was never good at hiding her feelings, looked like she was about to explode. Seeing Charlene act like a real expert—actually giving Professor Mack advice—made her almost jump up and blurt out the “truth.” But since Maureen and Vesta kept quiet, Leah managed to bite her tongue.