They had never associated Elodie with drones before.

Now, even engineers of Haywood’s caliber were going out of their way to praise her.

What on earth was going on?

Elodie had only been at VistaLink Technologies for a few short months.

Joseph knew she was smart, but aerospace engineering wasn’t something you could just pick up on the fly. Had Alexander been giving her special lessons in industry theory? Or was there something else?

“Joseph?”

Sylvie came over and tapped his shoulder. “Jarrod and Maurice are waiting for us over there-let’s go ride with them.”

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

He glanced in the direction Sylvie indicated.

Jarrod was on a call nearby; sensing Joseph’s gaze, he turned and looked over.

Meeting Jarrod’s eyes, Joseph felt an inexplicable heaviness settle in his chest-a strange, uneasy feeling.

Should he ask Jarrod what was going on with Elodie?

He pressed his lips together, mind racing, and started walking toward them.

But as he moved, the impulse to grill Jarrod faded, tucked away for later.

A new idea took its place.

Before getting into the car, Joseph pulled out his phone and shot a message to Freya Delacroix.

[Do you miss Elodie? Didn’t you say she’s amazing with drones? You’ve got finals this year-want to meet up with her and pick her brain?]

Elsewhere-

Elodie was riding in a car with Alexander and Charlie.

As soon as they got in, Charlie had his head down, absorbed in a batch of doctoral theses from the research institute.

Elodie sat quietly, careful not to disturb him.

She hadn’t seen Lucinda again—most likely, Lucinda was busy with hotel business.

As for her divorce from Jarrod, Elodie wasn’t sure if he’d told Lucinda. Back then, he’d only mentioned keeping it from his grandmother; Lucinda’s side was a bit of a question mark.

They’d kept their marriage secret from the start.

Aside from the Silversteins and those closest to Jarrod, no one had known he was married.

So it made perfect sense that Lucinda would ignore her in public—as if they were strangers.

Still, Lucinda hadn’t greeted Sylvie either, which was… interesting.

Up front, Charlie had only made it halfway through a thesis when Klein Whitaker’s name flashed across his phone.

The military and the research institute kept in close contact; whenever military tech was involved, their teams would regularly meet.

Charlie answered.

Klein got straight to the point. “Charlie, you wrapping up Goldspire today?”

Charlie, steady as ever, replied, “News travels fast with you. What’s up?”

Klein let out a hearty laugh. “You should’ve received the directive from up top. The priority for the rest of the year is work on the sixth-generation fighter. I wanted to ask if you could spare a few people for the project.”

Charlie considered. “That shouldn’t be a problem. Once things finish up here, we’ll have some time.”

“What about that young woman working on U.N2?” Klein made his intentions clear.

Charlie’s expression shifted subtly. He glanced back at Elodie, who was deep in conversation with Alexander about VistaLink’s next steps, and suddenly grinned. “If you have your eye on someone, why beat around the bush?”

“You know how devastatingly effective U.N2 is in the field. Genius like that shouldn’t go to waste,” Klein replied, entirely candid.

Military tech needed minds like hers.

Charlie snorted. “We’ll see. I’ll ask around for you.”

Klein was quick to press. “Come on, Charlie, take this seriously. Aren’t you proud when your protégés join the defense industry? By the way, I’ll send you some photos of my boy-why not show them to the young lady while you’re at it?” Charlie: “…”

Old rascal.

Trying to get a two-for-one deal now?

His dimwitted son hadn’t even made the cut-when did the Whitakers get to jump

the line?