Stewart rubbed his aching temples, his eyes barely open. “I knew it! You haven’t slept either, have you?”

“I’m heading down for some breakfast. How about we catch up afterward?” Charlene suggested.

Even though Stewart’s eyes felt gritty and sore, he couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice. “Absolutely! We’ve got to talk!”

Ideas have a way of slipping away if you don’t seize them quickly.

“Sounds good.”

After Charlene had her breakfast, she was about to video call Stewart when Padgett’s call came through.

“Hey, I just got a call from Thorne’s lawyer. The titles for those three extra villas Thorne transferred over to you are ready. I’ll go pick them up later. Do you have time to swing by and collect them? Or we can set up a time, and I can bring them to you.” Charlene had almost forgotten about this whole thing. Her mind was elsewhere these days.

“Thanks, Mr. Padgett. If you could handle that, it’d be great,” she replied.

Once she hung up, Charlene and Stewart dove straight into their work, pushing through until noon when their brains felt like they might just explode from overuse. They finally took a breather.

The last time Charlene had visited Irma was the previous Sunday. She and Helena had planned to see Irma in the afternoon.

But Charlene hadn’t slept a wink last night, so over lunch, she suggested to Helena they postpone the visit until after dinner.

Helena took one look at Charlene’s tired face and nodded. “Sure, let’s go after we’ve eaten.”

Charlene crashed for a nap and didn’t wake up until nearly six. After dinner, she and Helena headed to the

hospital.

When they arrived, Thorne was nowhere in sight. Charlene and Helena spent almost two hours with Irma, and just as they were about to leave, Thorne showed up.

He didn’t seem surprised to see them, almost as if he expected their visit. As they prepared to go, he politely said, “Thank you for visiting Grandma.”

Charlene and Helena didn’t bother to respond.

Thorne pressed the elevator button for them and casually asked Charlene, “Did you get the property titles?”

“Not yet.”

As Charlene and Helena stepped into the elevator, Thorne made a move to join them, but Charlene quickly said, “No need to see us off. You should head back.” Thorne paused and didn’t insist. He didn’t push the issue of the property titles either, as if it was just an excuse

to chat.

Once the elevator doors closed, Helena asked, “What property titles?”

“Part of the divorce settlement. He gave me some of the properties.” Helena shrugged. “If he’s giving them, you might as well keep them.” “Yeah, I know.”

When they got home, Padgett was there too, dropping off the documents. He didn’t linger long and left shortly afterward.

Charlene took the property titles to her room, shoved them into a drawer, and headed straight for the shower. Exhausted from the long day and lack of sleep, she didn’t take long to fall asleep afterward. The next morning, Charlene went for a jog downstairs, had breakfast, and headed to work.

As she was about to turn her car into the parking garage of the PrimeStar building, she noticed Granger sitting in his car, window rolled down.

Charlene frowned. What on earth was he doing here so early? As far as she remembered, PrimeStar didn’t have any meetings scheduled with Granger today.