Chapter 192: I Won’t Make an Appearance

Chapter 192: Chapter 192: I Won’t Make an Appearance

Vesper froze for a moment, a subtle sense of resistance welling up inside her.

She didn’t have to think hard to guess that Casey Nash had come all this way to plead on behalf of her daughter, Sheryl Garland, who had caused such a catastrophe.

"President Grayson, should I have her come up?" Seeing Vesper looking down in silence, hesitating to respond, Dolly Hughes lowered her voice and asked again.

Vesper slowly concealed the turbulent emotions in her eyes, her expression returning to its usual cool indifference as she spoke lightly.

"Just tell her I’m not in the office."

"Yes."

Dolly Hughes acknowledged the order and immediately turned to head downstairs. When she reached the lobby, she saw Casey Nash waiting anxiously in the reception area and approached her.

"Hello, ma’am. Our President Grayson is out on business and isn’t at the company right now."

Casey Nash didn’t press the issue. She took a business card from her elegant handbag and gave it to Dolly.

"Please make sure to give this card to Miss Grayson when she returns. Ask her to contact me when she has a moment. Thank you."

"Of course, you can count on me. I’ll personally hand it to President Grayson the moment she’s back."

Dolly Hughes nodded. After watching Casey Nash leave the lobby with heavy steps, she returned upstairs to the office and gave Vesper a full report.

"President Grayson, Ms. Nash has left. This is her card. She said she hopes you’ll contact her when you have a free moment."

Vesper took the card, her eyes not lingering on it for even a second. She casually tossed it onto the nearby coffee table, her attitude making it clear she had no intention of making contact.

Once Dolly Hughes had quietly left the office, Shiloh Sloan, who was sitting nearby, leaned in and asked curiously, "Who’s Casey Nash? What’s her connection to the Nash Family of Northolme?"

"Sheryl Garland’s mother. Noah Nash’s aunt," Vesper replied calmly.

Shiloh Sloan’s eyes widened in understanding. "Refusing to see her was the smartest move. If she’d come up here crying and pleading for her daughter, you’d have been put in an awkward position with no easy way out."

That was precisely the situation Vesper had been worried about, which was why she had no intention of contacting Casey Nash.

After Dolly left, she picked up her phone and called Jared Hawthorne.

The phone only rang twice before he picked up. The man’s deep, magnetic voice, laced with a unique, lingering tenderness, came through the receiver.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"I’m about to. Casey Nash came by the office looking for me. I had my assistant turn her away, telling her I wasn’t in," Vesper said softly.

"Good. You handled that well." Jared Hawthorne’s voice was filled with undisguised approval, as if he had expected this to happen and wasn’t surprised in the least.

"But she left her card and asked me to call her when I have a spare moment..."

"Ignore it. I’ll speak with Noah about this myself." Jared’s tone was perfectly calm. Then, he changed the subject. "Have you decided what to do about Sheryl Garland? If you want to press charges, I’ll have the Hawthorne Group’s chief legal team handle everything immediately. We won’t show any mercy."

"If you send your lawyers after her, won’t Casey Nash hold it against you?"

"Vesper, you don’t need to worry about anyone else’s feelings." Jared’s voice was low. "Sometimes, you need to learn to be a little selfish. Put yourself first so you won’t be so easily manipulated and hurt."

’His Prue... She’d always been so kindhearted, always considering others’ feelings. But she always forgot that she was the one who had been hurt the most in this kidnapping plot.’

’If not for his connections and his timely acquaintance with Rex Lambert, the truth behind this vicious kidnapping and trafficking incident would never have come to light so quickly, and he never would have gotten her back, safe and sound.’

A faint smile touched Vesper’s lips.

"I know. Noah Nash suggested sending Sheryl Garland to a reformatory, but if I remember correctly, she’s an adult. That wouldn’t be legal or proper."

"You don’t have to worry about what Noah thinks. If you can’t decide, just leave the whole thing to me."

"Okay. I’ll leave it to you, then. I’ll stay out of it," Vesper agreed.

’Just as Shiloh said, she was always too considerate, too soft-hearted. But enough was enough. This time, Sheryl Garland had crossed a line. If she was lenient again, Sheryl would only think she’d gotten lucky and would become even more brazen in the future, refusing to take her seriously.’

「The next day」

Vesper didn’t go to the office. She stayed home alone to rest.

After watching Jared leave, she sat in a rattan chair on the balcony, basking in the warm sun and enjoying a rare, quiet moment.

At nine in the morning, her phone suddenly rang. It was Dolly Hughes.

"Sister Vesper, we have a problem! That Ms. Nash is back at the company. I tried to use the same excuse as yesterday, but she doesn’t believe me. She’s refusing to leave the lobby and says she’ll wait as long as it takes to see you!" Dolly’s voice was tinged with exasperation. She couldn’t help but add under her breath, "She looks so prim and proper, but she’s just as shameless as anyone else when she wants to be."

"Don’t worry about her. Let her wait," Vesper said, her tone calm and unruffled.

’She wasn’t at the office anyway, so Casey Nash was just wasting her time. Besides, she’d already handed the entire matter over to Jared. She didn’t need to waste any more energy on it.’

’It wasn’t that she was unreasonable. She could understand Casey Nash’s feelings as a mother—Sheryl Garland was her only daughter, and even after such a terrible mistake, a mother would never give up so easily. But understanding was one thing; it could never be an excuse for Sheryl to be easily forgiven after what she did.’

Meanwhile, in the lobby, Sheryl Garland watched her mother’s anxious vigil, biting her lip in frustration.

"Mom, it’s obvious Vesper Grayson is avoiding us! ’Out on business’ my foot! She just doesn’t want to see us!"

’If it weren’t for Jared Hawthorne, she wouldn’t give a damn about the piddling Grayson Group. All she’d have to do is ask her cousin, and he could bankrupt Grayson Corporation in an instant.’

’Vesper Grayson is only acting so high and mighty because she has the Hawthorne Family backing her!’

"Shut up!" Casey Nash hissed, her voice low and sharp. Her eyes were filled with exasperation. "How can you still be so arrogant at a time like this? Do you really want to destroy your own life before you’ll be satisfied?"

Sheryl Garland’s eyes instantly welled with tears. "Instead of groveling here," she muttered defiantly, "we should just go straight to Jared! As long as he agrees to drop it, Vesper Grayson can’t do a thing!"

"And you think Jared will just let this go?" Casey Nash looked at her delusional daughter, her voice filled with despair. "Vesper Grayson is his legal wife. You plotted to harm the woman he sleeps next to every night. You’ve slapped the Hawthorne Family across the face and crossed his line!"

’She knew Jared’s temperament all too well. On a normal day, he was polite to her for Noah’s sake. But if someone touched a nerve, he was swift and ruthless, without a shred of mercy.’

"It’s just a marriage certificate! I refuse to believe Jared would throw away our years of history for some outsider!" Sheryl retorted stubbornly, clinging to her delusion.

Just then, Casey Nash’s phone rang.

She picked up her phone. Seeing it was an unknown number, she hesitated for a moment before answering. A man’s steady, cold voice immediately came through the speaker.

"Ms. Nash, hello. My name is Leo Yates, and I am the chief counsel for the Hawthorne Group. I’m calling about your daughter, Sheryl Garland, and her instigation and planning of the kidnapping and trafficking of Miss Vesper Grayson. The Hawthorne Group, representing Miss Grayson, will be pursuing full criminal charges in accordance with the law. The relevant legal documents will be delivered to you directly..."

The lawyer’s words rang in her ears. Casey Nash’s mind went blank, all the strength draining from her body in an instant. The hand holding the phone trembled, and for a long moment, she couldn’t process what she’d just heard.

"Mom, who was that? What’s wrong?" Sheryl asked in a panic, rushing forward to shake her mother’s arm when she saw the look on her face.