?Chapter 1036:

    That afternoon at the office, Brenna waited for Ethan.

    To distract herself, she pulled up the stock market. The Mitchell Group’s shares had been dipping steadily for a week. The daily drop was minor, but the overall loss had be hard to ignore.

    She examined the trend charts from the past month.

    Then, she looked into the Harper Group’s performance. Their numbers had also declined recently, but there’d been a solid recovery over thest few days, which gave her some relief.

    By the time the clock hit five, Ethan still hadn’te to see her. Irritated, Brenna retrieved her phone and called him.

    He answered right away, though there was something odd in his tone. “What’s going on, Brenna?”

    “Do you feel like ying tennis tonight?” she asked, using the question to test his willingness to meet.

    “I’m tied up with something else. Maybe next time. Things have been a bit messy on my endtely,” Ethan replied.

    In the background, she could hear Milton’s voice on Ethan’s end, apparently talking about stocks. She didn’t push the issue. Instead, she said, “Were you aware that Gracie tried to take one of my office floors?”

    After giving it some thought, she chose to bring the matter up. Misunderstandings, if left alone, had a way of turning into something far worse.

    “I know. I told her not to go through with it, but she insisted. Did she actually go ahead and talk to you about it?” Ethan’s tone carried a trace of irritation.

    Brenna replied, “Yeah. But it’s fine. I handled it. Since you’re busy and can’t y tennis, let’s forget it.”

    After ending the call, her mood lifted slightly.

    Although she had no intention of leading Darwin on, she figured it was better to give him a proper refusal. So, she got ready to meet him at the tennis court. Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and Thiago stepped in.

    “You’re really going to y tennis?”

    Brenna gave a small shrug, looking resigned. “Yeah. I’m nning to talk to him and make things clear.”

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    Thiago gave a shortugh. “That might get awkward if it’s just the two of you. Why not make it a group outing? Ellie and I can tag along.”

    “That’s actually perfect,” Brenna said, smiling. “I’ll call Ernst, too. No harm having more people around.”

    She picked up her phone and began making calls. She had expected Ernst to be swamped, but he answered right away. Surprisingly, he had nothing scheduled and said he’de.

    He had even offered to bring Lilith.

    Later, Brenna waited by the building’s entrance until Darwin’s car pulled up. Once Brenna and Darwin reached the club, they saw Thiago, Ellie, Patrick, Ernst, and Lilith arriving not long after.

    Darwin looked around at the growing group, clearly a bit displeased. Leaning close to Brenna, he lowered his voice. “You didn’t mention we’d be joined by a crowd.”

    “I figured it might be too quiet with just us,” Brenna replied lightly. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

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