Chapter 1469

As soon as Tessa stepped into the living room, she froze. Sitting on the couch was Grace.

A chill ran down her spine, a vague sense of dread creeping up inside her.

She was about to quietly turn and leave when Grace suddenly spoke. “Tessa, come here for a moment. I have something to ask you.”

At that, Tessa’s heart sank. Her intuition was rarely wrong, and this time, it screamed trouble.

Still, she forced herself to move forward, step by step, until she stood before her mother.

“Mom, what is it?” she asked, feigning innocence with wide, unassuming eyes.

“I heard you’ve managed to close a new deal for the company recently,” Grace said in a casual tone, as if making small talk.

Tessa nodded earnestly. “Yes. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to improve my own abilities. I can’t keep hiding behind you forever. If I always rely on you, I’ll never grow.”

Her expression was full of sincerity as she continued, “That’s why I pushed forward with one of our long-delayed projects. I wanted to make progress for the company.”

Grace tilted her head slightly. “And why did you choose to work with Mr. Lee?”

That was the part she couldn’t quite figure out. When Jason told her Tessa had landed a major deal, she had genuinely felt proud.

It meant her judgment hadn’t been wrong. Without Aurora, the company could still move forward.

The Walton Corporation didn’t revolve around one person. It never had.

If it couldn’t function without Aurora, how had it survived all those years before?

The very thought was laughable, and Grace would never allow that to happen.

She wanted the company to remain firmly in her control, never dependent on any single person.

Even without Aurora, Grace could still hire capable assistants or cultivate Tessa into someone reliable.

What she couldn’t allow was for everything to fall completely under Aurora’s control.

Aurora’s recent defiance had already made her position clear. If Grace still pinned all her hopes on her, she’d be nothing short of a fool.

That would only make her the punchline of someone else’s joke.

Tessa quickly caught on to what her mother meant and began to explain her reasoning.

“I just felt the company had too many stagnant projects piling up. That’s why progress has been slow. I thought if we could restart some of them, the company might finally move forward.”

Grace nodded, clearly pleased. “Tessa, you’ve really grown. I didn’t expect you to think this way. It makes me proud.”

Tessa smiled softly. “I don’t want to stay useless forever. I want to share some of the burden with you. That’s why I’ve been working harder.”

Her words genuinely comforted Grace, but another question lingered in her mind. She decided to ask it directly. “Have you seen what’s been happening online?”

Tessa blinked innocently. “Online? What do you mean?”

Her first instinct was to play dumb. She knew better than to speak first—some things needed to come from Grace’s mouth, not hers.

That way, she could keep herself out of suspicion and maintain the appearance of innocence.