The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

"This video's a bit off," the tech guy replied, sliding the progress bar back and forth. He discovered a two-hour gap in the

surveillance footage from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM and was so shocked that his hands were shaking as he clutched his phone.

Brandon also sensed something fishy, “What is it?”

“The footage from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM on the 17th is missing, just vanished.”

The tech guy replied with a quiver in his voice, double-checking the video and even the cloud storage, but it was the sstory -

the footage was wiped clean.

Brandon swallowed the anger bubbling up inside him and asked with a frosty tone, “Has anyone been near the surveillance room

lately?”

“No one during my shift.”

The tech guy answered nervously. The surveillance room was connected to the security office, operated with a 24-hour shift

system, and he was pretty sure no one had cby during his watch.

“Nobody's clocking out today until we get to the bottom of this.”

After laying down the law with a chilly voice, Brandon cut the call short.

Theresa, who was busy with her own things, definitely felt the tension in the air and looked up, puzzled, at Brandon.

“Daddy?” She called out to Brandon hesitantly, “What's wrong?”

Brandon cracked a smile at her, “Nothing.”

Then he told her, “Theresa, you hang out here with Grace for a bit, okay? Daddy needs to step outside to make a phone call.”

He didn’t want Theresa to see him getting emotional with his staff.

Theresa nodded obediently, “Okay.”

Brandon picked up his phone and stepped outside to call Kent.

Just as he made the call, he heard Kent's baffled voice behind him, “Mr. Crawley?”

And with it, a slightly excited female voice, “Brandon?”

Turning around, Brandon saw Kent coming out of the meeting room, followed by Tia, and his brow instantly furrowed.

Tia, unfazed by his icy look, walked up with her arms full of documents and cheerfully said, “Brandon, we meet again.”

Brandon's gaze skipped right over Tia and landed on Kent, “What's she doing here?”

Kent glanced awkwardly at Tia, then back at Brandon, “Your dad brought her in as legal personnel.”

Tia was surprised, “Ah? Mr. Crawley is your actual dad?”

"Mr. Crawley" was what she called Daniel.

Daniel was the head honcho of the current travel and resort subsidiary, and everyone there referred to him as Mr. Crawley.

Brandon didn’t look at her, and just kept his eyes on Kent, “The subsidiary doesn't need legal personnel. Once the work handover

is complete, compensate and dismiss as per the labor contract.”

Kent, getting the drift of what Brandon was aiming at and worried Tia might press her luck, quickly smiled at her, “Ms. Temple, why

don’t you head back to the office?”

Ignoring him, Tia turned to Brandon, visibly upset, “Brandon, | haven't screwed up my job. On what grounds can you just fire me

like that? Is this how Starlight Group treats its employees?”

Brandon looked at her calmly, “The department is dissolving, and there are no suitable positions available for the staff concerned,

so we have to terminate the labor contract. Rest assured, Ms. Temple, you'll get every penny of compensation you're due from

Starlight Group.”

After that, he said to Kent, “Escort her out. | need to speak with you.”

Kent, realizing he couldn't persuade her to leave, quickly called another assistant to escort Tia away.

Tia, reluctant and resentful, shot back at Brandon, “Brandon, are you afraid you'll waver?”

Brandon ignored her, already walking towards the meeting room. Kent hurried to follow.

Brandon pushed open the meeting room door and stepped inside but didn’t sit down, instead turning to face Kent as he shut the

door.

“Someone has deleted a section from the lobby’s surveillance footage.”

Kent was stunned, “How could that happen?”

Brandon didn’t want to speculate who was behind it. The missing footage exposed the relationship between Sophia and Theresa,

and he wasn't sure if Sophia was involved.

She had a history of this sort of thing.

Back in Skyrim City mall's surveillance, Ivan had done this for her before. She wanted to hide her relationship with Theresa then,

and she was capable of such an act. He hoped it wasn’t her.

“Find out who has been near the surveillance room from the 17th until today,” Brandon looked at him with a cold expression.

Kent nodded, “Got it.”

“Also, how's that call log | asked you to get?” Brandon inquired.

“| passed it to Jerry to handle. | told him to send it to my email once he's done. I've been tied up with Tia and work handover,

haven't checked my email yet.” Kent quickly added, “I'll send it to you in a bit.”

Brandon nodded, “Get on the surveillance issue now.”

“Right away,” Kent nodded eagerly.

Brandon turned to leave, his hand on the meeting room door handle, but then he paused.

“Also, distribute spastries to the whole company.” He said, “Right now.”

“Huh?” Kent was taken aback, not quite catching on, “Under what pretext?”

Brandon replied, “Mr. Crawley’s just had a baby girl.”

Brandon had already left the meeting room.

Kent hurriedly followed, checking his email on the go to see if Jerry had sent over the call log, while simultaneously arranging the

distribution of pastries in the group chat.

They had to get it done now, which was a bit rushed, but thankfully the company was big, with plenty of departments and hands to

help. They'd had lots of events before and had a stable supply chain and designated contacts, so there was no lack of experienced

folks.

Kent quickly delegated the task in the group chat.

But just like his own shock, everyone was more puzzled than anything else about distributing pastries company-wide, since it

wasn't exactly a festive occasion.

“Mr. Crawley’s just had a baby girl.”

Kent posted the reason for the pastries distribution in his work group chat, and as he expected, the chat exploded with reactions.

"When did Mr. Crawley tie the knot?"

"Holy moly. Mr. Crawley's got kids now?"

"Kent, you're pulling my leg, right? Does Mr. Crawley even look like father material?"

"Yeah, totally. It's not like we've ever seen Mr. Crawley take toff for maternity check-ups with his wife."

"Exactly! A stand-up guy like Mr. Crawley, all prim and proper, not chasing skirts - he'd be the type to spoil his wife rotten. No

matter how busy, he'd make tfor baby appointments, wouldn't he?"

"Boo-hoo. My dreamboat, Mr. Crawley, has gone and secretly tied the knot and had kids on the down-low. Guess my chances of

marrying Mr. Crawley are shot."

"Snap out of it. Even if Mr. Crawley weren't married with kids, you wouldn't stand a chance. The queue of ladies wanting to marry

Mr. Crawley at our company stretches out to outer space."

"Drop dead, will ya? Can't a girl dream without getting slapped awake? Boo-hoo. Why did Mr. Crawley have to brutally shatter my

fantasy?"

"For real, Mr. Crawley's marriage is so low-key he didn't even make an announcement. Why couldn't he keep it hush-hush all the

way and hide his little princess too? As long as Mr. Crawley doesn't go public, all the girls in the company have the right to keep

dreaming."

"lI don't care, | don't care, as long as | bury my head in the sand, Mr. Crawley is single."

Kent watched everyone gabbing away without a care and roughly understood why Brandon had decided to suddenly announce the

joyful news of his daughter. He was cutting off any fantasy-fueled hopes from people like Tia.

It was not easy to broadcast the news about a wife who hadn't been won back yet, but a daughter was a sure bet.

He cleared his throat and typed a message in the group chat, "Alright, alright, that's enough. Get ready to hand out the pastries

and beware, | might screenshot this and send it forward."

His words were met with a barrage of emojis, revealing the defiance from the group in a playful way.

Emoji after emoji lined up neatly in a row.

Kent couldn't help but laugh and cry, sending back a comforting emoji.

"Ah, there's nothing more painful in this world than watching your dream partner get married and have kids, and still having to put

on a brave face and prepare the pastries."

"Countin."

too."

"We all are."

After a string of responses, someone finally asked the burning question, "Kent, Mr. Crawley's daughter, she's not that little cutie he

brought to the company, is she?"

"What do you think?"

Kent quickly replied with those words, and the work group chat exploded once again.

"No way! Mr. Crawley's daughter is that age now?"

"What's going on here?"

Kent didn't respond further, simply typing "Pastries to be distributed by noon" before going offline. He sent Daniel's call detail

records that his assistant Jerry had prepared for him to Brandon, along with photos and surveillance footage from the hotel security

cameras showing Daniel and Patricia's chance encounter with Sophia during the ceremony.

The photos were screenshots from the hotel surveillance, capturing only the entrance to the rest area, but Daniel and Patricia,

Sophia, and Don were all in the frame.

Kent had carefully selected these photos, choosing shots where Daniel and Patricia showed disdain towards Sophia.

Brandon was busy at his desk when the email cin. He casually clicked it open, paused slightly when he saw the photos, and

then looked at Sophia in the picture.

Compared to the aggressive Daniel and Patricia, Sophia looked calm.

He opened the surveillance footage, plugged in his headphones, and didn't want Theresa in the room to hear.

"This is a rest area specially arranged for the lead designer; who allowed you in?"

"Brandon squeezed you into the project designers’ list?"

"Is this the attitude you should have towards your elders?"

"I need to talk to you about that child."

When the last sentence was spoken, Brandon's gaze paused slightly, looking at Daniel and Patricia in the video. Their disdain and

arrogance towards Sophia were unmistakable, something he had never seen before.

Although Daniel would subtly hint to him that Sophia wasn't a good match for him, it was mostly in the tone of an elder speaking

earnestly to a younger one.

As for their interactions in life, in his presence, Daniel and Patricia always maintained a superficial politeness and decency towards

Sophia.

Even though he had later heard that they were not kind to Sophia, hearing it was nothing compared to seeing it with his own eyes.

He watched the entire surveillance footage with an expressionless face, then opened the call list and scrolled down to the 17th of

this month. Among the string of unfamiliar phone numbers, he saw a familiar one - Sophia's.

The call was made in the afternoon, around two to three o'clock, lasting for over half an hour.

Brandon's eyes turned cold, pressed hard on the mouse, and the printer next to him started whirring into action.

Theresa, still playing, looked confused at the printer, and then at Brandon; noticing his bad mood, she couldn't help but worryingly

called out, "Daddy?"

Brandon glanced at her, took off his headphones, and gently said, "Theresa, daddy needs to step out for a bit. Can you stay and

play in the office with Grace?"

Theresa nodded, "Okay."

Brandon turned to look at the printer, which had stopped working, pulled out the freshly printed documents from the top, and

walked out.

Kent was right outside in the office, busy with work, and stood up instinctively when he saw Brandon's expressionless face.

"You don't have to follow." Brandon stopped him with a calm voice, "My daughter is in the office. Keep an eye on her."

The words "my daughter" instantly made everyone in the office look at him again.

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