The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Kent was caught off guard and instinctively glanced at Brandon.

With his handsface as calm as ever, Brandon asked, "Does Jerry have any bad habits?"

"Word on the street is he's hooked on online gambling," Kent replied.

Brandon's eyebrows quirked slightly, "Has he been going all in lately?"

Kent shared, "Yeah, | heard he even sold off an apartment downtown, and his wife is on the brink of divorcing him. They've been at

it for months."

Brandon nodded, "Did you switch out the construction crew?"

"We're on it," Kent said, "currently scouting for a new team."

Brandon nodded again, "Hmm."

The room fell into contemplation, but Brandon didn't dismiss Kent.

Puzzled, Kent looked at Brandon, "Mr. Crawley, anything else | can do for you?"

Brandon shook his head slightly, and after a long pause, he finally said, "Don't you find this whole thing fishy?"

Kent frowned slightly, locking eyes with Brandon.

"Jerry just happens to be in deep with gambling debts when he finds Nell and gets him a spot on the construction site, and then

suddenly, we've got issues with pouring the bridge pier."

Brandon's frown deepened. There's this talk in the industry about 'sacrificial piling," and Jerry's secretive maneuvers with Nell's

whereabouts reeked of using him for a human foundation. Nell had no family, no one knew his exact whereabouts, and he had no

ID - if he were to vanish, probably no one would bat an eye.

But logically, this line of thinking didn't add up. If Jerry really wanted to use Nell for a 'sacrificial piling," there was no gain for him. It

would be an overkill for a smooth construction process unless there was a bigger fish behind the scenes pulling the strings.

Jerry was strapped for cash, so it wasn't impossible that someone might be paying him for sdirty work.

But the person behind this.

Brandon suddenly remembered when Sophia stopped him from getting Theresa's DNA by inviting him to lunch, she mentioned

dining with Zachary in Wye City and overhearing Darcy talking with a guy named Ms. Barlow.

"At dinner, this Ms. Barlow guy asked Darcy how things were going, and Darcy said all was good, that the person was in place in

the company, reliable, and told Ms. Barlow to rest easy."

"Darcy mentioned that the Starlight Group was tough to get into, with stable personnel and little turnover, hardly any external

recruitment each year. If it weren't for the Starlight Group launching a subsidiary and needing new blood, who knows when they'd

hire next. The subsidiary he mentioned must be Star-Dempsey Architects. So, | suspect among us newbies, there might be a mole

they planted."

That's what Sophia had said back then.

Brandon had since run a background check on the new hires from that period - all clean, no red flags.

He'd also had Don keep an eye on the staff, but nothing unusual popped up.

And after learning about the mole, Star-Dempsey Architects secretly beefed up surveillance - still nothing out of the ordinary from

what they could tell.

The only link to this so-called Ms. Barlow was Marian.

After hearing this from Sophia, Brandon had Marian discreetly investigated. She was just padding her resume, hardly serious about

work.

Spy? She could barely bother with daily tasks, always late, ducking out early, and didn't give a hoot about work. She didn't lift a

finger for the Zenithan-style resort project, Sophia's baby.

Brandon wasn't sure if the person looking to cause trouble through Jerry was connected to Darcy and Dennis.

There had been no word on those two lately.

"Any news on Darcy and Dennis?" Brandon looked up at Kent, asking.

Those names were becoming a distant memory.

Darcy, once the big cheese at Starlight Hotel's Ephemora division, got the boot from Brandon for playing both sides - peddling

company secrets and favoritism. Despite being one of the founding fathers of the Starlight Hotel brand, Brandon spared him the

public shaming, merely citing ‘personnel changes.’

But dropping from such a high profile role so suddenly, plus the whispers within the company, meant insider gossip about his

betrayal never really died down.

Post-demotion, Darcy's job hunt was a bust. Even when he landed something, it didn't stick. Lately, Kent hadn't heard a peep about

him.

Dennis, failing to make a deal with Darcy, saw the Barlow Hotel falter against the Starlight Hotel, losing its edge in the international

luxury hotel market. They were fading from the industry limelight, barely making headlines anymore.

"It's been ages since anyone mentioned those names," Kent admitted. "If you hadn't brought it up, | would've nearly forgotten

about them."

Brandon nodded, not surprised at all. With so many rivals in the mix, nobody was going to make a point of remembering those two.

He had heard about them from Sophia a while back and had someone else dig into it. Darcy's currently managing a convenience

chain hotel, while Dennis was abroad, running his Barlow Hotel. Looks like they've got their own lives and paths going on, no threat

to the Starlight Group.

"Mr. Crawley, did you stumble upon something?" Kent couldn't help but ask, noticing Brandon's thoughtful frown.

Brandon spoke up, "I've got this hunch someone's looking to stir up trouble with the Zenithan-style resort project.”

"Huh?" Kent looked at Brandon, taken aback.

"Just my gut feeling, no proof yet," Brandon said, turning to Kent. "Keep a close watch on the construction site, and we've got to

swap out the building crew. Make sure someone's keeping an eye on Nell too, don't want any accidents. And don't drop the ball on

the residency and real-nregistration stuff."

Kent nodded, "Got it, I'll get on it."

Brandon gave another nod, "Off you go."

Marian had been on edge ever since she got the heads-up from Augus yesterday about the construction crew switcheroo for the

Zenithan-style resort project. She didn't dare show it at the office, holding out hope that Augus could talk Sophia out of making the

change at such a critical moment.

Augus was a bundle of nerves too, but compared to the initial shock from yesterday, he seemed to have pulled himself together

today.

He kept his head down and worked like usual all day, didn't go bothering Sophia again.

Sophia, noticing Augus's unusual anxiety yesterday, couldn't help but keep a closer eye on him today, although he seemed to be

his usual self.

Sophia wasn't sure if she was overthinking it.

But this could be a big deal or a small one. After a long ponder, Sophia decided to hit up Kent about it after work.

He was the man in charge of the whole Zenithan-style resort project, so a chat was in order.

So, when the clock struck quitting time, Sophia was the first out the door.

She had just stepped into the elevator when Brandon emerged from the one next door.

They didn't see each other.

Brandon made a beeline for the Star-Dempsey Architects office. As he reached the door, he glanced instinctively towards Sophia's

office but didn't spot her.

His handsbrows furrowed involuntarily, just as he was about to ask where Sophia had gone off to, he saw Marian getting up,

saying her goodbyes to coworkers while packing up to leave.

"Marian, wanna grab dinner?" her colleague, also standing and gathering her things, invited.

"No thanks, my dad's in town visiting, | gotta spend twith him," Marian replied apologetically.

Brandon's steps faltered slightly at her words, and he glanced over at Marian without thinking.

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