The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 161

"Yup, she also ran into Sophia," Don admitted without beating around the bush.

"What did she say to Sophia?" Brandon asked, his voice getting chillier by the second.

"Nothing too outrageous, just prying into whether the position of Design Director was your divorce settlement to her," Don said with a little head shake and a chuckle, glancing at Brandon. "You know how your mom is, always caring about keeping up appearances in front of others. But man, the way she looks at Sophia, it's like she can't even stand her. You're busy, I get it, but you gotta keep an eye out now and then, see how your folks are getting on with your wife."

Don gave Brandon's shoulder a pat. "It's not about how they act when you're around, but what goes down when your back is turned."

Brandon turned to him.

Don raised his hands in a surrender gesture. "Don't give me that look, man. I'm just worried your mom's gonna scare off my people. It was hard enough getting her on board in the first place."

With that, he didn't linger, quickly saying "I'm heading back to the office" and made a beeline for the door.

Watching the office door close, Brandon hit the intercom for Kent. "Come in here for a sec."

Kent dropped what he was doing and came in. "Mr. Crawley, what's the matter?"

"Get Patricia over to my office."

Kent froze.

Brandon didn't often call Patricia by her first name.

Back in the day, he'd politely refer to her as "Mom" in private, and at the company, he'd get people to call her "Mrs. Crawley" out of courtesy, rarely ever just Patricia.

"Anything else?" Seeing Kent zone out, Brandon asked in an even tone.

Kent snapped back to reality. "Nope, on it right now."

After leaving Brandon's office, Kent called Patricia's assistant's office, passing on the message that Brandon wanted to see her.

"Mrs. Crawley just stepped out," came the polite reply on the phone.

"Stepped out?" Kent frowned. Didn't Don just come back from Patricia's office a moment ago?

"When did she leave?" he asked.

"Just a few minutes ago," they replied.

"Any idea when she'll be back?"

"She's not coming back today, said she had something to do."

"Is that so?" Kent's brow furrowed deeper, "Alright, thanks."

Kent was at a loss for words.

"I'm on it now."

He didn't dare say more and quickly left to handle it. Not wanting to cause a fuss, he personally went to HR to ask.

As Brandon expected, no leave was taken, and no clocking in either.

Kent reluctantly conveyed Brandon's decision to terminate, as per company policy.

HR was stunned by this turn of events. The staff didn't dare issue the notice and quickly informed the HR manager to deal with it personally.

Everyone knew Patricia was Brandon's mom, but the stepmom bit, not so much.

Patricia had married Daniel when Brandon was just a kid, spending over a decade devoted to family life, staying out of company affairs. Plus, after over twenty years of marriage, the old company hands had long been replaced. Those in the know were no longer around.

To the current staff, unaware of the backstory, the news of Brandon wanting to terminate Patricia was shocking. The HR manager, after much thought, reported it up to the general manager.

The general manager, who also answered to the CEO, didn't hesitate upon hearing it was an order from the CEO's office. They instructed the HR manager to issue the notice but, considering Patricia was Brandon's mother and not sure if there was some family feud, they didn't want to make too much noise and had HR send a termination email to Patricia as per company policy.

When Patricia received the HR termination email, she was busy lunching with Daniel and the Frost family.