The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 416

"What's up?" Don noticed the mood was off and cracked a smile trying to lighten things up, "Isn't today the project bidding? That's a reason to celebrate, why the long faces?"

But Brandon wasn't having any of it. His gaze was fixed firmly on Marian without a flicker. "Let her explain."

Don's heart skipped a beat at Brandon's stern tone. He glanced at Marian involuntarily and just then, his eyes accidentally caught the large screen behind her. The familiar design blueprints caught his eye, and his smile faded in an instant, his expression turning somber as he turned to Marian.

"Is this the resort you designed?"

Don asked, the pitch of his voice rising uncontrollably.

Brandon's demeanor, Theresa's accusation, and Don's questioning tone – the different voices carried the same doubt. Even Martin, who was usually slow on the uptake, realized something was amiss with the blueprints.

"Marian!"

His voice turned sharp as he spun around to point at the design on the big screen, "Tell me, where did this blueprint come from?"

"I-I..."

Marian stuttered, unable to hold back any longer, her lips quivered and she burst into tears, crying so hard she couldn't get her words out.

Louis looked on, his heart aching for her, quickly went over to give her a hug, gently patting her shoulder to comfort her.

"It's okay, it's okay. Just tell the truth. I will understand."

But the more he tried to console her, the more heartbroken Marian cried, sobbing and apologizing to Louis. "Grandpa, I'm sorry. I've let you down."

Brandon watched Marian's breakdown with indifference, his gaze coldly passing over her shoulder to Martin.

Martin's brows were still furrowed, showing no sympathy for the sobbing Marian.

As for the icy look Brandon shot his way, Martin simply met it with a silent glance before looking away.

Brandon, too, averted his gaze to Sophia.

Sophia just silently watched Marian clinging to Louis and crying, her expression somewhat dazed.

At that moment, Theresa also noticed Sophia and excitedly grabbed her hand, joyfully exclaiming. "Mom, I found the drawing you lost!"

She said this, pointing at the large screen with surprise and delight.

Sophia smiled at her, gently stroked her hair and softly responded. "Yeah, Theresa, you're awesome."

Martin was close enough to catch the mother-daughter exchange.

He turned to Sophia. "Is it your design?"

Sophia nodded firmly without hesitation. "Yes, it's my work."

"I'm addressing Marian and the issue at hand, not Yolanda," Brandon said, looking at Louis, every word deliberate, "Grandpa Louis, do you realize what she's done? This is plagiarism! If we hadn't happened to see this, if we hadn't all recognized this work, would this project have just been claimed under her name?"

"No, I didn't."

Marian, still in tears, finally found her voice, shaking her head in denial, "I didn't mean to claim it, I truly didn't."

She had no idea Martin would be displaying the project on the screen.

She'd double and triple-checked with Martin and even reviewed this herself. She was sure it was safe to come only because there were no design images to be shown – otherwise, with all the media Louis had summoned on such short notice, she would never have shown up.

She even had a plan and a chosen contender – to push Aaron into the construction project team, ensuring that this project would never see the light of day.

She'd done her homework on Aaron – a guy who liked to cut corners and skim a little off the top, and he was slick about it too. That was why she wanted to use Aaron.

If there was even a minor hiccup in the early stages of construction, and then she would throw in some mystical mumbo-jumbo about the project being jinxed or a bad time to break ground, that project was doomed to never see the light of day. She just couldn't fathom why, despite triple-checking, the slides still ended up with the design renderings tacked on.

Marian was sobbing so hard, she couldn't go on, and she was too scared to.

Even if she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, she knew better than to voice these thoughts out loud. Her sole mission was to bury this project that wasn't meant to be hers in the first place.

"I swear I wasn't trying to swipe someone else's work. I wanted to explain, but you guys wouldn't hear me out and just assumed I was the designer. I couldn't bear to let my grandparents down, so I just bit the bullet and owned up to it. But it's been eating me up inside, and I've been dying to find a moment to discuss it with Martin. I never expected him to rush the project submission like that. I was really stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I never intended to take credit."

Marian continued through her tears and sniffles, "I didn't steal the blueprints, I swear. I just found them downstairs at the office and thought they were trash, so I nabbed them, planning to toss them out. But then I just forgot about them in my bag, and the next thing I know, my grandpa spots them, and the whole misunderstanding blows up. It wasn't on purpose, for real."