The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 501

Kent was caught off guard and instinctively glanced at Brandon.

With his handsome face 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, I 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 I 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 some dirty 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, I 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.

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 handsome brows 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, I gotta spend time with him," Marian replied apologetically.

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