The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 583

"What's the deal?" Brandon asked.

"Can't pin it down yet." Kent replied, "I was just scoping out Kris Barlow's network and noticed he seems to have crossed paths with Clark, who just so happens to be Harvey's right-hand man at the Ferber Group. We bumped into them recently, and it struck me as a bit odd; that's all."

"Are they tight?" Brandon prodded.

Kent shook his head, "Nah, not much back and forth between them."

Brandon nodded, shifting his focus back to Kris, "Anything off about Kris? Any connection to Jared?"

"So far, there's no direct link between them." Kent said, "But Kris has some ties with international hit squads and shady organizations."

Brandon's gaze sharpened as he looked at Kent.

"Kris grew up abroad, a real wild child since day one, always running with the wrong crowd, a total mess academically. Even had to buy his way into college, and only got his act together to join the family biz post-grad. But he never cut ties with the underworld. Mediocre at best in business, but his knack for playing both sides of the law made him quite the local hotshot." Kent reported, "Kris has always been a bit of a lost cause, which made Marian seem all the more sharp and savvy. That's why Dennis and Beverly have been grooming her big time, not so much for career success, but to doll her up as this elite school belle, hoping she'd snag a spot in the high society by marrying up.

The Barlow family might have some assets, but they're peanuts compared to the old-money nobility with centuries of history. So they've been coaching Marian from the get-go to shine bright enough to break into the high life. It's just..."

Kent glanced at Brandon, and then held off on finishing his thought.

"Just what?" Brandon pressed.

Kent didn't spill the beans, and just silently passed a file over to Brandon. It was Marian‘s coded blog, penned by the detective agency, about the day she first ran into Brandon in Wye City over two years ago.

Brandon skimmed the file, his handsome face clouding over instantly. Kent, picking up on Brandon's mood, wisely kept mum about the contents.

In that blog, Marian candidly recounted her first encounter with Brandon and her heart skipping a beat at the sight of him. By the end of the post, she was even pondering how to snag such a catch.

So Kent suspected that Marian hadn't followed the path her parents laid out, opting not to marry into some wealthy family of Ephemora. Instead, she embraced the identity of Yolanda and returned home, perhaps with Brandon as her target from the start.

But she must have done her homework on Brandon, too. To avoid getting axed right off the bat, she intentionally presented herself as someone who couldn't stand him. Nothing lowers guards like a love-hate dynamic.

Brandon tossed the paper back to Kent, "Don't need to show this to me."

"Since he’s at abroad, we need to smoke him out and get him back here," Brandon said with an icy tone, tossing the file back to Kent.

"Got it," Kent responded quietly.

But with the other side already on guard, baiting someone back home was a slow, strategic game.

As time ticked away, Marian was stuck, unable to leave the country, trapped in Brandon's palm, living in constant dread and anxiety, worn to the bone, yet stubbornly tight-lipped.

The public had moved on, their attention swept away by the never-ending churn of new headlines. No one remembered Sophia, the girl whose clue Brandon, the CEO of Starlight Group, had put a ten million-dollar bounty on for information.

Sophia was like a drop in the ocean, causing a small ripple when it hit but quickly swallowed by the surging waves, leaving no one to remember the ripple it once made.

The world kept spinning, and ordinary life plodded on unchanged. People gradually recovered from the shock of Sophia's death. Although mentioning her still brought a tinge of sadness and regret, it was nothing compared to the initial shock and grief. Time healed all wounds.

Everyone's life had slowly but surely started to bounce back from the dark cloud of Sophia's passing, except for Brandon and Theresa.