The Indifferent Ex-Husband: Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate novel Chapter 7

Brandon was in the middle of a meeting with his phone lying next to him. When he heard the ping of a notification, he glanced over and caught a glimpse of a text from Patricia, pausing for a beat.

Kent, who was presenting at the time, was pretty sharp at reading the room. He paused mid-sentence, his eyes couldn't help but sneak a peek at Brandon's phone, only catching the name "Sophia" before Brandon smoothly flipped the phone face down on the table and looked up at him.

Kent got the jitters, thinking Brandon was about to chew him out, but all he got was a cool, detached glance, "Carry on!"

Kent hesitated, then nodded and tried to wrap up the design presentation, but as soon as he finished, Brandon's face scrunched up in displeasure.

"Who greenlit this trashy proposal?" he asked, his voice was calm but it cranked up the tension in the already tight meeting room to eleven.

Kent was caught like a deer in headlights, glancing at Brandon and biting back his words.

Brandon's gaze swept over the others in the room.

One by one, they all bowed their heads, feigning deep thought, scared stiff of locking eyes with Brandon and getting called out.

"Nobody has an answer?" Brandon probed.

Silence. Everyone clammed up.

Help-me looks were sneakily cast towards Kent.

Kent, Brandon's right-hand man and the company's VP, was always the one to take the heat, especially lately.

Even the slowest folks had picked up on Brandon's off vibes. He wasn't snappy or nitpicky, just inexplicably brought a chill to the room, with a laser focus on work that could freeze them.

And the kicker? He seemed to be on another planet half the time, like he was hit with a bout of amnesia.

With all eyes on him, Kent felt the heat. He could normally handle the blowback, but this time, could he really?

Kent tried to make himself small, hoping to slide under Brandon's radar, but no dice. Brandon's gaze followed the crowd's and landed on him.

"Since everyone's looking at you, why don't you speak for the team, Kent?" Brandon said, glancing at the Ephemoran architecture design on the big screen behind him, "Who greenlit this trash?"

Kent was speechless.

Man, they were all throwing him under the bus.

Brandon's gaze held on Kent. "Kent?"

Kent, taking a deep breath, looked back at Brandon. "I, I don't know."

He just didn't have the guts to spill it.

Brandon glanced at him, then back at the others.

Everyone kept their heads down, pretending to be deep in thought.

"Mr. Darcy, what's your thoughts?" Brandon called out randomly.

Mr. Darcy, scared out of his wits, glanced at Kent and lobbed the question back at him. "Kent's in charge of this project."

Brandon's eyes shifted back to Kent. "Kent."

Kent looked at his colleagues who were all busy pretending to take notes, then hesitantly met Brandon's eyes, on the verge of speaking.

"Spit it out," Brandon urged.

Kent bit the bullet. "Mr. Crawley, It was you who approved the proposal."

"And last night," he added, barely above a whisper.

The room went dead silent.

Kent sneaked a look at Brandon and caught a rare glimpse of bewilderment on that handsome face.

Brandon turned to look at the design on the screen behind him.

Kent, watching him closely, ventured. "Mr. Crawley, you've seemed a bit off these past few days. Everything alright?"

"I'm fine," Brandon's expression was back to neutral, "Sorry, my oversight. Redo the design proposal. Meeting adjourned."

With that, Brandon grabbed his phone from the table and headed out.

When the meeting room door closed, the tension evaporated.

The others gave Kent a thumbs-up.

"Warrior."

Kent counted them on his fingers. "After all the times I've had your backs, you just toss me to the wolves when it counts. Not a single one of you has a heart."