The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Brandon headed back to West district from Zion City as dawn was just breaking.

Don, not quite at ease, tagged along all the way to Brandon's place and crashed at the Crawley family pad for a bit.

The room still looked like Sophia was there, her presence lingering in every corner. Taking in the room, the memories of Sophia flooded back, hitting Don right in the feels, just like when he was at the office. Every the passed her empty office, or noticed her vacant seat during meetings, he felt an emptiness inside.

Now, standing in Brandon and Sophia's home, facing this stark reminder that things would never be the same, Don found it tough to wrap his head around it.

His relationship with Sophia had been nothing more than boss and employee, with a sprinkle of friendship, yet even that weighed heavy on him. He couldn't even begin to fathom how Brandon and Theresa coped with this day in, day out.

"Brandon." Seeing Brandon also lost in a daze, staring at a corner of the room, Don gently suggested, "Maybe you should consider moving back with Theresa." Brandon didn't turn around, and just murmured hoarsely, "What if shees back and can't find us?" Don fell silent. He wasn't under any illusion that Brandon was talking about Sophiaing back to life.

It was the fear that, if by schance her spirit did return, it wouldn't be able to find him and Theresa. Feeling a lump in his throat, Don found himself at a loss for words, simply patting Brandon's shoulder silently.

"You head back; I'm alright," Brandon said in a raspy voice.

Don threw a concerned glance at Brandon but left him be.

Brandon's gaze had now shifted to Theresa, who was sound asleep in the bedroom, clutching the teddy bear Sophia had given her, curled up tightly, her face and body pressed against the teddy bear.

Though she was sleeping, her little brow was furrowed with unease.

As Brandon approached Theresa and took a seat by the bed, the usually sound sleeper slowly opened her eyes, still groggy from sleep, and instinctively looked behind Brandon, a reflex to search for her mom.

Don's heart ached. Brandon, as if he hadn't seen, smiled gently at her and patting her shoulder, softly told her, "Sleep a little longer, Theresa; it's not dawn yet." "Okay." Theresa mumbled in response, gripping Brandon's hand, and drifted back to sleep.

Brandon let her hold on, not pulling away, just quietly watching her as she slept, lost in thought.

Don knew that no matter how much pain Brandon was in, he wouldn't lose his grip on reality again. He slipped out quietly, closing the door behind him to let Brandon be.

Brandon spent half a day at home, keeping Theresapany.

After Augus finished spilling the beans, Kent whisked him off to the police station to be grilled by the cops.

Augus gave up the whole schhe'd cooked up with Dennis and his underling Gordon, along with trading records and chat logs as proof that Dennis was indeed involved in the plot to frStarlight Group by harming the homeless Nell.

They had the guy dead to rights, all evidence accounted for. Dennis got nabbed by the cops the very next day.

He and Gordon were trying to slip away in the crowds at the hotel, aiming for the airport to flee the country, but Brandon's people had them under tight surveillance, and the cops cornered them before they could even make it out of the hotel.

Marian was there, too. Not that she wanted to be, but Brandon's folks had half-dragged, half-threatened her to the hotel. She was supposed to be in the hospital.

Martin was pissed at Marian too, but he couldn't just leave her for dead. If she croaked, Brandon couldn't escape blame, so he sucked it up and got her to a hospital despite feeling nauseous about it.

Marian's injuries weren't severe, but the mental scars ran deeper. After that night, she looked worn out and shrunken, eyes wide with terror at the sight of Brandon's guys.

But she was still being stubborn, refusing to admit she had anything to do with offing Sophia. No matter how scared she was of Brandon, Marian knew the score. With Sophia gone, admitting to it meant facing the death penalty.

She thought she had covered her tracks perfectly, just leveraging a coincidence to enact her plan on top of Dennis's, and even the cops couldn't find evidence. She had no clue how Brandon was so sure it was her, going after her life tand again.

She was just starting to get back on her feet in the hospital when Brandon's people hauled her off to Moonlight Resort & Spa with a mix of force and threats.

As soon as she hit the hotel entrance, she witnessed Dennis and Gordon getting carted away by the cops, and her face went ghostly pale.

Augus's confession implicated Marian. The cops, spotting her, took her back to the station for questioning.

But just as Brandon expected, while Augus accused Marian, he didn't have a shred of evidence to prove her involvement.

And Dennis and Gordon were clueless about Marian's role, so when grilled separately, both of them denied her involvement, which indirectly made Augus's accusation seem baseless.

Marian was tough as nails, and she didn't show any sign of cracking under the cops' grilling. She stuck to her story that Augus was framing her out of spite because of sfriction at work.

And sure enough, when the police did their rounds and chatted with the co-workers, they found out that Marian and Augus had been at loggerheads over their work philosophies.

Especially Augus, he had a secret crush on Sophia, and from day one, Marian was throwing her royal weight around, not taking order from Sophia, often deliberately going against the grain of Sophia's work plans. This really got under Augus's skin, so he was always on Marian's case, nitpicking and throwing shade her way. Their office feud was no secret. The co-workers' testimonies indirectly backed Marian's claim that Augus was out to get her because of a personal vendetta, and with Augus lacking any solid evidence to prove his accusation, his charges were dismissed.

As a result, in the preliminary findings, Dennis and Gordon were kept in the slammer for attempted murder, while Marian was let go due to insufficient evidence.

Marian walked out alone. She didn't have any family or friends left in the city.

Back when she was still known as Yolanda, the Frost family and relatives, along with Daniel and Patricia, had cherished her like a treasure. But ever since Brandon had forcibly done a blood test proving she wasn't Yolanda, aside from Martin, nobody had been in touch ore to see her.

Her dad Dennis and Gordon, who was like family, were in the West district, but now they were both locked up, leaving Marian all alone in the city.

Thinking about the stark contrast between the glory days when she first arrived and her current state of desolation as she left the detention center, Marian felt an inexplicable wave of sadness wash over her.

Before she could even process these feelings, Marian looked up and saw Brandon sitting in the car across the street, staring at her with cold, bloodthirsty eyes, like a wolf waiting for its prey.

A shiver shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, and Marian stood there frozen, her face ashen.