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.”

the guts

glanced at him, then back at the

pretending to

Darcy, what’s your thoughts? Brandon called

back at him. “Kent’s in charge of this project Brandon’s eyes shifted back

colleagues who were all busy pretending to take notes, then hesitantly met Brandon’s eyes, on

it on Brandon

bit the bullet. “Mr. Crawley, It was you who approved the

last night,” he added, barely above a

room went

and caught a rare glimpse

look at the design on

closely, ventured. “Mr. Crawley, you’ve seemed a bit off these past few

back to neutral, “Sorry, my oversight. Redo the design

phone from the table and headed

door closed, the tension

gave Kent a

“Warrior.”

times I’ve had your backs, you just toss me

you who can handle Mr.

you’ve worked hard. We’ll treat you to

all chuckled and responded, easing back into comfort, but still puzzled “Is something up with

right, I noticed that too. He’s been

He’s never been like this. Did something happen

gossip-hungry gazes once again unanimously shifted to

Crawley? Kent smoothly diverted the topic,

him to have off days and zone out

with

by, prompting everyone to straighten up, sit stiffly, and not make a peep, but they relaxed as soon as Kent came in,

tapped a few heads

bit afraid of Brandon, Kent

was considerate, offered better

authority, Kent thought, his eyes drifting through the

had flopped into his office chair, tossing his phone onto

to do with that “Sophia” he had accidentally glimpsed on

she left a good impression on him. She was easy on the eyes, with sweet and innocent vibe, all quiet and no-fuss. She talked in this soft, slow voice

up by him, so yeah, he was clued

11 42

Chapter 7

to why they’re calling it quits,

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