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.”

just didn’t have the guts to

at him, then back at

heads down, pretending to be deep in

your thoughts?

out of his wits, glanced at Kent and lobbed the question back

pretending to take notes,

on Brandon

“Mr. Crawley, It was you who

he added, barely above a

room went

Brandon and caught a rare

turned to look at the design on the

watching him closely, ventured. “Mr. Crawley, you’ve seemed a

Brandon’s expression was back to neutral, “Sorry, my oversight. Redo the

phone from

the meeting room door closed, the tension

gave Kent

“Warrior.”

all the times I’ve had your backs, you just toss me to the wolves when it counts.

who can handle

worked hard. We’ll treat you to

still puzzled “Is something up with Mr. Crawley? He’s

I noticed that

the same. He’s never been like

again unanimously

nothing. What could be up with Mr. Crawley? Kent smoothly diverted the topic, “With his passion for

him to have off days and zone out once

and bantering with

casually discussing work until Brandon walked by, prompting everyone to straighten up, sit stiffly, and not make

a few heads with the documents

was a bit afraid of Brandon, Kent knew,

Brandon had a bad temper. On the contrary, he was known for keeping his cool. He was a workaholic but didn’t expect the same from his employees. He was considerate, offered better compensation than competitors, and

authority, Kent thought, his eyes drifting through the office space to

his office chair, tossing his phone onto the desk corner, clearly in a

to do with that “Sophia” he

all quiet and no-fuss. She talked in this soft, slow voice that was just soothing to the ears no rush, no drama queen antics. She was polite and courteous

by him, so yeah, he was clued in about the split between

11 42

Chapter 7

calling it

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