The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Grace only realized Theresa was missing after waking up from her lunch break, and it totally freaked her out.

"Theresa." She called out for her in a panic, but no one answered.

Frantically, Grace pushed open the bedroom door, calling Theresa's nas she searched everywhere, but there was no sign of

her.

From Sophia's room to the living room, then to the kitchen, the washroom, and the balcony, she scoured every corner without a

trace, and not a peep from Theresa.

Grace was so scared she nearly collapsed on the floor.

Shaking like a leaf, she whipped out her phone and pulled up the surveillance footage.

On the screen, she saw Theresa toddling out with her bottle bag in tow. But the footage only showed her lingering in front of the

elevator before she vanished without a trace.

In a flurry, Grace dashed to the property management to get them to check the elevator surveillance.

When the property folks heard a kid was missing, they freaked out too and quickly fired up the elevator cam. But they found

nothing.

They also called the on-duty security guards, but none of them had seen a little girl going out alone.

The property team got the security crew on a search mission around the complex and even blasted out a missing person alert in

the residents’ group chat, but no one spotted Theresa.

Grace was so terrified she could barely move, close to bursting into tears, yet she didn't dare waste tand immediately dialed

Sophia's number, but she was in the middle of a call.

Grace, now even more panicked, called Susan.

Susan was waiting for an interview and casually picked up, not expecting to hear that Theresa had disappeared. Shocked, she spun

on her heel and bolted, telling Grace to call the cops while she tried reaching Sophia, not giving a hoot about the interview

anymore.

But Susan couldn't reach Sophia either, her phone was still in the middle of a call.

With no other choice, Susan left a message for Sophia, "Theresa's missing."

Sophia didn't see Susan's message, because she was on a call with Daniel.

Right as she was about to head into a meeting, Daniel had suddenly called her.

At noon, Sophia had given him such a talking-to that totally pissed him off, and he totally forgetting to probe further into her

connection with that little girl.

Later, when he wanted to dig deeper, the bodyguard he'd sent off had already cback.

Daniel knew that bodyguard was Brandon's man, supposedly there for his protection, but they both knew the real reason behind it.

He'd confronted Brandon about the bodyguard, but to no avail.

Brandon made it clear, "They're not interfering with your life. As long as you keep your nose clean, no one can touch you."

It was a clear-cut message that the guy wasn't going anywhere.

Daniel had no choice but to head back to his office.

The more he thought about it back at the office, the more things seemed off, especially recalling what Yvonne had mentioned

about Brandon being unusually affectionate with a strange girl, and the fact that Brandon had even brought the kid back to the

company. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't sit right with him.

The more uneasy he felt, the more he wanted to go downstairs and get the scoop from Sophia, but the bodyguard Brandon had set

on him was watching him like a hawk, and he couldn't just go see Sophia directly.

In the soffice building, he was sure Brandon would hear about it the moment he tried to approach Sophia's office.

Daniel didn't want another head-on clash with Brandon, especially after Brandon's threat that if he went to see Sophia, he'd take

back five percent of his shares. Daniel couldn't gauge how serious Brandon was, but he wasn't willing to risk it over a hunch.

But Daniel couldn't just sit back and do nothing. So after a lot of back and forth, he sneakily made this call to Sophia from his

office.

The bodyguard's main duty was close protection when he was out and about.

His office was a private suite, and since phone calls during work could involve company secrets, Daniel didn't let the bodyguard

into his office, just set up a workspace for him outside.

Sophia wasn't surprised that Daniel would confront her again. Logically, she shouldn't have shown up downstairs in the first place;

it would only attract unnecessary trouble.

But seeing Theresa so pitiful, scared, and trying to stay silent without shedding a tear, her heart ached, and she couldn't care less

about anything else. In that moment, all she wanted was to hug her and assure her that everything was okay, that Mommy was

there.

Prioritizing her daughter's feelings meant she had to face the consequences later.

But Daniel calling her was totally unexpected. In the two years she was married to Brandon, and the two years since the divorce,

Daniel had never called her.

So when an unknown number cthrough, Sophia instinctively wanted to hang up.

But after the caller's relentless persistence, she finally picked up, confused.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice soft yet composed as she gathered materials for the meeting.

"It's Daniel." Daniel didn't beat around the bush, stating his nwith his usual authoritative arrogance.

Sophia's tone cooled: "Is there something you need? | have a meeting to get to."

Her response was met with a scoff from Daniel: "Since Brandon's got you in the company without expecting you to make money,

you don't need to put on a show for anyone."

"If there's nothing else, I'm going to hang up."

Sophia was about to end the call when Daniel, in a rush, blurted out: "Is that little girl yours and Brandon's daughter?"

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