The Indifferent Ex-Husband Heartstrings in the Mall of Fate

Kent hesitated with a glance, "Got a bit of a lead, but still double-checking."

"Spill it."

"In the past few days, only Chairman Crawley and Tom have been to the surveillance room. They went there on the 17th in the

afternoon. Chairman Crawley said he needed to check something out. The on-duty security didn't dare stop him and let him in. At

that time, the patrolling security just happened to cto discuss something with him, so Chairman Crawley told him to buzz off

and deal with his stuff; then he chatted up the patrolling guy about work stuff right at the door. Chairman Crawley and Tom were in

the surveillance room for over an hour, and when they left, the computer screens were back to business as usual, so he wasn't

sure if that's when the footage got axed." Kent added softly, "I'm about to grill Tom for more info."

"Get him to the conference room!" Brandon said with a stone-cold face.

The sudden chill in his voice made Theresa, who was playing by herself, sneak a peek at Brandon.

She wasn't used to seeing this frosty side of Brandon. Her moves and expressions becextra cautious, her eyes filled with

uncertainty.

Kent noticed, shot a concerned look at Theresa, and then nodded at Brandon, "Will do."

And with that, he quickly made an exit.

Brandon took a deep breath to soften his expression before leaning down to hug Theresa, whispering in her ear, "Daddy's just

handling swork stuff; don't be scared, okay?"

Theresa hesitated but nodded, "Okay."

Brandon smiled and stroked her hair, saying gently, "Daddy's gotta head to a meeting now. Can you hang with Grace for a bit?"

Theresa nodded, "Alright."

After Brandon sent Theresa with Grace to the lounge, he and Kent headed to the conference room.

Right at the entrance, they bumped into Tom, who had rushed down.

He didn't know why Brandon wanted to see him, but getting summoned out of the blue, and seeing Brandon's tense face and chilly

vibe, had him all jittery.

"Mr. Crawley," he greeted Brandon hesitantly, hurriedly pushing the conference room door open.

Brandon walked straight in without a word, which only cranked up Tom's nerves.

"Mr. Crawley, you neededfor something?" He asked anxiously, closing the door behind him.

Brandon turned to look at him, slowly starting, "On the afternoon of the 17th, you and Chairman Crawley went to the surveillance

room and deleted the lobby's footage from noon that day."

Tom had no idea why Brandon suddenly brought this up. His face went pale, not daring to make a peep.

Brandon stared at him, "Tom, we won't need to get the cops involved, will we?"

"It was Chairman Crawley who deleted it." Tom blurted out with a ghastly face, "I was just on the lookout, making sure no one came

close."

Brandon questioned, "Why did Chairman Crawley want to delete the footage?"

Tom shook his head, "I don't know. He didn't say."

Brandon kept his gaze on him, his piercing eyes making Tom's knees buckle.

He rushed to explain, "I really don't know. | was busy with work that day, Chairman Crawley messagedto cdownstairs with

him, so I did. | didn't expect we were heading to the surveillance room. But Chairman Crawley wanted that footage gone. | asked

him why; he just glanced atand stayed mum, so | didn't dare to push it."

Brandon uttered, "His tech know-how is good for deleting a video at most, but I've had techies try to recover it. They toldthe

software was wiped clean and the hard drive was overwritten with random data to prevent any recovery. He doesn’t have the skills

for that."

"Chairman Crawley toldto do it," Tom barely was able to stand.

"He doesn't have the brains for that."

Tom was panicking, almost crying, "After we deleted the footage, Chairman Crawley asked if it could be recovered. | blurted out,

stupidly, that it could unless the hard drive was formatted or the data was scrubbed with random overwrite. Then Chairman

Crawley toldto cover the tracks, and | didn't dare disobey, so | just did it."

Seemed legit enough. Brandon flicked a glance at him, "You can go back now."

Tom was taken aback by Brandon's sudden drop of the issue, and gave Kent and Brandon a look. Kent smiled at him, "Mr. Crawley

just wanted to get the full picture. You're free to go."

"Thank you, Mr. Crawley; thanks, Kent."

After the response, Tom quickly opened the conference room door and left, his steps still a bit shaky.

Kent watched him go, and then turned to look at Brandon, who was still brooding over something.

"Mr. Crawley?" Kent called out to him.

Brandon looked at him, "Dig into his social circle."

"Huh?" Kent was puzzled, "You don't buy Tom's story?"

"It's not that." Brandon said, "His story checks out, and it's definitely something my old man would pull. He doesn't wantto

know about Theresa, so the motive for deleting the footage is clear. The issue is he wouldn't have the brains to think of deleting

the footage in the first place."

"So, what's the deal with checking Tom's social ties?" He couldn't keep up with Brandon's logic. Even if Daniel was put up to

deleting the footage, Tom was just the guy carrying it out. He didn't see how this related to his social circle.

Brandon gave him a look, "What would you say if | asked you, if this footage gets deleted, could it be recovered?"

"Should be doable, but gotta check with the tech guys to be sure," Kent replied almost reflexively.

"That's the normal reaction of an average Joe." Brandon said, "But this dude, who's not even tech-savvy, not only comes up with a

specific fix but, most importantly, software wiping needs sspecial tools. If he was just pulled in on the fly, how che

remembered to bring that stuff?"

"Mr. Crawley, did you maybe pick the wrong major in college?" Kent's admiration for Brandon surged like a raging river, "Do all you

high-fliers have this kind of Spidey-sense?"

Brandon gave him a glance, totally ignoring the flattery.

"Get to the bottom of this, ASAP," with that, he walked out.

"Right on it." Kent hurried after him, "Should we dig into what's up with Chairman Crawley too?"

Brandon looked back at him, "You wantto be the one to send him off to the great beyond?"

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